There was a crazy incident in the Brighton game which is probably going to be covered over, because in the end it didn't effect the result. It was the goal that never was, because of the thinnest of offside decisions against Dan Burn. VAR saved Bournemouth on this one occasion, but it was the manner of the defending that showed everything that is wrong about how Bournemouth are defending at the moment.
It was pandemonium in Bournemouth's box. Steve Cook was falling over having lost a header. Philip Billing was not putting any power in his clearance and the ball was bouncing around in the box with no Bournemouth player able to get a solid clearance away. Then Burn turned his big frame and managed to get the ball down and under control to hammer it in past Ramsdale. The goal was struck off but really it was a good example of how poorly Bournemouth are thinking when trying to clear their box and it was almost an injustice to Brighton that the goal did not stand.
Bournemouth were lucky in that instance and I'd hoped that they would get a grip of the game from then, knowing that they were fortunate not to be 2-0 down and still had a good chance of getting something from the game. While the substitutions came with Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser coming on, they did nothing to change the flow of the game when the team needed a stronger central midfield.
Before long all three subs were used up and Jack Stacey got injured and had nobody to replace him. It was poor decision making over the subs and the let off from VAR had not been taken advantage of. VAR had given Bournemouth a lifeline and I have to say Eddie and Jason got it wrong with their choices after that. The original team selection is also likely to have been insufficient to deal with Brighton's game, but the way Bournemouth are playing, I wonder if there were any 11 players that Eddie could have put out to do much better with the way the players as a whole are playing.
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The first goal was also a good indication of what’s going wrong. Three Brighton attackers against six defenders. Everyone backs off, then three Bournemouth players dive in, leaving one of the Brighton players free in the box.
ReplyDeletePoor defending has been a constant theme of 2019 as a whole. It’s a pity it hasn’t been sorted out. It could cost us dearly