Adrian Durham : "Bournemouth Should Be Docked Points"

I had the score at half-time, Eddie 1-0 Pep.

If we had got a point I would have been happy, it would have been the first point we have taken off them in this league.

Also it’s the lowest number of goals we have conceded against them in the Premier League.

After conceding the goals against Arsenal with a weakened team, Eddie had Brooks back for the City game, but not the 100% fit David Brooks we are used to seeing.

If Eddie calls tails he loses and if he calls heads he loses.
 
What told a story for me was how few AFCB fans left their seats before the final whistle, hardly anyone left. In previous games against many of the top sides the ground was half empty as we approach injury time and everyone who was left was hoping the game would end so the goals against tally wasn't dented further.
 
Neil.....as for Pep....he quite clearly was admiring the way his team worked against us. The way they closed down anything we tried to do and had to remain patient against a packed defence. I imagine for a manager, these are all aspects they love to see. It was of course not their most flamboyant best but in a game they had to win, where we didn't make it easy, I can see why he said these things.
 
Neil Dawson said:
I didn’t enjoy either game! But for different reasons...

To put the record straight I haven’t rubbished Pep. Not sure anyone could with his record. I merely speculated that he was using this performance to boost team morale of a very exhausted (again his words) and injury hit team on a monster three front run in. You will not find any Man City fan that thinks this is even close to being their top performance. I would imagine that come his autobiography, neither will Pep. I don’t know this of course but neither do you know he meant it. What we do know is all managers use kidology, our own is a specialist in it.

I can’t remember any examples of where I have used a managers words against you but I would imagine they were situations where kidology wasn’t necessary else I would have spotted it. Can you remember them?
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Life is too short to look them up Neil. ;-) I agree Pep was probably being nice in a victorious manager kind of way.

Don't forget that AFCB were injury hit too, but I think they still have a bit more depth than us! We had two raw defenders why we probably needed to give a lot of support too. Citys team was slightly more experienced.
 
Talksport is not a radio station it's a fishing port, completely uneducated presenters say the most outlandish and controversial statemen5s their tiny little minds can muster. And to be fair to them it seems to get listeners so who can blame them.
 
RobTrent said:
Life is too short to look them up Neil. ;-) I agree Pep was probably being nice in a victorious manager kind of way.

Don't forget that AFCB were injury hit too, but I think they still have a bit more depth than us! We had two raw defenders why we probably needed to give a lot of support too. Citys team was slightly more experienced.
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Understatement of the year Rob, we have Mepham and Simpson, they take off Stones and bring on Kompany..........................
 
DJ said:
I just don’t get the view of looking at these things in one game issolation.

Everything to do with Eddie Howe shows that things are done over time. This wasn’t a formation or a tactic that was dreamt up on Friday night and drawn up on a chalkboard at 2pm on Saturday.

This was a training exercise used for months on the training ground put into action on the pitch.

Howe doesn’t play for draws, look at our overall league tables in the lower leagues, very few draws.

The tactics and gameplan were to keep it tight for as long as possible and then chase a result in the final 15 minutes.

The defensive side worked, the attacking aspect didn’t.

No one is claiming this was a wonderful performance. They’ve just claimed it was a good tactical performance that an showed enough potential to be worth it again against the elite in the division.

It also showed the players working hard and giving their all, often what the fans want to see.

I don’t expect to see the same tactics at Huddersfield (could well be the same formation) and that’s the point we haven’t all of a sudden turned to anti football.

We’ve developed yet another plan, probably plan y to go along with all the other formations, systems and tactics we also utilise (but without having a plan b obviously..)

We’ll attempt it again when our own options for available players dictate and when the opposition cause those same problems.
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Good points well made. We have a group of players who are the most fluid positionally outside of the top 6. We were also missing our most influential forward. We could adopt the same set up against Huddersfield and rip them a new one. We also have Lerma on the way back which hopefully would take the shackles off of our midfielders ability to create something positive.
 
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We have got to the point now where we are over -analysing an expriment that almost worked but wasnt pretty. Time to move on...
All through the Winter period the players have been switched around to fit the injury situation...an unusually depleted squad.
We ..as amateur analysts and the pundits as ex- professionals are seeing things from so many angles with regard to that game. The truth is scattered around and emotion flavoured.
If our manager stays and carries on with his preferred methods....we will see a few small changes due to new players and some lessons learnt ; but not much will change with style and position in the league.....we wont go down with Eddie in charge....and if he can re-kindle the fire that has kept burning from promotion days but has slightly diminished of late then we can be in top ten positions as a norm. Generally though, the Cherries in the Top Tier is never going to be dull. Very similar to West Ham and Crystal Palace ..and in terms of attention from the media.
The big question remains....... a New or expanded Stadium or staying Tinpot?
 
It'sRicotime said:
Talksport is not a radio station it's a fishing port, completely uneducated presenters say the most outlandish and controversial statemen5s their tiny little minds can muster. And to be fair to them it seems to get listeners so who can blame them.
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bormuff fan is a snob SHOCKER
 
Talksport is just a verbal version of the Sun.

They know their audience and what they want to hear; the adverts pretty much sum it up.

Payday loans, bookmakers and building supplies.

Can't see Classic FM running any of those.



And before you call me a snob, I listen most days; there's really good lower league coverage.

Coventry and Bolton today is a case in point.
 
wallmth said:
I thought the same ... it’s like when managers are in trouble they always big up they’re next opponent .Laughable the comments like “ you know more than Pepe”.
The game and stats on Saturday were embarrassing and I think I have only once ( Blyth Spartans) in my life said that about AFCB . Couple that with the away record breaking feats and the fact that it’s our fourth season in the mega millions PL where we have done nothing but spunk it on playing staff to the detriment of any infrastructure , anyone that sticks their head up and says this isn’t good is shouted down as a bedwetter .
Really hoping for a strong finish this season if we don’t have one I’m very worried for next year .
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So Man City and Blyth away lumped together as examples of embarrassment? Compare the work rate of us in the two sides and quality of opposition. How many games did you watch under Quinn and brooks? I raise you with Barnet home in 2008 and Swindon away 2012!! Real lack of perspective here imho.

With Wilson fit and one of franno and Steve cook in defence we wouldn’t have played like that vs Man City. Throw in Lewis cook and Lerma too and I think we would have gone toe to toe as we did at the Etihad in december.
 
Neil Dawson said:
I don’t know better than Pep...I’m saying it’s kidology to boost his side. Just as we all know better than Eddie when he says ‘Brooks has got little chance of making this match he has not trained all week’. This was not City’s greatest performance , City fans are saying it’s unlikely to be in the top 50.

Believe it if it makes you proud though. That’s a nice feeling.
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I don't think that Pep was indulging in kidology at all. I was watching him when he came on to the pitch to congratulate his players after the game. He was absolutely ecstatic, leaping about and hugging them all with a huge grin on his face. It was quite surprising.

My take on this is that Pep is a perfectionist who demands absolute perfection from others. Listen to his comments after their terrific win over Schalke that most of their fans would have thought fantastic - he wasn't happy because they hadn't reached the high standards of completeness that he demands from them.
Against us however, it seems to me that he felt that he had witnessed the perfection in all aspects of the game that he wants from them. They beat a team that defended exceptionally well, they totally dominated possession and they snuffed out all of our attacks almost as soon as they had started to the extent that we had no shots on target and no corners. In his book they had done everything right, their skill, patience, effort and application were all exemplary.
Now of course we are not Barcelona or Juventus or Liverpool, but we are still a pretty good team and the game had given him a benchmark that he will be able to use in future when they do come up against top quality opposition and fall slightly short of the perfection he demands.
 
That's a very well-reasoned article, nice job.

I also like Paul Hawksbee's humorous approach when compared to Durham's faux-outrage

They were just talking to Andy Smart who is playing in an all day 500-a-side Shrove Tuesday football match, and he said that last year he'd played for five hours and not touched the ball.

Hawksbee: "Bit like some of Bournemouth's players at the weekend, then....":grinning:
 
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