Sunday, 9 February 2014

What stopped AFCB from beating Bolton?

Eddie Howe has already spoken about the early goals that AFCB have been shipping. It is a little worrying that the team find it so hard to get the first goal. Yet coming from behind shows mental toughness and a desire that is the steal running through this team. It is that factor that will see them safe this season I believe.
Chung-Yong Lee has kept his best performances
for when he played against AFCB this season.
Yes, AFCB are not yet doing everything right in managing the game and getting caught out in moments when they could be more alert of the danger. Sometimes that comes with experience though. Bolton still have the nucleus of a side that has played at a higher level and they took advantage of one or two lapses that some stronger defending might have dealt better with. AFCB are prone to slipping behind in games.

For most of the match though I am sure that it was Dougie Freedman that was feeling the pressure. His side were not able to win the midfield battle or retain possession for long periods. In front of your home crowd that is a problem and if the Cherries had scored first I believe it would have been a different outcome. 
AFCB strikers still need more time to click.
We have seen sides that are not too adventurous that have come to the Goldsands stadium and have set themselves out to merely stay in the game and try and take the one two opportunities that come their way. But Eddie Howe wants to play entertaining football. Such style is open to some risk taking and the Bolton game was one of those when in trying to get back on terms AFCB shipped a second goal. But as soon as Grabban scored the momentum was all with Bournemouth.

Bolton still defended well and managed to hold on to a point despite the best efforts of the Cherries. Bogdan made some crucial saves. If you are a Bolton player it can't have been easy to see your two goal lead wiped out when every point is so vital now. 

AFCB didn't quite get the third goal that some of their play perhaps deserved. Individual errors occur in front of goal at both ends of the pitch and, while AFCB's forwards are not all firing on the same level at the moment, I can see them sticking away their chances in a few games before the end of the season. 

Some team will probably be on the end of a heavy score line from the Cherries this season. By introducing Rantie and Kermorgant into the fold it will take a little while for them to know each others game well enough for moves to become second nature to them. 

A draw was probably a fair reflection of the game in the end. But the point looks a better one for AFCB than it does for Bolton at this stage of the season.

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