This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.
Whether Liverpool were incredibly good or AFCB were out of sorts is something that we can analyse to see what the main contribution was to the 0-4 scoreline at Dean Court. While Bournemouth have suffered home defeats in recent weeks to Arsenal and Man Utd, the comprehensive defeat to Liverpool was a real destruction of Bournemouth's home record.
The second half goals really dented AFCB's goal difference.
At half-time, it hadn't been a game where fans could have said Liverpool were going to be out of sight in the game. The Cherries had been very compact in defending and had been doing well to keep Salah, Shaqiri and Fermino relatively well restricted to a few chances. It appears that the goal that Salah did score in the first half should also have been ruled out and VAR would have done that next season.
Yet, the half-time break didn't do Bournemouth any favours. One mistake by Steve Cook and suddenly it was a very different game. Going 0-2 down after an individual mistake sucked the life out of Bournemouth. Liverpool had the gap they needed to start enjoying their football and an unfortunate third goal made the result rather conclusive. It didn't take Salah long to complete his hat-trick and the tormented shape of Asmir Begovic for the last goal cut a forlorn figure on the pitch. Considering that the first goal should never have been and two goals were unfortunate errors involving Steve Cook, one could argue that it was only the fourth goal that really saw Liverpool carve out a cleverly created opportunity that opened Bournemouth up. But if we take that view, we have to balance it with the truth that AFCB only had two shots on goal. David Brooks might have done better in the first half when he had a chance to score, but Allison had a fairly peaceful afternoon and from that point of view the Cherries were far less effective going forward than than they had been against the recent visits of Arsenal and Man Utd.
Added together, the result is more of a reflection of a downturn in Bournemouth's form for me than the outstanding goal form of Mo Salah or Liverpool's great play. So, Eddie Howe has less to draw on from this latest defeat than any of the other reverses against the top teams this season in my view. In other news, FA Cup Third Round match moved to 12.30pm on Saturday 5 January 2019.
Liverpool have always provided highly entertaining games with Bournemouth and there is no reason to think that this next encounter will be anything different with both teams displaying an appetite to win games. Liverpool may have had to score late on in recent games against Everton and Burnley, but they are keeping in the heels of Man City, having not lost in the league and only drawn two games.
Simon Francis and Jordan Henderson last season at Dean Court.
For Bournemouth to get something from this game they have to be at their very, very best. But recent away performances for Klopp's side have not been particularly smooth, despite six second half goals against Burnley and Watford. At home against Everton it was even more of a struggle with a 90+6 minute winner from Divock Origi.
Mo Salah has not been quite such dazzling form as he was last season but he has still scored seven goals, just one behind Callum Wilson while Mané is on six goals. It is the form of their midfield players like James Milner and summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri that have helped Liverpool stay on course for a title challenge. Liverpool are still averaging two goals a game, but there are plenty of options for Klopp. AFCB have not seen Naby Keita yet, and he could be up against Jefferson Lerma if Klopp doesn't play Henderson, Wijnaldum or Milner.
At the back they have been the hardest defence to play against conceding just six goals in 15 games. But Jurgen Klopp will have to make a change on Joe Gomes, who was injured in their last match against Burnley and is out for six weeks. So Dejan Lovren could be asked to step in. Meanwhile, Trent-Alexander Arnold and Andrew Robinson have been excellent in the full-back positions and along with Virgil van Dyke in the defence it is hard to see a weakness, even Alisson in goal has looked more assured in recent weeks. For AFCB I'm predicting an attacking formation with perhaps a swap for Tyrone Mings and Charlie Daniels and a four-man midfield after the injuries to Dan Gosling and Lewis Cook. Liverpool Away Form DWDWW AFCB Home Form WDLLW
Mousset with Ibe after a match winning performance.
It was always going to be a tricky match for the Bournemouth players coming off of such a high in mid-week and when Xherdan Shaqiri headed past Begovic on five minutes. That was bad enough but when Steve Cook limped off with a hamstring pull, Eddie Howe decided to change the shape of the team and put another striker on. Things were not going to plan and Stoke City were intent on pressing high and putting as many hard challenges in as they could. It was carnage at times and Bournemouth were not being allowed to play their passing game. But the introduction of Lys Mousset on the hour made a massive difference. He just got stuck in and started terrorising Ryan Shawcross. It was Josh King who found the net first with a solo effort curled in from the left side of the penalty box, before Lys Mousset rounded off a great striker's goal with a header from a free kick - it was Mousset's first Premier League goal.
Bournemouth looked to extend their six match unbeaten record.
Bournemouth named an unchanged team for this game. Why change a winning formula? The formation would be 3-4-3 and there was plenty of fire power on the bench with Mousset, King and Pugh.
Stoke City had their new signing Badou Ndiaye starting in midfield and Peter Crouch started up front.
AFCB mark the passing of former groundsman John Harris with a minute of applause.
Cherry Chimes lives every key moment of the match.
The Stoke fans came in numbers and had good voice from the start. They had something to shout about soon enough too. A good ball by Crouch to Shaqiri had Steve Cook having to clear off the line and when the danger looked to have passed, another cross from Ndiaye on the left was quickly fired into Xherdan Shaqiri who found himself unmarked and able to steer his header pass Begovic from eight yards out. Bournemouth were 0-1 down with five minutes played. Shaqiri stole n behind Aké and in front of Daniels.
If the rain was not bad enough the score line was a shocker for the Bournemouth fans. This was no Chelsea they were playing. The first half continued to run away from Bournemouth as Ibe put his first shot into the side netting.
Steve Cook then went down injured in his own box and limped off with a hamstring twinge after 11 minutes. Josh King replaced him on 13 minutes and Bournemouth moved to a back four with Fraser playing at right back.
Stoke new signing Ndiaye started getting on the ball and driving forward and Stoke were pressing up high on Bournemouth. Wilson made a good run after Lewis Cook tried to play him in over the top but Butland saved well.
The fouls started to escalate with Stoke seeming to get away with most of them. Choupo-Moting was nest to hook a shot just over as Stoke took control of the game. Bournemouth were misplacing passes, Daniels, King and Gosling were among the culprits. Wilson would get the service but wasn't getting much joy against Stoke's centre-backs.
Bournemouth's best move came on 35 minutes when King up the left found Ibe who shot well but Pieters made a dramatic block right on the line, while he ended up in the net. Wilson went down from the resulting corner but Paul Tierney waved away the penalty claim.
The referee did eventually give Ndiaye the first yellow card after he fouled Ibe. Bournemouth were creating corners but not a lot from them. Lewis Cook saw his effort blocked by Shawcross on the edge of the box. While Francis made a massive back pass from half way that didn't go down well with the home fans.
As half time approached there was more positivity about the Cherries' play with Stanislas having a shot saved. Shaqiri then received a yellow card for catching Gosling on the half way line. Still it was Stoke who were the happier going in 0-1 up at half time.
Thoughts at half time.
Josh King kicks off the second half.
Second half
Bournemouth started much better with Josh King forcing the first save from Jack Butland after a strong run down the left. Stoke were still doing well enough to get shots off and a warning came from Ndiaye who tried a bicycle kick that just flew wide on 52 minutes.
Bournemouth were starting to catch Stoke offside more often now. Gosling was the first Bournemouth player in the book for a challenge on Shaqiri, who seemed rather pleased with his work.
Josh King raised hopes as he ran into the box and had to jump a high challenge just to avoid getting hurt, but the referee saw it as simulation and book King. No penalty!
Eddie Howe responded by subbing Stanislas who had been having a quiet game with Lys Mousset on 59 minutes. Stoke almost extended their lead when Peter Crouched headed onto Bournemouth's bar! Bournemouth then started to mount some pressure with some corners. Aké even ventured forward and found Mousset well before the French striker shot and saw Butland push the ball away for a corner.
Wilson came closer still when he was played down the right side by Gosling only for Wilson to skew his shot across the goal and wide of the far post! Fraser was then caught by Choupo-Moting who was carded. Bournemouth kept the pressure on, and a deflected ball left King in space on the left of the box and he beat Butland on the angle to make it 1-1 on 70 minutes.
Now it was game on! Stoke subbed Ndiaye for Stafylidis. Mousset was bossing the play now and looked the most lively player on the pitch. A low cross from Gosling just needed a touch by Mousset at the near post but the ball squeezed past him and Butland somehow.
A free kick for Bournemouth on the right then gave the Cherries another chance and Ibe's cross was met by Mousset running in and heading past Butland to make it 2-1. The comeback was complete!
Suddenly, it was Bournemouth's time to run down the clock. On 83 minutes Stoke made a double substitution with Choupo-Moting replaced by Diouf and Crouch subbed by Berahino.
Bournemouth did not have much of a Stoke storm to whether and with four minutes of added time Pugh replaced Jordan Ibe. Bournemouth could have made the winning margin greater when Lewis Cook Slipped in Wilson but Butland made a good save.
Bournemouth take the three points and go up to ninth on 31 points.
Summary
This was not a game where Bournemouth played particularly well, but they got the win. The bullying tactics of Stoke didn't come off in the long run and the energy that the Bournemouth players had in the second half was too much for them. It was Lys Mousset though that took the game to another level. He was brave enough to be direct and put Stoke on the back foot. Comebacks are starting to be as regular as clockwork at Dean Court these days and as soon as the Josh King goal went in, it felt like Stoke were there for the taking. Stoke had played as well as they could, but the Cherries didn't want to drop any points and it was a great feeling to see Mousset get the winner. He'll now feel like he is a full contributor and that can only be good for Bournemouth going forward.
King also had a yellow card. AFCB Subs: Boruc, Simpson,
Arter, Surman, Pugh, Mousset, King.
AFCB Ratings
Begovic 7, Francis 6, S Cook 5 (King 7), Aké 7, Daniels 6, Fraser 7, L Cook 7, Gosling 7,
Referee Watch: Paul Tierney 1/10 - Oh, wouldn't it have been nice to have a referee who protected AFCB players in the first half? At least he did a bit better second half. Some of the challenges he let go were awful. T-shirt winner We had a winner of the Cherry Chimes T-Shirt! And @ShaunMcKinlay1 got it spot on 5 minutes for the first goal. Shame it was a goal for Stoke City! Congratulations to Shaun.
Rival Lines Match Preview Stoke City v AFCB 21 October 2017 Blogger Interview: Nathan Hildicth ASKFans
I was finding it hard to find a Stoke City Blogger as the site I went to last season seems to have folded. I can't blame that on Stoke's game against Man City last weekend, but I got a few failures to reply to my invitation until I hit upon Nathan who like me writes for ASKFans who do match previews and reports for all the Premier League teams. Luckily Nathan was more than happy to share his views ahead of Bournemouth's visit to the Bet365 stadium, you can also catch his lively match report from the unbelievable 7-2 City game on ASKFans. CC: Stoke were blown away last weekend by Man City, so I guess you'll be very pleased to be coming back to play a game at the Bet365 stadium?
The Bet365 stadium.
NHAF: Our away form this season has been nothing short of pitiful, so in that sense – yes, I will definitely be glad to be back at the Bet365. Plenty of teams will take a good hiding at the Etihad this season, but with only a point to show for on the road this season, we are reliant on our strong home form at the minute. CC: Has Mark Hughes delivered enough in his time at the club so far for the fans? NHAF:No, is the short answer. His first couple of years were a huge success and pushed Stoke forwards to a level beyond what we were capable of prior. In the concurrent two years however, Stoke have stuttered and are now starting to head backwards. We are a million miles away from where we were two years ago, and I think many fans feel like his time should have been up at the end of last season. We are grateful for what he has done for the club, but he is stubborn in the face of change and we can’t stagnate forever. CC: Has the departure of Marko Arnautovic been a blessing or a loss? NHAF:I’d love to tell you it was a blessing in disguise but I can’t honestly say that. As West Ham are learning he is a very enigmatic and inconsistent performer, so we definitely got a good price for him. Choupo-Moting has equally showed flashes of brilliance in the early stages so maybe he is not a bad substitution. We haven’t really sufficiently replaced him though, he was our most influential player by far for the last two seasons and we are going to miss that. CC: You've drawn with Man Utd and beaten Arsenal, so do you expect a stronger season than what was achieved last season? NHAF:Possibly, we didn’t beat a team that finished above us last season, until the final day of the season. Failing to beat 11 of the top 12 teams was a very poor showing for us, so the results are already an improvement on that. As I said prior though, we are totally lost away from home at the moment, if we don’t arrest the situation it could derail our entire season. We can only hope to achieve Premier League survival at best relying entirely on home form.
Peter Crouch is becoming a bit of a super sub.
CC: Is Peter Crouch proving that he might actually be the best striker at the club?
NHAF:Definitely, he was actually our top scorer last year, despite not featuring heavily and is our top scorer again so far this year. He has a wealth of experience as a striker and continues to do the business for us almost every time we play him. With Saido struggling and neither Jese or Choupo-Moting commanding enough in that role, Crouch is a great solution. Diouf is making a pretty good case for himself of late as well though. CC: What have you made of Kurt Zouma on loan from Chelsea? NHAF:I was initially underwhelmed by the signing, especially as we needed attackers at the time, but he’s great. He is one of our best performers every week, he’s quick, disciplined and dedicated, everything you could ask of a defender. It’s a shame we almost certainly won’t get to hold onto him after his loan expires.
CC: Was the signing of Darren Fletcher a masterstroke and were you surprised to get him? NHAF:No and no. Don’t believe everything you read, unless of course it’s my own Ask Fans match report. Fletcher is not good, I was not happy to sign him at all, given that it spelt the end for die-hard fan favourite Glenn Whelan. Fletcher is getting on a bit now and it shows, he’s been off the pace more than he’s been on it this season. He’s not mobile enough to get around the pitch well these days and he commits far too many errors. Joe Allen has done a spectacular job of picking up the slack in the middle this season but as it showed, when he didn’t play i.e. Bristol City and Manchester City we were way too permeable. Two defeats and nine goals conceded, he’s simply not cutting it at the minute and I’d like to see him dropped for Bournemouth.
Mr Shaqiri the balls right next to you!
CC: Has Xherdan Shaqiri lived up to his big name status in his time at Stoke and do you think he is capable of scoring more goals? NHAF:He has not yet lived up to his billing, his sporadic brilliance makes it obvious why things never worked out for him at Bayern. On his day, he is unplayable and one of the most tricky wingers in the league, those days are all too rare though. Not only is he capable of more goals he really needs to start delivering those goals, especially in the absence of Arnie. CC: Is there a Bournemouth player that you think could fit in well at Stoke City? NHAF:Insert front line hear! We have actually seen signs of an upturn in goals in the early stages of this season but attack continues to be a problem for Stoke. Ricardo Fuller is still our most potent striker in Premier League history with 11 goals in our first season up. Everyone who has come since has failed to beat that fairly achievable bar. I’d happily take Josh King, Callum Wilson or even Jermain Defoe to boost our strike rate this season. CC: How do you expect Stoke to line up against the Cherries? NHAF:Business as usual I expect, as I said Hughes has an aversion to change so doubtful he’ll change his plan from our other home games. We’re still in the midst of a defensive crisis so late tests will have to confirm our back line.
Possible Stoke City line up from Natahan.
CC: I may think Nathan might be a bit optimistic about how good AFCB's front line is looking at Bournemouth's record of goalscoring this year, but it's nice to hear an opposition fan that rates some of our players. Nathan gives some string opinions on who is not at the races in the Stoke City side and it's good to hear about a passionate fan that does not hold back. If you want to read more about Nathan's preview of the game head over to the Stoke City page on ASKFans where you can let him know if you agree with him. Thanks again Nathan - loved every minute of that!
Check out the Fans' verdict from last weekend's games including Cherry Chimes' verdict on the Spurs game at The Daily Mail online.
It's all gone a bit haywire for Mark Hughes at Stoke City since the New Year and he is fast losing his grip on the good work that his team has pout in over the first half of the season. It was a similar picture to when the two sides last met with Stoke City unable to win at home and AFCB's defeat at the Britannia started their season. Now Mark Hughes is looking to pick up some confidence in his side's performances which was completely shot by defeat in the Capital One Cup semi-final and has not recovered since. Stoke City have not won away in the Premier League since 28 December when they were ninth in the table. Four points from their next six games is not the kind of form that might have been expected, but they are now facing sides that are fighting to stay in the league with important games for them against AFCB, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Chelsea. They dare not come away without points in these types of games, but Mark Hughes is aware that his side is lacking something and is desperate to have a good week in the build up to the game at Dean Court which is likely to be pivotal to their season in which direction it goes.
When Ryan Shawcross plays for Stoke City side
the stats say the Potters are harder to beat - but he's out!
The back injury to Ryan Shawcross in late January against Leicester City has certainly not helped Stoke City, but if losing one player makes that much difference then they have major problems. Charlie Adams, Jonathan Walters, Mark Wilson and Geoff Caermon have also been out in recent weeks. Shawcross hoped to be back to face AFCB, but he is not going to travel. However, Bojan Krkic has boosted their team's spirit though by signing four-and-a-half year a contract that will keep him at Britannia until 2020. Stoke City also have to work out how they can quickly integrate new £18.3m signing Giannelli Imbula into their attack without taking away from Marko Arnautovic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Ibrahim Afellay. The balance was probably not right in their last defeat against Everton and you never know we could even see Peter Odemwingie and Peter Crouch get a game. It appears that Mark Hughes is looking for his strikers to be more aggressive with their passing in the last third rather than taking too many safe pass options near the box.
AFCB will certainly be looking to restrict Stoke's chances in front of goal which appear low at the moment with only two shots on target against Leicester, none against Man Utd and three against Everton. Already out of the FA Cup, Stoke fans may not want to watch much of the rest of this season if they lose at Dean Court. Stoke City Away Form DWLLL AFCB Home Form WDLWL
Score Prediction Send in your predicted score for #AFCB v #Arsenal to @peterbell19 on Twitter. Please make your score clear to understand. If you have a correct score prediction you are in with a chance of winning the Cherry Chimes prize which is a pair of AFCB sweat bands this week. If two or more people have the correct score the winner will be picked out of the hat. Good luck!
Stoke City are not perennial strugglers in the Premier league so it is a little surprising that they are sitting in the bottom three with three points from six games and no win under their belt yet. The Cherries have to try and keep it that way with their visit to the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. But have Mark Hughes' side been unlucky or just slightly off of their game? Bringing in a batch of new players can sometimes work for clubs straight away but with others more time is needed and I believe this is what has happened at Stoke City. They have certainly spent over the summer on the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri while Ibrahim Afellay was signed from Barcelona. With players like Glen Johnson and Shay Given joining the squad they also have Premier League experience, but the loan signings have perhaps taken away some of the solidity that the side had last year rather than simply increasing the competitiveness of the side. Bojan is certainly a player that looks on top of his game in their side and he will be the player that Eddie Howe is likely to pick out to be especially aware of as his movement is excellent as shown against Leicester City in their last game.
Eddie has some selection ideas to help AFCB to get a result at Stoke City.
Stoke have only conceded five goals so far, but were ahead in games against Leicester and Norwich only to come away with draws. They have made mistakes by letting teams back into games and that is a sign of a shortness of confidence. So hanging on to leads has not been their strong point, while they did well to come back from 2-0 down against Tottenham. Mark Hughes may feel his side has been well in games but they have not been dominating. They had just 11 attempts at goal against Leicester and four were on target. The balance is probably not quite right in their team yet and it is may be good fortune for AFCB fans that Eddie Howe may well have come across the right balance to his team from what we saw in the Cherries' last game. Mark Hughes says he has some players to comeback so he may choose a slightly amended side for the visit of AFCB. My predicted AFCB XI - unchanged Boruc (GK), Francis (RD), Cook (CD), Distin (CD), Daniels (LD), Ritchie (RM), Gosling (CM), Surman (CM), Pugh (LM), Tomlin (FW), Wilson (FW) Stoke City Home Form LDL AFCB Away Form LWL
