AFC Bournemouth v Reading

billythekid

billythekid

UTC Legend
Looking For Second Win In A Row

With a much better team performance against Derby County on Saturday ending with a 2-0 win, it was an important 3 points as our nearest challengers either lost or drew, apart from QPR who won at Luton on Sunday, in a game deciding which team would be in the top six at the end of the day. The Cherries will be wanting to make it two wins out of three when they play their third game in a row at home against Reading on Tuesday night at 7.45 pm. Reading, like Derby County have also had points deducted but not as many and sit just above the relegation zone with 29 points after 36 games. They are 4 points above Barnsley in 22nd place who have also played 36 games but have a better goal difference.

Reading sacked Velijko Paunovic as their manager last month after the away win at Preston. But previous to that Reading had a disastrous run of league results with 1 draw and 7 defeats, including a 0-7 home drubbing by Fulham. Paunovic was replaced with two interim managers, Paul Ince brought in for his first job in eight years, last time as a manager was with Blackpool and Michael Gilkes who is in charge of the Reading Academy. In their first game in charge they had a 2-1 home win against Birmingham City. But their last three games have been a 4-1 away defeat against Blackpool and home defeat 0-1 against Millwall. The latest game was on Saturday away at Nottingham Forest and it ended in a 4-0 defeat for Reading.

Since we last played Reading at their ground at the end of October which the Cherries won 0-2, away from home Reading have Won 3, Drawn 1 and Lost 7. At home they have W 1, D 3, L 6.

The last time the Cherries played the Royals at Dean Court was in November 2020 last season. In the first half Reading who were top of the table going into the game, went in with a two nil lead at half-time with goals from Lucas Joao with an early penalty and Sone Aluko just before the interval. The Dean Court crowd were in for a surprise in the second half when in a three minute period AFCB scored two goals, the first from Dominic Solanke and then the equaliser from Arnaut Danjuma. Lewis Cook put our side into the lead and Dominic Solanke scored his second goal of the game with one minute of normal time to play.

In our home league games against Reading, AFCB have W 27, D 15, L 11.
Home and away in all competitions, AFCB have W 46, D 24, L 43.

AFCB Team News
Philip Billing and Adam Smith are both suspended. In the game against Derby County Leif Davis had to be substituted due to an injury. Jamal Lowe also took a knock after coming on as a substitute in the second half on Saturday.

AFCB Player To Watch
Dominic Solanke scored his 21st league goal on Saturday and will be wanting to add to that total against Reading. He looked a lot sharper than against Peterborough United. Jaidon Anthony had a good lively game on Saturday which culminated in his assist for our first goal, now equal top for our team with 6 assists.

Reading Team News
Femi Azeez, Felipe Araruna, Dejan Tetek, Karl Hein, Baba Rahman and Alen Halilovic have all been out injured. Tom Holmes and John Swift missed the Nottingham Forest game through COVID and are doubts for Tuesday night.

Reading Player To Watch
Two players to watch, John Swift (if recovered from COVID), strong all round midfield player, leading scorer with 11 goals and also leads with 13 assists. That is some achievement in a side that has really struggled this season. If he plays forward Lucas Joao who has missed nearly all of the first part of this season through injury, came back in January and after two substitute appearances, started the next 9 games and scored 6 goals, including 5 goals in 6 games in February, which won him Championship Player of the Month.

Man In Charge
Leigh Doughty is the referee for this game.
This will be the second time he has officiated at one of our games this season, the last time was away at Luton.
 
Unless we have more injuries come up, it feels like the starting XI picks itself for this one:

Travers

Stacey Phillips Kelly Zemura

Lerma L Cook

Christie Cantwell Anthony

Solanke
 
kirsikka said:
Unless we have more injuries come up, it feels like the starting XI picks itself for this one:

Travers

Stacey Phillips Kelly Zemura

Lerma L Cook

Christie Cantwell Anthony

Solanke
Click to expand...
I’m very much with this but that isn’t how the team set up vs Derby or how we will set up in this one. Lerma wasn’t playing deep with Cook, he was operating the inside right channel and Cantwell the inside left. I’d love for it to be Cook and Lerma deep with Cantwell free to roam but it would be a noticeable shift in philosophy from Parker if he were to do so.
 
Waz afcb said:
I’m very much with this but that isn’t how the team set up vs Derby or how we will set up in this one. Lerma wasn’t playing deep with Cook, he was operating the inside right channel and Cantwell the inside left. I’d love for it to be Cook and Lerma deep with Cantwell free to roam but it would be a noticeable shift in philosophy from Parker if he were to do so.
Click to expand...
Regarding just the midfield to me, it seems a bit like we may have an in possession vs out of possession difference.

Overall notation:
Lerma - Cook
Lerma - Cantwell

Yes, I know I just cloned Lerma, but bear with me for a second.

In possession, it's like how we typically draw up Parker's formation:
Cook
Lerma - Cantwell

Cook is the deep lying playmaker and tempo setter, which he has been excellent at these last few games, while Lerma and Cantwell are free to attack (and against defensive teams, I'd say Cantwell - Billing, when he's not suspended, though you could do a Christie - Cantwell/Billing if Lowe goes to RW).

Out of possession, it's more like kirsikka's:
Lerma - Cook
Cantwell

Lerma does what he does best at breaking up play and eases Cook's defensive duties to just the left side of the pitch, Cantwell presses and is ready to get the counter going when we recover possession. This approach depends on having a player like Lerma that has the stamina of the true box-to-box role, being there for both offense and defense. With a Cantwell-Billing pairing it's Cantwell playing that true box-to-box role with Billing being slower to get back.

Makes sense? Or maybe I'm just insane, idk.
 
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darwinsdummy said:
Regarding just the midfield to me, it seems a bit like we may have an in possession vs out of possession difference.

Overall notation:
Lerma - Cook
Lerma - Cantwell

Yes, I know I just cloned Lerma, but bear with me for a second.

In possession, it's like how we typically draw up Parker's formation:
Cook
Lerma - Cantwell

Cook is the deep lying playmaker and tempo setter, which he has been excellent at these last few games, while Lerma and Cantwell are free to attack (and against defensive teams, I'd say Cantwell - Billing, when he's not suspended, though you could do a Christie - Cantwell/Billing if Lowe goes to RW).

Out of possession, it's more like kirsikka's:
Lerma - Cook
Cantwell

Lerma does what he does best at breaking up play and eases Cook's defensive duties to just the left side of the pitch, Cantwell presses and is ready to get the counter going when we recover possession. This approach depends on having a player like Lerma that has the stamina of the true box-to-box role, being there for both offense and defense. With a Cantwell-Billing pairing it's Cantwell playing that true box-to-box role with Billing being slower to get back.

Makes sense? Or maybe I'm just insane, idk.
Click to expand...

for me, it's any combination that lets cantwell (or christie or billing) free to roam and find space ahead of the ball and have no defensive duties, with cook and lerma deeper and covering the fullbacks when they push up
 
Waz afcb said:
I’m very much with this but that isn’t how the team set up vs Derby or how we will set up in this one. Lerma wasn’t playing deep with Cook, he was operating the inside right channel and Cantwell the inside left. I’d love for it to be Cook and Lerma deep with Cantwell free to roam but it would be a noticeable shift in philosophy from Parker if he were to do so.
Click to expand...

Should depend on the strength of the opposition I think/what the opposition do at different times in the game. Lerma can sit deep with Cook if opposition teams are pressing us and roam forward if not.
 
New Forest Cherry said:
for me, it's any combination that lets cantwell (or christie or billing) free to roam and find space ahead of the ball and have no defensive duties, with cook and lerma deeper and covering the fullbacks when they push up
Click to expand...
Agree. I’ve seen people say that Lerma or Cook shouldn’t play against weaker opposition. I’m not on board with this. Even against bottom half teams (Posh and Preston) we get caught on the transition with two attacking midfielders in the team, all goals conceded in those games could have been avoided with Lerma in the team. Not his biggest fan but he’s essential to this team.
 
OPPOSITION PREVIEW - Ahead of the game between the Cherries and the Royals, we spoke to former British and Commonwealth Boxing Champion, Michael Sprott on his boxing career and his view of the Royals. Watch it here -
 
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