Making a fast start to life under the tutelage of Iraola – who was the beneficiary of Gary O’Neil’s controversial sacking – Bournemouth put four unanswered goals past Hibernian in their pre-season opener before ending their Spanish training camp with a 1-0 defeat to Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The Cherries returned to victorious ways in a 3-2 success over Southampton on the South Coast, but their win-loss sequence continued when Atalanta made the trip to King’s Park on July 29, as La Dea pushed speculation over Rasmus Hojlund’s future to one side to run out convincing winners.
Joakim Maehle and Teun Koopmeiners both breached the Bournemouth backline before Marcos Senesi gave the Cherries a glimmer of hope, but Emmanuel Latte Lath restored the visitors’ two-goal advantage a few minutes before the end.
Iraola lamented second-half fatigue from his side after a respectable 60-minute period, but Bournemouth are running out of time to return to peak physical fitness, as the visit of Lorient will mark their final tune-up game ahead of another possible scrap for Premier League safety.
Bournemouth will open their top-flight season at home to West Ham United before two tough affairs with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur before the end of the month, but first comes a showdown with a side who are no strangers to doing business with the Cherries off the pitch.
Since returning to the big time in the summer of 2020, Lorient just about kept their heads above water with back-to-back 16th-placed finishes in Ligue 1, before Regis Le Bris led Les Merlus on a brief European charge in the 2022-23 campaign.
Lorient entered the World Cup break sitting fifth in the standings – which would have been enough for Europa Conference League qualification – but Le Bris’s side subsequently faded away in the second half of the campaign to wind up in 10th place
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Still, breaking into the top half of the rankings marked a significant period of progress from the Brittany outfit, who have also gone through four summer friendlies unbeaten, firstly playing out a pair of successive draws with Concarneau (3-3) and Guingamp (2-2).
Les Merlus finally managed to shut up shop in a 2-0 win over Le Havre before locking horns with Derby Breton rivals Nantes on Wednesday, coming away with a 3-1 victory courtesy of efforts from Bamba Dieng, Pablo Pagis and Darline Yongwa.
Going through a quintet of summer friendlies unbeaten would be just what the doctor ordered for Lorient, especially as the visitors’ Ligue 1 opener on August 12 comes at the home of none other than perennial champions Paris Saint-Germain.
