Eamonn MacFheoras

Runner. Strongly opposed to sensor operated taps. #lfc

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

My dad Eddie Bermingham, bottom right with the moustache, enjoying a historic election moment in 1981. RIP Ned. #AE17

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@Goog05 @JimDelahunt Love him so much

[Swish 🍒 Tennis @Zwxsh]

Reporter: "No F-bombs please."

Corentin Moutet: "Fuck fuck fuck."

Reporter: "I'm gonna ask you one more question so please keep it clean, okay?"

Corentin Moutet: "Fuck fuck fuck."

[Dominic King @DKingTelegraph]

Scotland should win the World Cup just for this alone.

[HIN News🇬🇧🇺🇸 @HerdImmunity12]

World Cup Memories🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️: "You worry Rob you worry - but don't make the fucking rest of us worry, go worry on your own".

Late England Manager Graham Taylor roast sports journalist Rob Shepherd during the ill-fated 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign.

A time when the game was full of characters and not the overpaid diva's and soy boys we have festooned throughout football today..

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@LewisFN00 100%, ball bobbling

[Sean Rogers @Sean_Rogers]

Andoni Iraola to Liverpool?

The schedule with Europe and Premier League, intensity of his style of play, injury record & player profile at Liverpool is raising a number of concerns

Ahead of the Arne Slot Reaction Show we recorded on Sunday for @TheAnfieldWrap I took a deeper look at the injuries, 1st vs 2nd half of season records & approach taken at Bournemouth to understand whether concerns are matched by the data and whether there are any positive signs to ease concerns……

Graphic below is the xG rolling trendline 01/01/26 to end of season @Statsbomb for Bournemouth

1)INTENSITY

The data backs up the eyes

22/23 Iraola's Rayo Vallecano forced more high turnovers which led to a shot (68) than any side in the top five European leagues except Bayern Munich (73)

In the past 2 seasons at Bournemouth Iraola’s side are

-99th percentile and 98th percentile for high press shots
-100th and 96th percentile for aggression

2)INJURIES

Up until July 2025 Iraola at every club – every season – had a negative trend ….

Iraola had NEVER overseen a second half of a campaign that outperformed the first in terms of points gained

He had a reputation for burning his squad out during the first half of the season and tailing off with injury issues even without European football

In 2024/25 season they lost over 1100 days to injury

3)2025/26 – JANUARY CHANGE IN APPROACH & POSITIVE RESULTS

2025/26 Bournemouth

A) Post their best injury numbers as an aggregate of injuries and illness suffered in the past 8 seasons
B)153 games missed due to injury ranked 8th in league
C)Post a huge improvement January 2026 to end of season
D)End the season going 18 games unbeaten
E) Iraola’s side end the season performing well during the 2nd half of the season with a budget that should result in a lower bottom half finish

Quite remarkable when they start the season absolutely flying - 2nd place after matchday 9

Then suffer significant injury crisis and go 11 games without a win between Matchweeks 10 to 20

WHY? WHAT CHANGED JANUARY ONWARDS?

A lot.

A)NEW PERFORMANCE CENTRE

Bournemouth had invested over £30m in a new sports science and medical performance centre.

This was functioning fully January 2026 onwards

B)DR ROBERT MARSHALL

Recruited in summer 2025 he arrived from RB Leipzig in July last year as Bournemouth’s Director of Medical and Performance.

Iraola raves about him

His role was in part to ensure all the departments within the performance centre worked in harmony in conjunction with Iraola.

C)SQUAD AGE

2nd youngest squad in the league I am sure helps

D)IRAOLA

Iraola made tweaks in line with the performance centre recommendations

Training and in game set up changes reportedly helped

Rotation

Strategic substitutes

Arguably had the performance centre been in place July 2025 Bournemouth may have posted even better improvements in their injury data at the end of the 2025/26 season as it’s skewed by first half of season data

There is a lot more to delve in to in respect of his tactics, in and out of possession set up, authority, leadership and training methods

Based on the work done at Bournemouth January 2026 onwards it would suggest that Iraola can work positively complementing the performance staff at Liverpool

He will also have even greater resources in all areas at Liverpool

He has also ended the trend of his sides physically and results wise blowing up during the 2nd half of a season

There is a lot he needs to prove – and managing European campaign and Premier League is an obvious one – but he can point to the lack of performance centre (up until recently at Bournemouth) and the results since the integration of the performance centre / Dr Robert Marshall, positively as evidence of how he could work with the performance staff at Liverpool to balance intensity and the schedule

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@richardajkeys @beINSPORTS_EN Lost the plot? Sure a blind man could’ve seen the coming.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@Winchester21107 Don’t even know if that’s my favourite Suarez goal! One of the Norwich ones, maybe the half volley where he’d tapped it over the defender’s head

[Kurt @_kjs1874]

Quite nervous for the game tomorrow. By far the biggest game PSG have had since I started supporting them this morning

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@HendrickD82 Just rage bait

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@premierleague Suarez 13-14, Henry 01-02, Salah 24-25, Ronaldo 2007-08.

These guys posted proper numbers.

Bruno set up a bunch of goals from corners.

Levels.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@HendrickD82 @DeanNunn1 @Corballyred Not sure about that. 45m for a CB who knows how to defend, albeit not the tallest. I’d be happy with him as a deputy to Ibou.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@KDH__8

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@HendrickD82 @DeanNunn1 @Corballyred The Guehi quibbling over 5m is worthy of a custodial sentence.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@Davolaar And the camera flashes that you don’t get now

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@Arteymas_ Harry Wilson

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@BelieveInKlopp 100%.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@downeytrev But that was before football began.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@HendrickD82 That’s brutal. I watched the first 20 minutes of it the other night, he’s a pretty likeable bloke.

[Eamonn MacFheoras @ebermingham]

@FootballInT80s How good was Ian Rush, couple of great finishes.