Did Bournemouth get too wrapped up in the heat of the Burnley game?

There is an element of my thinking that says Bournemouth got too wrapped up in the Burnley game plan of battling rather than playing football. The free kicks were far too many and the players needed to get down to running with the ball, rather than retaliate for getting clipped. Of course, we are not taking the knocks and as a player it must be annoying to keep being persistently fouled. But the idea has to be to play to your own team's strengths and not get mixed up in how the other team want the game to be run.

Bournemouth ended up playing Burnley's game.

To beat the physical game, you need players that are going to raise their skill levels. They need to be quick on the ball and have great touch to leave the opposition behind. There was no emphasis on quick play around the box, and getting caught up in the battles was only going to make it a dull and scrappy game.

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The crowd got caught up in the battle as well. It didn't create the kind of atmosphere for a decent game. Perhaps we didn't like the weather either, and Martin Atkinson didn't help with his let it go attitude to some very physical challenges. Sean Dyche says we can't have it both ways - no divers and no hard tackles, but there is a line on hard tackling and some challenges bordered on reckless.

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Dyche knows that it does put a passing side off to go in hard on them, and Bournemouth players need to look at how the better sides deal with the Burnley's of this world. Perhaps the referees are more protective to the top six sides, but it is usually quality that wins the day when Burnley play the best teams.

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