When Bournemouth played Swansea and Southampton there was a feeling that the team just wasn't creating enough. That was kind of masked a little by the fact that those games at least put points on the board, and yet the Man United game saw much more attacking play from the Cherries and they got nothing for that. So what do they lack now - the final goal scoring shot?
 |
| AFCB certainly practise their shots a lot but finding the net is another matter in a match situation. |
Bournemouth have rotated their squad and tried different players to shake things up a bit and while it is disappointing that the team is slipping back towards danger, the playing side of the game has certainly been getting better. But what Bournemouth don't seem to have is a striker who is getting goals every week. In fact, while Callum Wilson and Jermain Defoe have been in the goals, neither of them have been able to follow it up straight away with another game when they have scored. Eddie Howe might be guilty there of rotating when a player was in form, but the standard of shooting also has to be questioned in many games.
Against United it's hard to level criticism at the shooting. Seven shots on target was excellent and while some of them could have been better placed to either side of De Gea, they did have a world class keeper to beat. It didn't prove easy and yet Bournemouth tried and tried. In some instances I do think the players look to get the perfect goal rather than just shoot and see what happens, but again in the Old Trafford match we saw Junior Stanislas shoot and the deflection could have helped the shot if he had been lucky. So AFCB are not always trying to be over precise but they aren't finding the net.
Charlie Daniels would have brought the house down if he had scored from his rocket of a shot in the first half. But power and ferociousness didn't do the trick either and perhaps Bournemouth's players just need to keep doing a little extra shooting in training to get that feeling back that they are going to score, because it will take the pressure off Defoe and Wilson a bit if goals are being spread a round a bit more.
ASK Fans' Match Report Man Utd 1 v 0 AFCB
ASK Fans' Match Report Man Utd 1 v 0 AFCB
Peter, have you noticed in the pre-match warm up how few of the practice shots either are on target or hit the back of the net?
ReplyDeleteThe "provider" in the warm up feeds the ball in unrealistically compared to a match condition... is it any wonder that in the match there is a lack of confidence. All that practice should have occurred before the prematch "training" / warm-up. In the days of Macdougall he had a 6 yard routine with the first tem goalkeeper for both to be properly warmed up. The rest of the team in today's warm up do a proper session. What do you think- observe v Liverpool and compare!