All the history." It's not taken Marco Rose long to get his feet under the table at Bournemouth. This is a club whose succession planning is among the best in the Premier League. Who lost more than £250m of playing talent in one season - and still made it the most successful in their 123-year history.
The German is not the second coming of Andoni Iraola but the intention is that he is not far off. Certainly, he is keen to get to know the place as well as his predecessor. "Right from the start, not just him but his staff went round every department, gave them a time of day," club legend and ambassador Steve Fletcher tells Sky Sports.
"It didn't matter if you were a groundsman or in the accounts or media or marketing or you're a chef. "He went up and he chatted to them all. And it's not just lip service, I can see he has a real interest in everybody." On the pitch, if you want to continue his high-pressing legacy then a student of Jurgen Klopp isn't a bad option to pick.
Given their shared philosophies, perhaps it is no surprise Iraola is also a fan of his work. "Marco Rose's Gladbach was one of my favourite teams," he said back in 2023. The Spaniard's Cherries produced the third-most direct attacks in the Premier League last season, and ended with the fourth-most shots from high turnovers.
More importantly, they scored the fifth-most goals across the division and only 13 fewer than title winners Arsenal. "Andoni didn't leave a lot of space to improve," admitted Rose in pre-season. "The pressure is on." He has certainly attempted to address that, with 21 goals scored across five friendlies and even new centre-back Antonio Silva praised for his attacking input.
Evanilson's role appears to have moved back from leading the line to more of a False 9, leaving the two wide men - likely Rayan and Ben Gannon-Doak or Justin Kluivert - to run beyond him and to good effect from what we've seen so far. Klopp's Liverpool, anyone? How much you can read into any friendly, least not a 10-1 win over Genoa - who conceded fewer league goals than Bournemouth in Serie A last season - is always limited.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
