Eddie Howe was not slow to point the finger at his own team who did not compete well enough at Huddersfield to give themselves much of a chance in the match. A positive result would have extended Bournemouth's unbeaten record to eight, but in the end the pressure of being in the bottom three worked better for Huddersfield on a day when strong mentality was needed.
In short, the defence was pretty awful on the day. The set-pieces were not well defended and Huddersfield are a big side that were always likely to profit when Bournemouth didn't match up well to good deliveries coming into the box. In all, it was too easy for Huddersfield. There was little Eddie Howe could take out of the match other than Junior Stanislas' magnificent side footed goal in the first half.
Huddersfield played well of course, but the travelling fans were promised that their early start would be rewarded, but it was never going to happen the way Bournemouth seemed to lose their way after winning the first two corners. AFCB didn't look up for it and as Eddie Howe says in this league, if you are not on your game there will only be one outcome.
Premier Talk - AFCB are still in a relegation battle
Daily Mail Fans' verdict
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| Bournemouth came up short at Huddersfield. |
Bournemouth looked indecisive and unable to find any intensity in their game. That is surprising after the good run that the Cherries have been on, but the energy levels in midfield seemed pretty low with Gosling never recovering from an early yellow card and nothing coming off for Lewis Cook. It wasn't one individual that was off, it was the whole team but the initial form was not helped by Simon Francis' inability to get back to defend a cross from van La Parra, when Pritchard stole in to get Huddersfield's first goal. There was also a bad error from Steve Cook in the second half that led to Huddersfield's third goal that Mounie finished well.
In short, the defence was pretty awful on the day. The set-pieces were not well defended and Huddersfield are a big side that were always likely to profit when Bournemouth didn't match up well to good deliveries coming into the box. In all, it was too easy for Huddersfield. There was little Eddie Howe could take out of the match other than Junior Stanislas' magnificent side footed goal in the first half.
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The question is why were Bournemouth so off colour? It was one game too much for loyalty perhaps and may be the team did need more of a shake up. But even the arrival of Josh King, Lys Mousset and Adam Smith couldn't improve the situation and Dan Gosling was perhaps a little lucky in the end not to get two yellow cards having made the foul for the penalty in the last few minutes.
Huddersfield played well of course, but the travelling fans were promised that their early start would be rewarded, but it was never going to happen the way Bournemouth seemed to lose their way after winning the first two corners. AFCB didn't look up for it and as Eddie Howe says in this league, if you are not on your game there will only be one outcome.
Premier Talk - AFCB are still in a relegation battle
Daily Mail Fans' verdict
It shows how desperation can produce results. See also Newcastle v. Man United. It started so well with the two corners, it almost seemed too easy for us and the Stanislas goal convinced me that it was just a matter of time before we took the game over. Will say that while Chelsea and Stoke seemed to fall to our superior fitness later in those games, Huddersfield just kept coming and we did not respond. Only one game out of many important ones, and while just 5 points clear, I like the fact that we have lots of teams below us.
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