Sunday, 24 December 2017

Chasing the game at City was too much for Cherries

Eddie Howe was clear that Bournemouth did all they could have done in the match against Man City. Whether the manager was right to have a go at 2-0 down is a decision that he took perhaps for the away supporters and for the player's own morale rather than sit back, and AFCB's strengths are going forward, so the result is where Bournemouth are in respect to Man City.
AFCB have to work together to get out of this situation.

When Lys Mousset and Benik Afobe came on they could not do much to change the momentum. Had they won more ball and made Man City defend more it could have been interesting if Bournemouth had got a goal, but in reality AFCB struggled to test Ederson all game. Callum Wilson did a lot of running, but didn't get any real chances to score and playing with Ibe and Stanislas either side of him that plan was soon disrupted after Stanislas had to come off early.

The 3-4-3 formation soon became 5-4-1 as Man City pressed Bournemouth into mistakes. The game was really gone when City got their first goal. The way the game fell away from Bournemouth was down to some poor play at the back after a weak kick from Begovic that heaped more pressure on the defence, and they just didn't manager to clear the ball and that led to Man City's first goal. When a team is pinned so far in its own box an agricultural clearance is surely acceptable but AFCB overplayed the ball in a dangerous area.

Whether Eddie Howe's game plan was sound or not against Man City it is the matches to come now against West Ham and Everton where Eddie Howe must be able to rouse his players to get some points. If the calendar year ends with two further defeats, the Cherries will be more firmly in the bottom three and perhaps cut adrift. Howe can't afford to be in that position.

The headache now though is not necessarily morale but more having the players the manager wants to put out for games. While Howe says none of the recent injuries look long term, will he be able to call on some of them for the West Ham match? It looks like Defoe and Stanislas will certainly be out.

Bournemouth need to get back to getting ahead in games and not chasing them as they just come under too much pressure when they try to set out to defend, as we found out at Man City. UTCIAD!

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