The game at Leicester was delicately poised with Bournemouth seeming to be running out of steam in the second half. From being the dominant force they fell back to defence mode and were basically overrun in the end despite a valiant attempt to hold out at the King Power Stadium. But I want to know what were players doing on the bench who might have been able to change the game if they were fully fit, but were not up to being risked?
I feel for players like Dan Gosling and Lewis Cook who travelled the miles on the pitch at the King Power and deserved to be on a winning side. The team has to defend as a whole and there were too many corners and one too many free kicks in the end to live through for the Cherries.
In conclusion, I'd say that setting up the way Howe did second half was not really of his choosing. More it was a case of needs must. The season is long and even with the break in Portugal, AFCB are finding themselves stretched. It is just bad luck when players like Marc Pugh have been desperate to get on for the last few matches are not available when they could have made a difference in this match. Backed into a corner. Bournemouth did all they could to hold on to their lead, but bodies in the way weren't enough to stop Riyad Mahrez in the end.
StrataBet stats supplies Cherry Chimes with statistics on AFC Bournemouth.
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| Was Fraser's back so bad that he wasn't really even an option on the bench? |
Eddie Howe mentioned after the game that Ryan Fraser had a back problem and it appears that he wasn't going to be risked while the absence of Marc Pugh and Jordan Ibe left Howe short of wingers and reliant on calling up 18-year-old Kyle Taylor. Stanislas was made to play 90 minutes and was not on form all game, but when the point came when Eddie felt he had to make a change in the second half all he could do was put on Andrew Surman and look to shut up shop. Nine times out of 10 it might have worked, but Bournemouth have never been a team that are good in playing out games Italian style for a 0-1 win. They don't have the world-class defenders to do it as has been mentioned only last week by Cherry Chimes.
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In conclusion, I'd say that setting up the way Howe did second half was not really of his choosing. More it was a case of needs must. The season is long and even with the break in Portugal, AFCB are finding themselves stretched. It is just bad luck when players like Marc Pugh have been desperate to get on for the last few matches are not available when they could have made a difference in this match. Backed into a corner. Bournemouth did all they could to hold on to their lead, but bodies in the way weren't enough to stop Riyad Mahrez in the end.
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