AFC Bournemouth v Reading

Ken Baileys Ghost said:
Can somebody find me more like this?

This blokes not a Biscuit, he's an absolute Ritz Cracker.
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Happy to oblige but this might not be what you wanted to see. ;)


What a great match. Shame we didn’t end up on the winning side but a lot of positives to take all the same. Bournemouth were really good to watch, a real delight. Hope their young players keep progressing.


1st 45 absolutely textbook against a quality team. 2nd half clearly not as good, but there are not many teams at this level who could score 3 goals of that quality. We certainly couldn't.
 
RobTrent said:
We weren't terrible.
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We conceded two goals and didn't have a shot on target.

Maybe terrible is over emphasising it, but we were by no means good.


We were playing a local rival in a game that would see us top if we won, we played like it was May and we were about to finish 14th.
We used to rip people to shreds in the first 20 minutes of games at home.

Now we wait for the last 20. :grinning:
 
Player ratings
Begovic- 7.5 would have been higher but partially to fault for a very avoidable first goal. Redeemed himself in second half though with one very good game winning stop.
Stacey- 7.5 constant threat down the right, really is like carbon copy 2015 Franno. Didn’t do a lot wrong defensively either.
Kelly- first half 4, second half 8, so a harsh average of 6. Game changing moment with his quality cross for the first goal. Looks a real threat going forward at left back. First half looked shaky and like a mistake waiting to happen.
Rico- 2 I really rate the guy but he was God awful today. Offered nothing going forward, just seemed to constantly hoof the ball down the channel and hope for the best. His ‘defending’ for the second goal was embarrassing.
Cook- first half-3 second half-7 so an average of 5. Again, attempt at ‘defending’ for the first goal was a joke, for a seasoned defender in a team with aspirations to go up he can quite simply not be making such schoolboy errors. Looked solid enough in the second half though.
Mepham- 8 thought he was very solid, and perhaps more importantly very proactive in pushing higher up the pitch and moving the ball quickly to up our tempo.
Lerma- first half 4 second half 8, so average 6. All over the place defensively in the first half, very erratic. Second half he was great, more intelligent with his decision making, when to press and when to hold. And used the ball very well.
L Cook- 9 average first half and terrible defending for the goals but on this occasion I’m going to ignore because he was so so good in the second. His second half performance was the complete midfield performance, virtual perfection. Best half from a CM since Arter vs Everton.
Stanislas- 7 actually thought that even in the first half he did okay. Good creativity and fluid movement. Doesn’t offer much defensively in a midfield three but it’s just not his game.
Danjuma- 8 a constant threat, great goal and never stopped going at his opponent. One gripe is that he gets needlessly caught offside too often purely due to laziness.
Brooks-8 good game, constant probing and great assist. Best player in this league when fully fit. Get promoted, sell him for 50m, and build the training ground. Simples.
Solanke- 9 such an underrated player, if he can add goals more consistently then he could be unplayable at this level. Held the ball up brilliantly against tough opponents, picked up pockets of space so intelligently, linked play superbly, and finished his chances today. Reading couldn’t cope with him.
 
afcdibby said:
No and fair play to you if you did. Avoid betting on us as my mind doesn't think straight.
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I did. I posted my betting slip earlier. It was part because I dislike Reading so much and losing to them is unthinkable and partly because we were better than them in the first half and their game plan was not well thought through.
 
Reading dropped deep ?
Dropped Scones more like it.....one could get quite fondant of those biscuity , cakey jokers...a bit easier to digest than Brighton Rock !
 
There is a photograph on Twitter, with the team celebrating a goal, and David Brook’s socks are full of holes.

Does that demonstrate that we are buying second hand socks do you think?
 
I reckon that today's game played out perfectly for us in that the players can go a goal behind and know that we can still win. All too often in the PL we would go a goal behind and you would see the confidence drain away. Great for this team to know that they can find a way to win we will need that mentality in the Championship. One of the reasons why I don't take too much notice of the doom mongerers saying " well , we're 3rd in the table but not playing well ". This league has chewed up and spat out some big clubs and big players over the years. The coaching and playing staff are doing just fine.
 
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