Alex Smith, Bournemouth Daily Echo: Cup run a priority for Cherries | OneFootball

Putting together a cup run is amongst Andoni Iraola's highest priorities this season, explains Alex Smith, senior sports journalist at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

Brentford face the Cherries in round two of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening at Vitality Stadium (7.45pm kick-off BST).

Bournemouth opened the new Premier League season with a trip to Liverpool on 15 August. What did you take from their first competitive outing of 2025/26?

It was a good performance from Bournemouth, actually, though the scoreline perhaps did not really reflect the game itself.

The Cherries put in an encouraging performance, particularly after weathering an early storm and going two goals down.

To get level at 2-2 showed great character, and for it to still be 2-2 after 87 minutes was brilliant, so it was a bit gutting to lose it late on.

It was a good showing, all in all, and there were a lot of positives in defeat, looking ahead to the rest of the season.

What have you made of their business and do you think they need to do any more?

They do need to do some more but, overall, they have done pretty well and, so far, they have replaced all but one of the outgoings.

They lost the two centre-backs who were pretty much the mainstays of the backline for most of last season - Dean Huijsen went to Real Madrid and Illia Zabarnyi went to PSG - but they have only brought in one centre-back in Bafodé Diakité, so they will need to get in another. That is quite a clear priority.

But they have replaced Milos Kerkez at left-back with Adrien Truffert. He looks a very good signing; certainly at Anfield, he looked bright down that left-hand side.

And, in goal, Kepa Arrizabalaga went back to Chelsea after his loan spell, then signed for Arsenal. They have replaced him well with Djordje Petrovic.

Against Liverpool, there was not too much he could have done about any of the four goals. As a keeper, he probably was not pleased with conceding four goals, but I do not think there was too much he could have done.

He certainly looks like a handy keeper and is only 25 as well which, in goalkeeper terms, is quite young. In terms of forward replacements, a couple of wingers will be needed.

They have signed both Ben Gannon Doak from Liverpool and Amine Adli from Bayer Leverkusen.

An underrated thing they have done is move on squad players. Neto has gone, Mark Travers has gone, Jaidon Anthony has gone, Joe Rothwell has gone - all players who were on loan last season and have come back, then been moved on quite well.

They have managed to get a bit of money from all of them, too, and the key thing is they are off the wage bill.

The Cherries have made the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in three of the last 11 seasons. How high on the list of priorities is a good cup run for Andoni Iraola?

A cup run is always fairly high on his priorities. Certainly last season, he didn't play a particularly weakened team in any of the cup games that the Cherries played, even against West Brom in the FA Cup.

That might have been seen as a bit of an opportunity to rest players, but he rested one or two and still started with the first-choice core of the team.

Iraola always tries to go for the cups, so I do not think that will change this season and he will be looking at a cup run.

There will be a bit of frustration from last season in the Carabao Cup, after he felt aggrieved to be knocked out in the second round to West Ham.

That was a pretty close game that was settled by a goal that, had there been VAR, would have been ruled out after a Jarrod Bowen handball. I think there will, perhaps, be a bit of keenness to right that wrong.

Which player should Brentford be keeping an eye out for on Tuesday?

If Antoine Semenyo continues his form from the opening night, he is going to be a massive threat this season for the Cherries, so he is the obvious one to look out for, as is Truffert, who put in some good crosses against Liverpool.

David Brooks was also very good in pre-season and against Liverpool, so he will be looking to threaten.

What should Keith Andrews’ men expect in terms of shape and style?

Andoni Iraola’s style is pretty set. It is a 4-2-3-1, usually with quite a high press.

He looks to win the ball high up the pitch and hit teams on the transition and the counter attack, if they can. They scored their two goals against Liverpool from the counter, so that will be what they try and do.

They try and play with a lot of energy. It may be slightly different to what it was at Anfield, as there are a couple of injuries in midfield, so it is not really the first choice for those two holding midfielders, with Tyler Adams playing that anchor role and then Alex Scott and Marcus Tavernier dovetailing off that and playing a bit more flexibly in midfield.

But it will be similar to what he does usually; there will be a lot of energy, a high press and hopefully lots of goals.

Brentford’s recent record in this fixture is good, with eight wins from the last 11. What’s your score prediction?

It is at home, so I think they will get it done.

They will be hoping to get one over Brentford after the two results last season, too, so I am going to go for 3-1 to Bournemouth.