Fulham expose more inconsistencies for Howe's men

Match Description

AFC Bournemouth 0 v 1 Fulham

20 April 2019

Attendance: 10,511

AFCB welcome Fulham to Dean Court.

Looking on paper this was Bournemouth's best chance of picking up three points form their remaining games, but football doesn't work that way. A Mitrovich penalty settled the match just after half-time. It was a game that will soon be forgotten by Bournemouth fans,  even if it was Eddie Howe's 500th managerial game. Poor shooting and a failure to grab hold of the game saw Bournemouth flounder in the heat and ultimately come up short.

Adam Smith was injured in the warm up and was replaced by Junior Stanislas at left back. But otherwise the team was the same as that which played so well at Brighton.

It's a hot, sunny, day in Bournemouth.

There are more images on Match Day Gallery.

There was no hanging about for Bournemouth at the start of this game. Fraser played a good ball up the line for Callum Wilson in the first minute only to see the striker hook his first shot over.

A corner was won by Bournemouth soon after and Aké had his header cleared off the line and Fraser then drilled a shot wide of the left post.

Mepham was caught with a high foot from Mitrovic before Brooks found himself left high and dry without the ball from a good tackle form Tim Ream. Gosling returned the high foot on Mitrovich as Fulham began to get more possession.

Aké was in the thick of it making clearances, before Bournemouth went on the attack. Brooks had a shot blocked by Joe Bryan before Fraser crossed for King, who shot over from just six yards out.

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Bournemouth relied on Aké to head clear before Mitrovich put a shot wide. Fraser almost got the goal Bournemouth wanted with a direct run and shot that had Sergio Rico at full stretch in Fulham's goal.

When Wilson was fouled on the edge of the box Stanislas took the kick and pumped it over the bar. He hurt his knee and was subbed with Bournemouth bringing Jack Simpson on after 23 minutes.

Mitrovich pulled out wide before finding Sessegnon who fired a shot across the face of goal. Lerma was playing so deep that he was splitting the centre-backs, and was often Bournemouth's back player. He was playing some great balls though from the back and picked out Fraser some 50 metres down the pitch.

A mistake saw Steve Cook have to battle back against Mitrovich and put in a brilliant tackle just as the forward reached the box on 34 minutes. Boruc had to make a save from Denis Oddi's header from the corner.

Both Zambo Anguissa and Michael Sheri saw shots go over as Fulham got stronger as the half went on.

Mepham fouled Babel just before half-time but it ended 0-0 after 45 minutes.

A goalless first half.

Second half
Fulham attacked quickly with Micheal Seri crossing for Babel to head over. Fraser won a free kick that almost led to Bournemouth Scoring. Wilson just couldn't get the ball to drop and the chance went begging.

Simpson caught Mitcovich in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Mitrovich calmly stroked the ball in to Boruc's right. It was 0-1 to Fulham on 53 minutes.

King put in a good cross but Oddi chested it down for Sergio Rico. Fulham's fans were singing 'One-nil to the championship!'

Michel Seri was finding more and more space and Babel couldn't take advantage of it. Eddie Howe decided to sub Josh King for Solanke on 61 minutes.

Joe Ryan got behind Bournemouth on the wing and Sessegnon had a chance to make it 0-2 but shot right at Boruc. Shortly after, Brouc had to save again from Sessegnon.

Bournemouth were getting sloppy and Steve Cook made a mistake in the middle, giving the ball to Sambo Anguissa, which he got back to recover.

A free kick for Wilson led to Gosling getting on the ball and Wilson shot but had the ball saved by Sergio Rico's legs, while Solanke couldn't get a shot off before Fulham cleared.

Fraser then shot well with Rico making the save as Wilson went in with his feet. A better chance fell to Fraser on 74 minutes, Gosling played the ball through to Fraser on the left who had his head up and shot over.

Mitrovic was carded for a bad challenge on Aké. Fulham kept coming forward with Babel before Mitrovich shot wide.

Mepham was subbed for Mousset on 77 minutes. Steve Cook was then carded for a bad foul  on Babel on 80 minutes.

Brooks got forward and crossed only to see the ball bounce of the bar with Gosling hoping for a better pull back at the far post. Lerma then put a deft chip over for Brooks who volleyed wide.

Fulham subbed Babel for Ayite with four minutes left. Solanke was making runs but couldn't get a shot away. Zambo Anguissa was subbed on 90 minutes for Nordtveit to come on.

With six minutes of added time Bournemouth had some time to get an equaliser but Fulham were time wasting. Mousset put the ball down for a goal kick and Oddi kicked the ball away. Rather than book Oddi the referee mistakenly assumed it was Rico who had time wasted and booked the Fulham keeper.

It was Fulham who might have scored again though. Sessegnon passed to Ayite who found Mitrovich, but it was  a weak shot that Boruc could easily save.

Then with time running out Bournemouth won a free kick. Mousset got his head on the end of it but headed weakly at goal and Rico made the save.

A 0-1 home defeat for the Cherries to the second bottom team.

Summary
Bournemouth kept plugging away but never looked like scoring. It was quite an outstanding reverse in terms of finishing quality to what we had seen only seven days ago at Brighton. Bournemouth weren't shot shy, but they just didn't ht the target with any power or belief that they would score. Fulham were perhaps fortunate to win a penalty, but they had a good amount of possession and organised themselves well against Bournemouth in the second half. A draw might have been a better reflection on the game, but it was a surprise three points for Fulham and their first away win of the season.

AFCB line up

AFCB Subs: Begovic, Simpson, Hyndman, Ofoborh, Surridge, Solanke, Mousset.

AFCB Ratings
Boruc 7, Stanislas 5 (Simpson 5) S Cook 7, Mepham 5, Aké 6, Brooks 6, Lerma 8, Gosling 6,
Fraser 7, King 6, Wilson 6

Eddie Howe and his staff looked isolated as the players
found it hard to come over half way to say sorry to the fans.

Cherry Chimes' MoM: Jefferson Lerma

Fulham
25 Rico, 4 Odoi, 20 Le Marchand, 13 Ream, 23 Bryan, 5 Chambers,
29 Zambo Anguissa (Nordtveit 89), 3 R Sessegnon, 24 Seri (Christie 79), 12 Babel (Ayité 86), 9 Mitrovic

Fulham Subs
7 Kebano, 11 Ayité, 14 Schürrle, 16 Nordtveit, 22 Christie, 31 Fabri, 56 Elliott

Referee watch - David Coote 3/10: The wrongful yellow card for Sergio Rico says it all. 

Are Fulham there for the taking for AFCB?

A quick assessment of Fulham might not give Eddie Howe too many concerns. While they are already relegated, Fulham have managed to get their first win under Scott Parker at home to Everton and in that match they managed their third clean sheet of the season.

AFCB managed a 0-3 win against Fulham earlier in
the season - two goals from Wilson and one from David Brooks

If Fulham's home form has added a glimmer of light to their fans the away form has not given their fans any pleasure having not won a match in 2019 on the road. Fulham did get a point away at Brighton last September and a draw with Newcastle in December, but it has usually been a journey full of defeats. On goal form, Fulham are ahead of Huddersfield, West Ham, Cardiff and Newcastle in their last six away games, but if they are scoring a goal in away matches they are usually conceding three or four as well.

If we put that against AFCB's home form in the last six matches, AFCB come out as the 10th best team in the league, scoring 10 and conceding seven goals. It looks like being a tall task for Fulham to get something from the game with Bournemouth.

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While Bournemouth need to be on the look out for players that could do better in a stronger team, it will be of interest to see how well Ryan Sessegnon does in this match, if selected. He has managed two goals and six assists in a struggling Fulham side, but could be snapped up by another Premier League team this summer. Tom Cairney has also been a key player for the London team despite only managing one assist and one goal. Ryan Babel got most of the praise for Fulham's win against Everton and Bournemouth will be aware of his talent, while Mitrovich can always find a goal and has done magnificently well to reach 10 goals this season for Fulham.

While AFCB will be favourites to win the match, we can perhaps see a possibility of Fulham scoring so I don't see this as a walkover, despite Bournemouth's morale boosting 0-5 win last time out at Brighton.

Fulham Away Form
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AFCB Home Form
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Score predictions
Send in your score predictions for AFCB v Fulham to @CherryChimes. We will pick a winner from the correct entries to win a Cherry Chimes' T-shirt.

Fulham are pleasing on the eye but have no defence

Having spend around £100m in the summer, I though that Fulham would be challenging around the middle of the Premier League table this season rather than sitting in the bottom three. Slavisa  Jakanovic witnessed a horror show at Cardiff last week and Fulham have now conceded 14 goals in their last three games and 25 in nine games!

 6 March 2015 - what a night!

Having had one win in their season so far and just one point from their last five games, I think we can say that Fulham are struggling at the moment. If the prospect of Bournemouth doesn't frighten their players then the fixture after that against Man City will.

Remember last time at Craven Cottage?

 
I think we had a good time!

There is some positive news for the Cottagers in that Ryan Sessegnon is the first Premier League player born in the year 2000 to score in this league. But when it comes in a 4-2 away defeat to relegation rivals Cardiff City, there is little to smile about. If Swansea push their full back up against Bournemouth they will be cruelly exposed. We Have not seen much of Jermain Defoe yet, but this could be his kind of game for a substitute appearance if Bournemouth can get ahead early.

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Mitrovic and Schurrle will keep Bournemouth honest, but Howe has to be targeting three points in this away game. Midfielder Tom Cairney is also back training for Fulham. Both teams like to attack so this could be a high-scoring game. But it is hard not to see Bournemouth leaving Craven Cottage on 20 points. Even though the Cherries had a blank last time out, they don't go many games without scoring and chances will come at Fulham.

AFCB possible line up.

AFCB Away Form
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Fulham Home Form
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Sadly, there is no Rival Lines this week. I'll try and get one organised with a Fulham blogger when we play them at home.

AFCB press conference

Watford press conference

In other news AFCB's match away at Tottenham on Boxing Day will now be at Wembley.

Competition - free to enter
Send in your score predictions to win a Cherry Chimes T-shirt. We will pick one winner from those who get the correct score between Fulham v AFCB. Answers must be in by midday - Tweet your score to @CherryChimes

Howe has to get the better of McClaren's Toons

Saturday will see another great battle for points at the Vitality stadium as Newcastle are the visitors and like the Cherries they desperately need the points. The Toon Army have similar problems to the Cherries in terms of confidence having earned just one win all season. If Steve McClaren loses this game though, he will surely come under even more pressure as fans see the gap above them to safety suddenly starting to widen.

It will be the first time that Steve McClaren has come back to the stadium since bringing his former Derby team who managed to claw a 2-2 draw against the Cherries in February, on that occasion in the Championship. So Steve knows Eddie Howe and Bournemouth's game well, and it will be his problem to come up with a way to defend against a team that he knows he can't afford to really lose to at this stage.

At the back they have been playing Daryl Janmaat and Chancel Mbemba along with Fabricio Coloccini and Paul Dummett, while Rob Elliot has come into the team for long term goalkeeping casualty Tim Krul. McClaren is probably going to have to make changes though as Elliot was suffering from a thigh problem even before their last match. Newcastle now have a goalkeeping crisis. Teenager Freddie Woodman may even have to play in goal against AFCB, although Ellliot hopes to recover in time. They have other problems too, as right back Daryl Janmaat is also a doubt having come off in the draw against Stoke City. Jamaal Lascelles, who replaced Janmaat in the game, is expected to fill in again if Janmaat can't recover in time.

Still, having kept a clean sheet against Stoke City at home in their last match, it is clear that Newcastle are going to make it hard for teams at St James' Park. When you look at their away outings though they look very fragile in defence. A humiliating 3-0 loss to the Black Cats was probably worse for their fans to suffer than the 6-1 drubbing at the Etihad. Newcastle are done the bottom for a reason. Like AFCB they let in too many goals.

They are also not a team though that strikes fear into other teams with their line up. In midfield Moussa Sissoko is probably the pick of their creative players, but one star performance from Georginhio Wijnaldum with his four goals against Norwich City marks him out as another player that the Cherries will have to be looking to stop. Newcastle have not played Pappa Demba Cisse up front since he came on as a sub in the last two minutes in the Norwich game. More often than not it is Ayoze Perez that has been given the role to support Aleksandar Mitrovic. Scoring has not been easy for them though and they have other concerns too about their general play.

The Cherries will roll up their sleeves for this one.

This is a huge game for both sides, but Eddie Howe has much in his favour with the match being at home and one of this being the longest away trip for the Magpies. A defeat for Newcastle would surely deflate them at this point, and it is a chance to change the direction of the season so far for the Cherries.

Newcastle Away Form
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AFCB Home Form
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