The selection problems that Eddie Howe had for the Liverpool match were much more severe than we could have imagined on the morning of the game. Junior Stanislas would have been in most fans' starting eleven, but with a thigh injury ruling him out and with Charlie Daniels unavailable, Howe ended up picking Kyle Taylor and Sam Surridge on the bench.
Poor Josh King had the kind of game where as a striker you wonder really if it is almost worth you being out on the pitch. The team were far more engaged in dealing with Liverpool's forward play than trying to ensure King could feel part of the game. He did get some support in the second half when Solanke was brought on. But could AFCB have gone with a more adventurous set up from the start?
I believe Howe could have been more lucky had Fraser got an early goal, but it was always going to be a tall order to hold off Liverpool for 90 minutes.
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| AFCB need a way out of these defeats. |
Out of all the teams AFCB have to play, Liverpool would not have been a favourite pick for Howe on this day. But the fixtures are what they are and AFCB have to complete the fixture list no matter how many players they may have out. In those circumstances it was not wrong for Howe to pick a very defensive set up, but was it just a little too defensive in nature?
Poor Josh King had the kind of game where as a striker you wonder really if it is almost worth you being out on the pitch. The team were far more engaged in dealing with Liverpool's forward play than trying to ensure King could feel part of the game. He did get some support in the second half when Solanke was brought on. But could AFCB have gone with a more adventurous set up from the start?
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It's hard to tell what might have happened if AFCB had played with two men up front. Howe clearly didn't feel it was the best option with the players he had and even with five in midfield the team struggled to find a way of keeping Liverpool out in the first half.
I believe Howe could have been more lucky had Fraser got an early goal, but it was always going to be a tall order to hold off Liverpool for 90 minutes.
Painful to watch,when AFC are good they are very very good ,when they are bad,Ibe very talented but didn't turn up ,Gosling,gave the ball away to much ,was always going to be hard ,take nothing away liverpool were very good ,but so are AFC on their day, onwards and upwards eh,
ReplyDeleteWith Surman and gosling in the middle the best they could count is 3 and 1/2 may be 4 as these 2guys are too slow to play against Liverpool and city.
ReplyDeleteMore creativity by Howe in game mgmt is much needed