Tuesday, 7 May 2019

Victory over Spurs could have been bigger

Bournemouth found it very hard to get the victory over Tottenham. I expect that some of that was because of the mental knowledge that Spurs were not a team that they had beaten before as well as how well organised the eight outfield players were for Spurs. But if the team had played for longer in the second half like it did in the last 10 minutes it could have been a better win.

Bournemouth had everything in their hands to win the game. They had reduced Spurs to nine men and they had their best strikers on the pitch, and even added Lys Mousset for more fire power when Ibe started to fade. The shots went up to 20 from Bournemouth after 90 minutes but only six of those were on target. I didn't feel that Bournemouth played with enough directness or speed after Sours had received their second red card, and almost expected an opportunity to present itself rather than look to stretch Spurs with their pace of attack.
A 1-0 win over nine men is a massive win for AFCB.
In the end the goal came from a set-piece. Simpson would have perhaps been the player I'd most expect to get a header in on goal, but Aké has been in the right area for grabbing the odd goal and he was delighted to get the late winner. After all the playing from the back and main strikers being on the field it was a surprise that Bournemouth would only break Tottenham's defence with a header from a corner.
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While Bournemouth didn't pepper the Spurs goal continually, there were moments when Fraser and Ibe looked like they would outstrip Tottenham's back line and it would have only needed one good cross to find King or Wilson in space. The covering that Spurs did was exceptional and their players got back into position very quickly. Bournemouth will have to learn from this experience that they have to push on when their opposition has a player or two sent off and really make the most of that advantage.

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