Sloppy goals need addressing by Howe

I felt  Bournemouth were a bit under the weather at Brighton. The conditions might not have helped as the fire in Bournemouth's belly only really got going when they found themselves behind. It is not the situation that Howe will want to see replicated too many times, but the unwillingness to lose the game certainly brought a reaction out after Brighton put themselves in front twice.

Both Francis and Cook have had problems playing
out from the back in the last two games.

The goals that Brighton scored where taken well, but had a large element of Bournemouth poor play about them. The first was anonymous of a Bournemouth tackle as play moved swiftly from the left to the right and Knockaert found himself unopposed as he closed in on goal. Bournemouth just seemed slow out of the blocks and almost unaware of the danger until it was too late. You might have felt that the team would tighten up after such a goal, but the second goal by Glenn Murray was worst still with Francis not making his pass and the speed of the attack opening Bournemouth right up.

Francis had difficult in keeping pace with Izquierdo all afternoon and it was not surprise when he finally got booked for trying to get to him. Bournemouth do have more pace at the back when Aké is in the team and they seem more vulnerable without him. While Steve Cook often gets AFCB out of trouble, even he had his hands full with the power of Glenn Murray, and it was a front line for Brighton that asked plenty of questions about Bournemouth's defence.

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The main danger I expected would come from corners and yet Bournemouth dealt with those quite well. It is the first time when I have seen a team have such abundant pace to hurt the Cherries. In a way, Brighton used the weapon that Bournemouth are so good at using against their opponents. Had the game come 48 hours later Brighton might not have found it so easy, but it was crucial that Bournemouth fought back for the point.