AFC Bournemouth v West Brom

Happy with the draw, we did well with half our first team out.
Zemura was the best of the youngsters as to be honest, he got an assist for Billing and he had the hardest job dealing with a good front 3 of Robinson, Diangana, Grant and then sub Matty Phillips.

Anthony did well and also got an assist but just needs to be a bit stronger at times. Kilkenny I think struggled the most of the youngsters with their high press, he looks comfortable on ball when given space like the MK highlights showed but got caught on lead up to their 2nd although it was a PL goal from the point Mowatt's won the ball to Phillips cross and Robinson's finish.

We looked dangerous in attack at times though with Brooks, Marcondes and Billing. Solanke didn't really touch the ball until that late shot but he did make runs and effort. Appreciate he works hard but we need at least 1 more senior striker for a 46 game season.

Main concern is with Travers, every high cross it looked like they would score and he's very much sticking to his line, we need a loan keeper whose going to save us points like Begovic did. WBA did look lively upfront without too many clear cut open play chances but the set pieces were a real struggle even though both their goals were open play and it was like the early years of Eddie Howe. Kelly was rightly MOM i think on this occasion.
 
Vlad_The_Impaler said:
Happy with the draw, we did well with half our first team out.
Zemura was the best of the youngsters as to be honest, he got an assist for Billing and he had the hardest job dealing with a good front 3 of Robinson, Diangana, Grant and then sub Matty Phillips.

Anthony did well and also got an assist but just needs to be a bit stronger at times. Kilkenny I think struggled the most of the youngsters with their high press, he looks comfortable on ball when given space like the MK highlights showed but got caught on lead up to their 2nd although it was a PL goal from the point Mowatt's won the ball to Phillips cross and Robinson's finish.

We looked dangerous in attack at times though with Brooks, Marcondes and Billing. Solanke didn't really touch the ball until that late shot but he did make runs and effort.

Main concern is with Travers, every high cross it looked like they would score and he's very much sticking to his line, we need a loan keeper whose going to save us points like Begovic did. WBA did look lively upfront without too many clear cut open play chances but the set pieces were a real struggle even though both their goals were open play and it was like the early years of Eddie Howe. Kelly was rightly MOM i think on this occasion.
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Their second goal came from smith and brooks weak attempts to pass and win the ball , that’s what started it .
 
Waz afcb said:
Looking at our team, we can’t realistically expect anything other than a convincing defeat to a recently relegated team. Three of our eleven don’t have a single league start between them and we have just one senior player on the bench. Need to be realistic here.
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Hmmm, I remember a similar stance the evening England drew with Scotland. A little positivity from time to time doesn’t hurt.
 
Can't fault the effort and commitment, good point on the whole.

There's no value in overstating the performance due to available players, their experience or otherwise. It was good but not heroic. We played well enough to deserve the point but because we lack the brains to figure out what wasn't working and what was, this meant we didn't cause them enough problems to take a victory.

For example, Kelly plays one pass that wasn't straight but with a reasonable diagonal that finds Anthony that creates the goal yet still keeps hitting ball after to ball straight down the pitch when the diagonal to Brooks was a better option all night long. Even if he can't see that, there's enough coaches to pass the message on. Likewise Mepham to Anthony. These are not high probability passes but these variations are still much better than aimless clearances or losing 20 yards with a back pass and putting the responsibility with Travers to make the threatening forward pass.

Mepham did okay, despite silly early booking but would have like to have seen the extra height and pace of Rossi. You would have thought a year in Scotland was perfect preparation for a physical game like that.

Overall lots of positives and a point on the Board. Can expect good chance to grab all three next week and build from there.
 
Positives for me are that I don't have to watch West Brom every week. Awful style of football. High ball after high ball, big physical skill lacking lumps in the middle who's job is just to stop the opposition whatever it takes . Just dreadful to watch especially accompanied by a referee who lost his bottle.
However, what about us! Fantastic performance from 10 of our 11 players. Unfortunately I believe we sold the wrong striker
 
A good point earned with a severely weakened side.

Kilkenny looked class. WBA worked out early on that they had to stop him and Zemura by pushing them over, so it was always going to be a difficult night.

Useless ref.

Definitely the quietest defence I have ever heard. Nobody taking proper control. Unless parker has managed to teach them to mind read he's going to need a leader.

Kelly looked good on the ball but isn't the captain were going to need on a wet October night in Stoke.

Marcondes looked much better tonight so hopeful that he's going to turn out to be a master stroke of a capture.

It struck me how light the squad is by looking at the bench. Parker has no one to bring on who could change a game.

Overriding feeling of the night was that we're a really tinpot little club. 5 years in the premiership and we're still confused when a lot of people turn up to watch a game.

It makes you wonder how other clubs are able to get 50k into a ground when we can't manage 10k without massive queues.
 
Loved being back in a crowd again. A fitting game for it too with a decent opposition, ebb and flo game, vociferous crowds from both ends. Even the goals we conceded, a soft headed goal from a cross and one from our own throw, felt like a comfy old pair of slippers.
 
Toronto John said:
Didn't think it was a Canadian thing. I'll use "meh" should it happen again!
  1. used to refer to something which is boring or without meaningful content.
    "the first 20 pages are a lot of blah about budgets and stuff like that"

    NORTH AMERICAN
    depression.
    "he battled a case of the blahs"


    adjective
    NORTH AMERICAN

    dull or unexciting.
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I understood you. How I feel most mornings before I've had my coffee. Not terrible... just not exactly alive.
 
I thought the ref was awful live, looking at the replay of their disallowed goal it was very soft barely a light push on Smith so we got away with his incompetence on that occasion.
 
Red_till_im_ded said:
Positives for me are that I don't have to watch West Brom every week. Awful style of football. High ball after high ball, big physical skill lacking lumps in the middle who's job is just to stop the opposition whatever it takes . Just dreadful to watch especially accompanied by a referee who lost his bottle.
However, what about us! Fantastic performance from 10 of our 11 players. Unfortunately I believe we sold the wrong striker
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I didn't think they were as direct as I thought they'd be, especially after Big Sam, yes they put in some high crosses that were good but those stick it more because we didn't deal with them well. They were the better team last 20 mins of 1st half and could play decent stuff on ground in attack.
 
Notmarcjackson said:
A good point earned with a severely weakened side.

Kilkenny looked class. WBA worked out early on that they had to stop him and Zemura by pushing them over, so it was always going to be a difficult night.

Useless ref.

Definitely the quietest defence I have ever heard. Nobody taking proper control. Unless parker has managed to teach them to mind read he's going to need a leader.

Kelly looked good on the ball but isn't the captain were going to need on a wet October night in Stoke.

Marcondes looked much better tonight so hopeful that he's going to turn out to be a master stroke of a capture.

It struck me how light the squad is by looking at the bench. Parker has no one to bring on who could change a game.

Overriding feeling of the night was that we're a really tinpot little club. 5 years in the premiership and we're still confused when a lot of people turn up to watch a game.

It makes you wonder how other clubs are able to get 50k into a ground when we can't manage 10k without massive queues.
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I thought the two centre halves were very good . Not having the biggest back 4 they dealt with a lot of balls coming into the box .
 
At half time as well as Mr Fletcher another coach came out and to me had a problem just walking. I was told it was Gareth Stewart our former keeper who is a goalie coach. I remember him in goal and leave it at that.
 
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