They were very good, but it's not to say that Koeman shouldn't have made changes earlier. Hence me asking for them (and later better retention of the ball). Still a good win and a good team performance.
Well, I find not having a single shot in the second half against a lower table PL side unacceptable. I find being bossed in the middle of the park and not being able to string more than a few passes together in their half unacceptable. OK they played well but IMO we were unacceptably below par.
I am afraid it doesn't work like that, whether they support the best team or worst team fans love it when they play well and moan when they don't - same at just about every club
Scoring two goals and a clean sheet. Thank got I am not your lover,otherwise I would have to provide you with multiple orgasms daily and double bubble on Sunday - just get REAL! Please
Get real? Just because I am being critical of the team? I know we won and we scored 2 good goals. The first half was very good which is precisely the reason why I'm so annoyed about the second half. If we were playing Man City or Arsenal we would have been destroyed. I don't see why I'm being so unreasonable here. I may be being a bit harsh on the team but that's because we are a top 7 side and this isn't the first time we've had a great first half and a **** second. Leicester and Man United spring to mind. There is a pattern threatening to develop and it needs to be nipped in the bud now. Ron's not stupid, despite what he said to the media I reckon he had a bit of a go in the changing room at FT. And I'm starting to get concerned about our lack of discipline.
I don't consider that Saints have let any of us down...we are going to have another good season...perhaps even better than last year.
Fats pretty much agree with most of that,except from where I sit I thought Vic was very sloppy and lackadaisical at times.oh and by the way we know you like Mr.Howe.
Hey come on, perhaps 'unacceptable' is too strong, but I think we all know what Tom, and when he's not being belligerent about it, Tintin, are getting at. It's clear where there are areas to improve and that's fairly obvious, no matter how well (or not) Bournemouth played second half. As I said however many posts back, the second half was sloppy, and that was from Pelle backwards, with the notable exception being Vic until his card, and to some extent the likes of Yoshida. That needs to be improved, no doubt. What's tiresome is the constant need to only pick out the negatives (and the unfair focus on certain players). Much as there needs to be balance in a team, there really needs to be some balance in the analysis too. There were some great positives in there, and there were some things that need looking at by the coaching team too - namely retaining confidence and composure when teams come on and press hard second half. We *were* lucky to an extent, as Tom says, that Bournemouth are currently relatively toothless up front. But, on the flip side, we did well to restrict them to very few opportunities. We're still a work in progress, and players like Clasie (who I thought was excellent in the first half, granted he was beginning to tire in the second, but I thought Koeman took him off at the right time), are still bedding in and getting fitness levels up. Unfortunately we lost the ability to find our forward players in the best positions to hold the ball up and relieve pressure second half, and our forward players in particular (M/T/P) somehow lost their ability to hold the ball when the did receive it. Still, it's a win. We're seventh. The team, and Koeman, are doing well. But yes, improvement needed, of course. But then you could say that about pretty much any team at this stage in the league.
Let's not keep referring to Bournemouth as a championship team. The same Bournemouth who were narrowly beaten 1-0 away to Liverpool 4 days ago, and have won away at west ham who are 5th. Any win in the premier league is a good result.
I forgot Clasie in my review. He is starting to fulfil his promise. Oh and it's magic... You know... Tadic and Graziano..... What a ****ing goal
Our problem is the half time break, we lose momentum and struggle to get it going again, just like the International breaks, they always happen as we are getting up a head of steam and we come back deflated, very annoying.
I know exactly what you're saying, but they pressed us out the game...they were brilliant at pressing second half. Once the mould set for the half we couldn't escape it. They had nothing to lose and set up ultra aggressively. It takes a good and brave tactician to set up like that. I really like Pelle, but at times he went wondering about too much today. Sometimes we need him up top for the long ball to escape a period of pressure. The ball just dropped there a couple of times as defenders hit a long ball down the middle expecting him to be there. His hold up play was as bad as I can remember second half. I can forgive him of course, as not only did we win..but he scored in the first half and he tried his best to get the ball back. No matter what we say we got the clean sheet in the end, so it worked. The second half would never have panned out like that unless we were 2 or 3-0 up at half time. It wasn't ideal but would afford to stay on the back foot with a two goal cushion.
I think Graz was trying to make up for a couple of players that went missing today, if you watch the game again, pay attention to the amount of important defending that he did, don't just concentrate on his forward play.
Attempt by idiots on both sides to get through the shutters that separate opposing attendees (trying not to say "fans" or "supporters"). There was a concerted effort to lift the roller shutter, quickly quelled by the Police you must have seen flooding in. If they hadn't stopped the nutters, I'd have been trapped down there when all I really wanted was a quiet pee in safety. The daft thing is that the Police were very obvious in their filming so I expect (I certainly hope) the perpetrators will get their day in court. Also apparently trouble at Yates before the game with Bournemouth fans with Portsmouth fans mixed in. Vin
I did say he tried his best to get the ball back! My point is that sometimes we just need him to stay forward and be a target man. And press the ball at the front of the midfield, rather than trying to fill into the midfield or charge back. Otherwise with just playing one up front once we get the ball back we have no ball on to release the pressure, or gain territory, as the whole midfield was back. We had both wingers coming back to defend and Davis dropping back. We had no where to go once we won the ball when Pelle dropped back, not with Bournemouth pressing so well. It's just a slight adjustment. I can understand why Pelle did what he did to try to help out and his work rate was very good.
