Match Day Thread Bournemouth v Pellegrino In Sunday 3 December 1:30 pm

We were out of sorts where it mattered today but 2nd half was much improved. Bertrand deserved MOM and great to see him actually showing a bit of emotion at last. It does feel like we've turned a corner somewhere, VVD and Bertrand have been absent emotionally until these last 3 games it all adds up to a much better attitude on the whole pitch.

Yes we ballsed that and gifted them a goal but dont think it was undeserved for the in the first half. It was a game that could have gone to either side in the end, both had plenty of chances.

Fraser Forster - great game again. He's stopping shots and plenty of them.
Boufal - interesting to see how his form goes over a good few games. He's an incredible player but today his head was ruling his game I think.
Redmond - I just don't get this sub but he did cross for the goal so its impossible to argue against it.
Romeu - immense again.

Back to bed for me!

 

Like him or not, but Jose Fonte is showing pure class, as a summarizer on tv. No sign of bitterness, a really good assessent of Saints performance.

 

I'm sure you're back in the land of nod, but enjoy what's left of your sleep.

 

I'm pretty sure Boufal's first half rugby conversion should figure in the summary of missed chances.

 

Interesting interview with Adam Smith, he said he spoke to Jon Moss after the game who apologised and said it was a penalty. They should rescind the yellow if that’s the case.

 

Moss shouldn't back track. That was never a penalty. If he hadn't performed a Superman dive, and gone over the leg, then yes penalty.

 

Did Moss talk about Van Dijk and Hoedt kept getting their shirts pulled all the time?

 

I've thought for a long time it should be possible to both give a foul (penalty or FK), and book a player fouled for simulation. I've never really bought the position that it is always black and white; one or the other. A foul can be committed, but with the player clearly exaggerating his reaction to the foul.

 

Is he injured?

 

Bertrand looked crestfallen a bit...felt he should have won it for Saints. Said he had 2 left feet.

 

Bad mistake by Hoedt. It happens. He has played well thus far, so I am not worried at this point that it presents problems going forward.

Think people are being a tad harsh on that Austin header. That was a fast-moving cross and Austin was in full motion. I think it was just a fraction behind perfect placement. Pretty hard to adjust and get the angles right in a fraction of a second. Austin had a chance like that last week and scored on it. 50% conversion on that sort of play is not bad.

We are doing better getting down the wings, and that is opening up the pitch for us to attack. We are still inconsistent with it, though. Hopefully, this is a sign that MP/players are now on the same page and we will continue to improve as everyone gets used to it.

I feel the same about defense, on a smaller scale. The tactic and personnel we have absolutely work, but there are still a few miscues each game that I think are a result of someone not knowing quite where to be. It hasn’t been a big deal IMO, just saying I think we have not reached our potential yet, which is good.

So all in all, maybe a slightly disappointing (though fair) draw. But the improvements on the pitch if you look past the score line are mostly positive. I’m encouraged overall. Still a long way to go, but at least we seem to be showing progress.

 

Last three games we have shown that we have a plan and identity to our game again. Tough games coming up but if we keep at it like we have done then I am confident for the rest of the season. Credit to Pellegrino, he has changed things around.

 

Yeah. Hurt his foot and is out for the season.

 

Hmm...

We were outplayed and Boufal's attempted tackle should have meant we were in worse trouble at half time.
But a surprising fact, we actually seem to have some quite good players who can pull us over the line in games like this. You can decide for yourself whether that is a good or bad thing.
7 games in 24 days next, so forget form, all of the squad will have to play.
I don't think Bournemouth are very good.
It will probably all be ok.

Oh and some other things.

I think there were 4 shots from 25ish yards, the closest was 10 yards wide. Stop doing that.
When Lemina came on 5 Live commentator described him as "a real destroyer, Ngolo Kante type player". Definitely definitely stop that.

 

Blimey. New media career beckons.

 

The team is also showing more guts and fight, something that has been missing for too long. We seem to be much more positive going forward and using our good FB to get good crosses into the box. Feel like Gabbiadini would also do well in the team if we keep playing like this.

 

We gave Swansea, Hudderfield & B'mouth a point.
Bottom three right there. Disappointed with today. They were there for the taking.

 

My take on it was that SD was the creator of their goal, picked up possession facing their goal with options ahead, but turned around and passed the ball in to danger area, Hoedt had nearly been caught a couple of times previous doing the same thing, lessons weren't learned. The penalty you can argue about for evermore, Sophie had slide tackled early and missed the ball, Smith got there as quick as he good to find a leg to fall over and made too much of the tumble, it looked false, but many times this has still been awarded a penalty, it was a Mosstake I think. I would have settled for a draw before the game, I feared it would be one of those banan skin games, but thanks to Bertie and Charlie we got a point.

 

I thought we were average first half (bar the first 10 mins) but much better second half.

Bertie & VVD looked good

Good goal.

Gotta go and pack and get a plane.

Catch you on the other side [emoji16]

 

On Sky they highlight one of the many incidents where Hoedt had his skirt hauled So far round that his number was round the front and under his throat and that was right in front of the ref. Bearing in mind the refs earlier decision I won't complain too much