[Albion] Bournemouth game, MATCH REPORT

[Exile]

After failing to knock out a report of the Liverpool (too busy at work), Burnley (away for work) or Watford (missus decreed there were other things to be doing on Christmas eve) matches, I've had a WORD with myself and got this one out, in unusually timely fashion.

If you've a long held soft spot for the Cherries, or are a big fan Eddie Howe's veneer of nice, then this report probably isn't for you.

Otherwise, away you go: https://nortr3nixy.nimpr.uk/content.php?714-Albion-2-2-AFC-Bournemouth-01.01.2018

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Bill's tweet doesn't show because you put twitter instead of tweet.

I thought it worth mentioning that Knockaert scored the first Premier League goal of 2018.

Enjoyed reading it, though.

 

[Exile]

Bill's tweet doesn't show because you put twitter instead of tweet.

I thought it worth mentioning that Knockaert scored the first Premier League goal of 2018.

Enjoyed reading it, though.

Fixed, thanks.

And thanks

 

[Bold Seagull]

Ha ha love the total exposing of the #howemyth!

 

[Greg Bobkin]

'Absolute member'

Absolute quality. Cheers Exile.

 

[Badger]

Excellent as always

The only thing missing is the word PLUCKY. I feel this is a requirement for any piece about Bournemouth.

 

[Boroseagull]

Excellent read - as always, you even saw the same game as me!

 

[Exile]

Excellent as always

The only thing missing is the word PLUCKY. I feel this is a requirement for any piece about Bournemouth.

Good question. I think they might have now progressed from PLUCKY tbh. Eddie used to love the plucky underdog story, and all things #miracle. I think now his vanity perhaps sees them as 'established'.

 

[Dolph Ins]

Great, thanks.

 

[army ali]

Great report (as always) and summed it up succinctly.

I may get slated here but I think CH is missing a trick in our formation, which in my opinion has lost us 4 points from the last 3 games. Here goes with my reasoning with how we could improve:

At the back - Goldson (who Has Maldiniesque tendencies) is a better footballer than Duffy; Duffy is hard and enjoys the ugly side of the game, getting stuck in when needed; Dunk is a mixture of both but needs to rely on someone to tidy up when needed. Equation - play all three together.

Midfield - We have a severe lack of bite in the centre which served us so well over the last 2 seasons. Propper and Stephens too alike and cancel each other out. Either play Stephens/Propper and Kayal. My opinion, Stephens and Kayal with Propper in the hole in an attacking free roaming type position (funnily enough, the one he does very well with The Netherlands). Ok, that leaves a problem with Groß but I will come back to him in a minute. Wide you can set up to either hold and defend with Schelotto/Bruno or Suttner/Bong (left and right) or attack with Izquierdo and Knocky (again left and right respectively). Opponent dependent.

Up Front - Murray/Hemed and Baldock. Playing 1 up front has severely restricted our goal scoring opportunities, because quite frankly, there is no one in the box because the lone striker is out of position with link up play. 2 up front obviously means that leaves one for link up and feeding with one in the box to receive.

The mathematicians, statisticians and tactitians amongst you will recognise this as a 3-5-2 formation which can be interchanged to either a defensive or attack minded formation dependent on home/away/opposition.

Now the elephant in the room - Groß. He runs his socks off every game giving everything. For me, he is simply outstanding but I think he is being asked too much of to either support midfield (most of the time) and support the attack. However, he is so effective in that ‘hole’. So, does he replace Propper in that position as THE attacking midfielder with Propper replacing Stephens? Either way, Groß must always start but I do not feel the same way with Propper or Stephens. However, we need ‘bite’ in that central midfield and that is Kayal. This will also help our front pair and (in my opinion) could really scare some (most) of the opposition outside of the top 6.

Anyway, that’s it. In a nutshell, something has to change to convert draws into wins. I do not understand comments of ‘we are learning’ or ‘a point will do’, that’s way too negative. We have a squad of players that can thrive instead of survive. We can definitely be brave and we do look like we belong.

I am not saying we can beat everyone or that we can easily be in the top 10. What I am saying is that we can thrive. That is good for our future.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Excellent stuff. Yes, Artur is a snidey little shit. Yes, Suttner is a MUCH better footballer than Bong. Yes, we should have won. But Ibe was their best player by far. IMHO like.


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[goldstone]

Great report (as always) and summed it up succinctly.

I may get slated here but I think CH is missing a trick in our formation, which in my opinion has lost us 4 points from the last 3 games. Here goes with my reasoning with how we could improve:

At the back - Goldson (who Has Maldiniesque tendencies) is a better footballer than Duffy; Duffy is hard and enjoys the ugly side of the game, getting stuck in when needed; Dunk is a mixture of both but needs to rely on someone to tidy up when needed. Equation - play all three together.

Midfield - We have a severe lack of bite in the centre which served us so well over the last 2 seasons. Propper and Stephens too alike and cancel each other out. Either play Stephens/Propper and Kayal. My opinion, Stephens and Kayal with Propper in the hole in an attacking free roaming type position (funnily enough, the one he does very well with The Netherlands). Ok, that leaves a problem with Groß but I will come back to him in a minute. Wide you can set up to either hold and defend with Schelotto/Bruno or Suttner/Bong (left and right) or attack with Izquierdo and Knocky (again left and right respectively). Opponent dependent.

Up Front - Murray/Hemed and Baldock. Playing 1 up front has severely restricted our goal scoring opportunities, because quite frankly, there is no one in the box because the lone striker is out of position with link up play. 2 up front obviously means that leaves one for link up and feeding with one in the box to receive.

The mathematicians, statisticians and tactitians amongst you will recognise this as a 3-5-2 formation which can be interchanged to either a defensive or attack minded formation dependent on home/away/opposition.

Now the elephant in the room - Groß. He runs his socks off every game giving everything. For me, he is simply outstanding but I think he is being asked too much of to either support midfield (most of the time) and support the attack. However, he is so effective in that ‘hole’. So, does he replace Propper in that position as THE attacking midfielder with Propper replacing Stephens? Either way, Groß must always start but I do not feel the same way with Propper or Stephens. However, we need ‘bite’ in that central midfield and that is Kayal. This will also help our front pair and (in my opinion) could really scare some (most) of the opposition outside of the top 6.

Anyway, that’s it. In a nutshell, something has to change to convert draws into wins. I do not understand comments of ‘we are learning’ or ‘a point will do’, that’s way too negative. We have a squad of players that can thrive instead of survive. We can definitely be brave and we do look like we belong.

I am not saying we can beat everyone or that we can easily be in the top 10. What I am saying is that we can thrive. That is good for our future.

Just a few thoughts.

And very good thoughts they are. Impressive opinion from someone who obviously understands the game very well.

 

[goldstone]

Excellent report as always. Thank you.

 

[WildWood]

Really look forward to these, great summary as always! If the club want to make the best football programme even better, they should add these - I’d buy one!

 

[Simster]

Really look forward to these, great summary as always! If the club want to make the best football programme even better, they should add these - I’d buy one!

Me too. The club, however, might have an issue with a report describing an opposition manager as an "absolute member".

 

[B-right-on]

Excllent sumary. Really didnt understand why Izquierdo wasnt swopped out with Solly on 75 mins. Boy was absolutly dead on his legs by 80th min.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Excllent sumary. Really didnt understand why Izquierdo wasnt swopped out with Solly on 75 mins. Boy was absolutly dead on his legs by 80th min.

Covered this a bit on another thread. On about 65 minutes Izquierdo was chucked an energy gel and you don't hand them out to players that are coming off. We'd made that call early and the issue then became that we had 6 players out on their feet and 2 subs left. The one we made - and more importantly the one we didn't - were baffling but my assumption is that CH felt he couldn't perm 2 from 6 and improve the team. I'd have had Kayal on myself.


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[Jack Straw]

Excellent as always

The only thing missing is the word PLUCKY. I feel this is a requirement for any piece about Bournemouth.

...and some ARTWORK! It's only a 9.9 out of 10 from me, for that reason.

 

[PaoloAlbioni]

Great comprehensive report. I'd add only that there was a tremendous (re-ignited?) team effort and spirit, epitomised when Maty Ryan ran the length of the pitch to celebrate Murray's goal in front of the North Stand. Superb!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

It's funny, as I've always had Harry Arter down as a snide, and I've never even heard of that Moldova episode depicted in the report. Which basically makes him even worse than I already thought. What an arsepiece: that really was a quite contemptible dive in that video.