Tuesday, 11 February 2020

Poor defending cost Bournemouth against Sheffield Utd

Whatever we say about Bournemouth's game against Sheffield United, you can't get away from the fact that the team basically gave the game away with their inept defending. I think that is what upset Eddie Howe more than anything else. It wasn't amazing play that undid the defence for the two goals, but it was a failure to clear and not being alert that cost the Cherries three points.
Bournemouth simply can't afford to gift the goals they are giving away
To be fair the goals had been coming. The pressure that Bournemouth came under for the first goal was unrelenting before half-time. I couldn't see how the goal was leading such a charmed life. But Aaron Ramsdale gave me hope that he could perhaps keep Sheffield United at bay. But he didn't punch well, in the lead up to the first goal and the ball was not cleared. It only needed an instinctive finisher to put the ball in the net, and Billy Sharp was well enough positioned for that.
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The timing of Sheffield United's first goal was a crushing blow. You could see the players look physically drained by the goal and the half-time talk would have been so much different of they team had held out. The second half began just as the first ended. There were a couple of half chances for Nathan Aké, and of course Ryan Fraser, but Bournemouth didn't look like getting ahead again, and while the team came under greater pressure again, nothing seemed to change.

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The team could have played out for a draw and Sheffield United fans though there was time-wasting going on, even when Bournemouth were 0-1 up in the first half. But the players didn't even think clearly in the last 10 minutes. It is pretty much always the most important minutes of a game, and whether they were tiered or just not paying attention, it was rightly described by some as atrocious the way the defence didn't get anywhere near closing down play as Lundstrum had an easy finish.

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Bournemouth are still creating their own problems and they'll need to start defending properly, if they are to make a better fist of staying up.

 Previous post on Cherry Chimes -  Sheffield United put Bournemouth back in the mire
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1 comment:

  1. Jim Smith11 February 2020 at 09:35

    I think that there are players in the side that are just not good enough. They walk back after a failed attempt going forward. They ball watch & don’t look as to who is the player they should be marking. We should not keep making the same mistakes over & over again. Certain players have passed there time at the club. We should be looking to the future players not the past players.

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