AFC Bournemouth v Aston Villa

Kept our defensive shape brilliantly. Biggest plus for me was Tavernier - SP playing him as a breaking midfielder, linking with the two upfront and showing energy and excellent control. If Neto and Senesi arrive we‘ll surprise the pundits and aggravate a lot of oppo fans … Villas’ supporters pouring out before the end.
 
Fantastic display of commitment and fight from us, every player to a man fought for the ball like their life depended on it and that is all we can ask for.

Loved the complete switch in style today, football does not always have to be aesthetically pleasing and possession based to be entertaining. I enjoyed that performance today more than many of the wins from last season even if we didn’t have so much of the ball today. We could have definitely looked after the ball a bit better today and had opportunities to create more in the final third but that will come I’m sure. I am a big fan of playing a direct counter attacking game with the players that we have, think it could potentially work over the season as long as we get a few more bodies in.

We worked incredibly hard as a team today to condense the spaces in between the lines, not allowing their creative threats to get on the ball centrally in our final third. We forced them to go wide and put crosses into the box and we dealt with them pretty comfortably. I got a bit annoyed listening to the radio on the way home as all the talk was of how bad Villa were and not about how we made them look bad, I suppose we’ll have to get used to that though.

Notable performers:

Mepham- did himself proud today and perhaps threw his hat into the ring as a squad player this season, if he is prepared to accept that role of course. Had a few shaky moments which we all know he has in him but in the main was very solid in the air and on the ground and was totally committed to protecting our goal. Still think he lacks the quality to be a regular starter but perhaps could be a useful squad player again.

Lerma- was sensational playing out of position, probably his best performance for us in quite a while to be honest! He looked very comfortable on the right of a back three and made numerous vital tackles and interventions. I know he’s played right back before so perhaps that was why he looked so at home there. With Pearson able to do the destroyer role I wouldn’t be adverse to him staying in the back three.

Pearson- could be exactly the type of player we need at this level. Wasn’t suited to playing in a possession orientated team last season but he is tailor made for a counter attacking one, a great ball winner and so disciplined in his defensive positioning.

Tavernier- struggling to process just quite how good he was today. I’m not sure I’ve seen a player cover as much ground as he did today, he was relentless and absolutely everywhere. More than just that though, his ability to drive forward with the ball was seriously impressive. There was more than one occasion in which he picked the ball up from deep and just effortlessly drifted past two or three challenges, again this is an attribute that will be very useful in a counter attacking style. The only criticism is that his final ball could have been better at times, he got into good areas only to misplace the final pass. Can forgive this though as he’s only known his teammates for a week! When it clicks he is going to be some player.

Moore- just an absolute beast. Made a £30m centre back look like a school boy. His ability to hold the ball up was absolutely vital today. His movement is good too and he is deceptively quick, going to be huge for us this season.
 
Where to start. What a performance. A few raised eyebrows with the line up. Certainly paid off.

Pearson walked into the team like he had 100 premier league games under his belt.

Lerma, Kelly, Smith, Mepham, Tavernier, Zemura, Moore…brilliant.
 
KingKieffer said:
Fantastic display of commitment and fight from us, every player to a man fought for the ball like their life depended on it and that is all we can ask for.

Loved the complete switch in style today, football does not always have to be aesthetically pleasing and possession based to be entertaining. I enjoyed that performance today more than many of the wins from last season even if we didn’t have so much of the ball today. We could have definitely looked after the ball a bit better today and had opportunities to create more in the final third but that will come I’m sure. I am a big fan of playing a direct counter attacking game with the players that we have, think it could potentially work over the season as long as we get a few more bodies in.

We worked incredibly hard as a team today to condense the spaces in between the lines, not allowing their creative threats to get on the ball centrally in our final third. We forced them to go wide and put crosses into the box and we dealt with them pretty comfortably. I got a bit annoyed listening to the radio on the way home as all the talk was of how bad Villa were and not about how we made them look bad, I suppose we’ll have to get used to that though.

Notable performers:

Mepham- did himself proud today and perhaps threw his hat into the ring as a squad player this season, if he is prepared to accept that role of course. Had a few shaky moments which we all know he has in him but in the main was very solid in the air and on the ground and was totally committed to protecting our goal. Still think he lacks the quality to be a regular starter but perhaps could be a useful squad player again.

Lerma- was sensational playing out of position, probably his best performance for us in quite a while to be honest! He looked very comfortable on the right of a back three and made numerous vital tackles and interventions. I know he’s played right back before so perhaps that was why he looked so at home there. With Pearson able to do the destroyer role I wouldn’t be adverse to him staying in the back three.

Pearson- could be exactly the type of player we need at this level. Wasn’t suited to playing in a possession orientated team last season but he is tailor made for a counter attacking one, a great ball winner and so disciplined in his defensive positioning.

Tavernier- struggling to process just quite how good he was today. I’m not sure I’ve seen a player cover as much ground as he did today, he was relentless and absolutely everywhere. More than just that though, his ability to drive forward with the ball was seriously impressive. There was more than one occasion in which he picked the ball up from deep and just effortlessly drifted past two or three challenges, again this is an attribute that will be very useful in a counter attacking style. The only criticism is that his final ball could have been better at times, he got into good areas only to misplace the final pass. Can forgive this though as he’s only known his teammates for a week! When it clicks he is going to be some player.

Moore- just an absolute beast. Made a £30m centre back look like a school boy. His ability to hold the ball up was absolutely vital today. His movement is good too and he is deceptively quick, going to be huge for us this season.
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This :clap::utc::cool:
 
Well its going to be a long hard season but thats a very good start.

I bought our points in a spread bet this morning thinking we shouldn't be 6 points worse than anyone else.
 
Great result. I thought all the players people were having doubts about really showed their quality today. Moore was my MOM but Tavernier and Pearson close second and nothing seems to faze Zemura who was mostly solid in defence and had a couple of nice attacking moments. I said last season I think this team are good enough to stay up and I am obviously even more certain now, especially with a couple more p players coming in.
 
Bitzer said:
Boo f#cking hoo !
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I was actually going to post an AFCB version of this. I started thinking after 15 minutes how out thought tactically Gerrard had been by Parker and even at that point it was obvious that he had no answer without making substitutions.

Half time came and went and still Gerrard had no answer. Tactically he was shown up by Parker, whilst his Premier League established players were out battled and out fought by young mainly Championship established players.

Will be interesting to see if this was just an off day for Gerrard or if he will be eventually found out at this level like Lampard.
 
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