Marcos Senesi (185cm/6’1”, 80kg/176lbs) has been one of the big winners of 2025/2026 thus far, with the current campaign looking likely to end up being Senesi’s most impactful season for AFC Bournemouth since his first in the Premier League.
Senesi has been with the Cherries since the summer of 2022, when he joined from Eredivisie side Feyenoord for €15m.
After a couple of injury-disrupted seasons, Senesi has stepped up for Bournemouth following the big-money summer departures of Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid for €62.5m and Ilya Zabarnyi to PSG for €63m.
He’s been a near ever-present for Andoni Iraola this term, starting all of the Cherries’ league games so far at left centre-back.
His impressive performances in 2025/2026 earned the 28-year-old his first Argentina cap since 2022, potentially putting him in the picture for a place in Lionel Scaloni’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.
This scout report analyses Marcos Senesi style of play in Andoni Iraola Bournemouth tactics.
We’ll analyse why Senesi has proven crucial in Bournemouth’s largely positive start to the campaign despite their summer sales, as well as the key traits that have made the Cherries centre-back one of the MVPs in the world of Fantasy Premier League this term!
Marcos Senesi Stats
The pizza chart below provides an overview of Marcos Senesi’s game, utilizing data analysis.
To summarise the data, Marcos Senesi profiles as an ultra-progressive centre-back in possession who commits a very high number of defensive actions per game.
Marcos Senesi Pizza Chart 2025/2026
Senesi’s pass volume is above average, while he ranks well inside the top quartile for progressive pass and dangerous pass volume.
His pass accuracy is relatively low.
That’s a further symptom of Senesi’s progressive nature: he’ll typically look to take riskier passing opportunities to try to create a chance for his side rather than opting for a patient, more reserved option.
This aggressive, proactive mindset carries over into Senesi’s out-of-possession performance, as evidenced by his ranking in the top quartile for both defensive duel volume and aerial duel volume, as well as the ‘positioning’ metric, which is a combination of tackles and interceptions.
Marcos Senesi Tactics Out Of Possession
The attributes of anticipation, pace, and tackling technique, combined with Marcos Senesi’s proactive, aggressive mindset, have made him a valuable component of Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth system this term.
Senesi focuses rarely on the space behind him and the Cherries’ backline.
Instead, the Argentinian left centre-back is always looking to step out of his team’s defensive line and defend the space in front of them.
Here, Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta has dropped off into the half-space to try and help his team progress into Bournemouth’s half.
Alert to the forward’s movement and the Eagles’ intentions, Senesi wastes no time following the striker, giving him no time or space to receive between the lines.
Senesi closes Mateta down quickly and aggressively, timing his tackle to perfection.
The aftermath of Senesi’s tackle sees the Argentina international calmly playing a little through pass to begin a Bournemouth counterattack through the middle of the park following the successful defensive duel with Mateta.
This move, in particular, highlights what has made Senesi such a valuable part of Andoni Iraola’s team this season.
In addition to the proactiveness, aggression, and technical quality on display in the defensive duel, we see Senesi’s calmness and composure with the ball.
He never hesitates to try to shut down opposition attacks with authority.
He loves to play progressive football, creating opportunities for his side to advance and hurt the opponent fast.
These traits are perfect for the principles shaping Andoni Iraola’s side in 2025/2026.
Figures 4 and 5 show another example of Marcos Senesi’s proactive defending, this time against Tottenham Hotspur.
Here, the direct opponent is Richarlison.
Spurs try to find the Brazilian forward as he drops into the half-space between Bournemouth’s backline and midfield line.
Again, Senesi is alert to Richarlison’s movement and makes his decision quickly to follow the striker as he drops off.
Anticipation, pace, and technique combine again to help Marcos Senesi nip in front of the intended receiver, win the ball back, and kickstart a Cherries counterattack.
Marcos Senesi carried the same mentality into his international cap last month, helping La Albiceleste quickly shut down this Venezuela attack.
Above, we see Venezuelan movement between the lines, which acts as a signal for Marcos Senesi to jump forward.
As we saw in the previous examples with Bournemouth, Marcos Senesi’s anticipation, pace, and tackling technique were on point here.
He closed down the intended recipient fast and aggressively inserted himself between the attacker and the ball, winning possession for Argentina.
The key points regarding Marcos Senesi’s defense are that the 28-year-old is extremely comfortable stepping out of the backline and defending proactively.
He actively seeks out defensive duels and opportunities to intercept, hence his high volume of defensive actions.
His duel success rate varies, as you’d expect with him committing to such a high volume per game.
The biggest downside to Senesi’s style of defending is that if he comes out of the engagement unsuccessfully or misjudges the moment to jump from the backline, he’ll leave a major gap in the Bournemouth defence for the opponent to target.
This is where the traits of anticipation, pace, and tackling technique prove invaluable and why 2025/2026 has been largely positive for Senesi thus far.
Senesi’s defensive style suits his role in Bournemouth’s out-of-possession tactics.
He effectively patrols the space between the midfield and defensive lines aggressively.
However, lapses in concentration could prove costly should they occur, and if opponents study Senesi’s defensive style, they could prepare to exploit it with intelligent movement.
Marcos Senesi Tactics In-Possession
Marcos Senesi carries the theme of high risk, high reward over into his in-possession approach.
The Argentinian has played the most progressive passes (14.52 per 90) and the most long passes (12.78 per 90) of any centre-back with at least 400 minutes under their belt in England’s top-flight this term.
If presented with two passing options: a safe short pass and a risky long ball, Senesi will likely choose the latter.
He’s always getting his head up and looking for progressive passing options, which can get his team into goalscoring positions more quickly.
Senesi’s attacking teammates are aware of his passing range and playmaking instincts.
They frequently aim to exploit space behind opposing backlines via their movement when he’s got the ball.
Bournemouth’s 3-1 win over Fulham in early October was arguably Marcos Senesi’s most impressive in-possession display of the season so far.
Above, we see an instance of Senesi receiving with plenty of space early on in the game.
The centre-back got his head up, spotted a long passing opportunity, and pulled the trigger to try and get that teammate away in behind the opposing backline.
Evanilson made a great run that invited Marcos Senesi’s long pass.
He successfully got on the end of the left centre-back’s pass but failed to control the ball, which led to the attack breaking down.
Figures 10 and 11 below show a similar example from later in the first half of the same game.
Again, Senesi receives under no pressure, giving him time and space to pick his pass.
Again, Evanilson provides a solid option to Senesi.
However, as we saw previously, the Brazilian forward fails to control the ball.
Still, though these examples failed to yield returns for the Cherries in terms of goals, they are representative of Marcos Senesi’s deep playmaking role and progressive nature at left centre-back in Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth team.
The long passes we saw in the previous two examples were undoubtedly tricky to control.
It’s no wonder Evanilson struggled to deal with those opportunities effectively.
Yet Senesi’s vision is a key feature of his game, and the Cherries significantly benefited from it in the 2025/2026 season.
Figures 12 and 13 show Marcos Senesi providing an assist for Bournemouth versus Tottenham Hotspur.
The centre-back picks the ball up on the edge of the final third with Bournemouth in the chance creation phase, and the opponent puts no pressure on him.
He spots a run from Evanilson targeting space to the left of the Spurs box and executes a perfectly weighted through pass into the forward’s path.
This time, Evanilson controls the ball better, turns, and takes a shot that ends up in the back of the Tottenham net.
For Bournemouth, when Senesi’s in possession, that’s a signal for attackers to look for ways to exploit space behind the opponent’s backline and take advantage of their centre-back’s passing ability.
Opponents must be more aware of the threat the left centre-back poses and close him down sooner to avoid the issues Spurs and Fulham experienced in these examples.
Conclusion
Marcos Senesi’s key traits have been successfully accentuated by Andoni Iraola tactics in and out of possession in 2025/2026.
As a result, Senesi has been a key player for Bournemouth in their competitive start to the season, helping the Cherries to earn 18 points from their first 10 games, which leaves them fourth a quarter of the way into the season.
Marcos Senesi’s Bournemouth form has put him on Lionel Scaloni’s radar, which is a testament to the positive noise he’s been creating around himself in 2025/2026 thus far.
Should Senesi maintain his fitness, he could well help Bournemouth to a very strong league position come the end of the campaign and potentially even earn himself a seat next to Lionel Messi on the plane to next summer’s World Cup.
