AFC Bournemouth progressed to the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable win over Championship side West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. To avoid a boring game, the Cherries opted to go behind early against their visitors. But order was soon restored with goals from Justin Kluivert, Dango Ouattara, Antoine Semenyo and Daniel Jebbison.
On Sunday evening, the Cherries learned that their “reward” is a trip to Goodison Park to face David Moyes’ Everton (and yes this is the year 2024).
Man of the match against WBADango
Brooks
Kluivert
Semenyo
Adams
Hill
Someone else
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Written by kirsikka
With the last of the summer nines unavailable, I was half expecting to see Fletch stride out to lead the line in some kind of Compo cameo but, fortunately, AI isn’t that batty. Instead, Dango stepped into the striker role and the team was rejigged to try and find a combination that allowed us to rest some players, even given our depleted resources.
One eye was firmly on the v Chelsea on Tuesday but still, it was a big day for Ben Winterburn who stepped into the midfield to make his first start.
You can never tell how these things will go when you’ve got an unfamiliar XI with multiple players out of their natural position. It has often ended badly for AFCB and with no striker available and so many others out, we looked prime candidates for a potential cupset.
Turns out that the thing to remember above all is that this is an AI team and we shouldn’t let the scars of FA Cups past haunt us.
We actually started how I thought that team would play, disjointed and lacking in understanding. Even set pieces looked off, normally so well drilled, but the first saw a corner dummied to… several waiting West Brom defenders and no AFCB player in sight.
It wasn’t, therefore, a total surprise when they took the lead. A needless foul from Kluivert gave away a free kick out wide which was swung into the danger zone. A poor challenge from Adams let his man head it only for it to rebound off the bar and onto the head of another West Brom player who nodded the ball into the far corner.
Unlike previous years though, this seemed to be the catalyst for change as suddenly we looked much sharper and started working together to cause them problems. It wasn’t exactly blood and thunder FA Cup stuff but we carved out chances.
The equaliser came from two moments of quality. A glorious cross field pass from Adams to Brooks who then shaped a cross into the far post that left the keeper with a dilemma. If he left alone then it would creep into the far post but if he committed to stopping it then any earlier touch would see it go in. As it turned out, he made the save but only into the path of the waiting Kluivert who slammed home.
From that moment until the game was put to bed it was essentially one way traffic with superior quality on the ball seeing repeated chances created. It wasn’t that we had all the ball, but when they had it you could see the difference in levels.
Our second came as a result of supposedly makeshift striker Dango’s intelligent darting runs around the edge of the box, which were causing them all sorts of problems. Kluivert found him with a clever reverse pass into his path and his low shot from an acute angle slipped under the keeper.
The third was an end to end break after a West Brom long throw was intercepted and we charged out of defence like a horde of goal hungry orcs. Brooks drew the defenders toward him and then played in the onrushing Dango who slotted home.
Halftime saw AI bring on Semenyo for Aarons as Brooks was moved into midfield in the Christie role. He doesn’t have the same energy, but it was a delight to see him there, all prodding and probing little passes and quality on the ball that they struggled to contain. Was he there purely due to the circumstances around the team or was this a sign that AI is looking to try and find a role for Brooks somewhere on the pitch?
It took less than two minutes after the restart for the changes to pay dividends. A beautiful move down the right, including a sublime scooped ball from Brooks to Semenyo, saw the ball worked back and Brooks again played in Semenyo only this time into the area. He blasted the ball into the roof of the net to emphatically end the match with 43 minutes still to play.
After that, we mostly shut the game down without feeling the need to commit too much. There were a few chances here and there – one West Brom player should have scored after juggling the ball past Huijsen and Dango could have completed his hat trick a couple of times.
Injury time still saw Semenyo slip the ball to Jebbison clear through on goal and his shot was almost saved by the keeper, but it looped into the net. Less than half an hour on the pitch and he’s scored against Championship opposition. What were Watford doing with him?
What I found interesting from today was the short chorus at one point of “4-1 and you still don’t sing” from the away fans. They were right, the home atmosphere mostly came across as bordering on susurration a lot of the time, but I don’t see that as a criticism.
However many fans they have, however big their stadium is, whatever they’ve won in the past means nothing today and right now. At this very point, they’re a team further down the pecking order and so there are muted levels of excitement at swatting them aside like a lower league team. That’s just who they and we are right now.
We all know football is a cruel mistress and it could all change very quickly, but for today, beating them 5-1 with an AFCB cast of waifs and strays is simply a sign of the respective qualities of the teams.
What has AI done to us? I’m not sure we’re ever going to recover our expectations when he surely moves on to a job at one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Five goals, into the next round and an interesting trial run out for some tactical ideas we may use until we can bring in a striker. Plus, I hope, no injuries. We couldn’t really have asked for much more from the day.
Selected Player Watch
—– Winterburn —–
Whilst the game was still in the balance, I saw him scurrying around plenty but things did seem to pass him by. However, he was one of many played out of position today and he never stopped. Welcome to the fringes of the first team Ben! Now that’s out the way it will get easier in time and with experience.
—– Soler —–
Another debut, albeit from someone with much more experience of the first team pro game. The first 20 minutes aside, it wasn’t really a defenders match so not too much to say about him yet. One particularly ugly challenge left him in a heap and collective AFCB breathes were held as he received treatment. Fortunately, he was ok to continue but welcome to England Julio Soler! It can get physical here.
—– Dango —–
Asked to play a role and he executed it almost perfectly as he proved a constant thorn in their side. Can he do it against PL defenders? I guess we find out on Tuesday. The only criticism I would have is that a striker would never pass when the team is 4-1 up and he’s clean through and on a hattrick! It was a moment whree he should have channeled his inner Gordon Gecko… greed is good!
—– Brooks —–
He is the ringmaster out there who showed why he’s too good for the Championship. So clever on the ball. Seeing AI move him into a different position made me hope he might still be a part of things here. Time will tell but, for me, he was today’s MOTM even though Dango scored two and was also brilliant in his role.
AI and Tactics Watch
I’m starting to get the feeling that if AI was stranded on a desert island with only the wreckage of a plane, he somehow create a comfortable modern lifestyle for himself from what was available. The way he takes players and remoulds them into new roles and they somehow look natural there is incredible.
Today we saw Hill in midfield, Winterburn as a 10, Dango as a striker, Brooks as a central midfielder, Huijsen in midfield (!) and Kerkez… somewhere. And probably more. And yet, shaky start aside, we still looked sleek, well drilled and dangerous. I can’t really compute it but its something special to watch and admire.
The twenty-minute spell on either side of half time when we went for the jugular was devastating, after which, with the match won, AI simply had us contain them. They can boing boing all they want, but they simply bounced back off a tactical masterclass.
The average age of our starting XI today was 23.4 years and yet we looked masterful and experienced instead of raw and vulnerable. That comes from the man briefing them, instilling belief and tactics into them that they know they can trust.
A great win for a makeshift side. Chapeau, M. Andoni, chapeau.
Praise for our academy graduates 🌟 pic.twitter.com/xsjxdRFb71
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 11, 2025
Your say…
canadiancherry
Great result. Wow.
I haven’t felt so comfortable watching a cup game . . . ever!
It sure looked like we eased back after it went 4-1. Probably could have been 7 or 8 had we really wanted to go for it but managing the game was the right thing to do.
What was different about this time around was that the insertion of the fringe/new players didn’t completely mess things up. I wonder whether maybe Andoni went with simplified tactics or something?
billythekid
Well, that was a very satisfactory result this afternoon after the news in the week re our two strikers.
Number of changes in our lineup, but it all clicked into place and even though we went a goal down it wasn’t going to be long before we were going to equalise.
Justin Kluivert put us level and a brace from Dango Ouattara put the game beyond West Brom, they never looked like they could comeback.
Andoni Iraola again spot on with his substitutions, after being on the pitch for one minute Antoine Semenyo made it 4-1.
Daniel Jebbison another substitute this afternoon, who had been called in the week from his loan spell at Watford made it 5-1.
Thought young Julio Soler had a good debut, also Max Aarons had a good game.
Our manager again worked his ‘magic’ and our club are through to the 4th Round of the FA Cup.
On the way back from the game was listening to Solent who mentioned our average age today in the outfield players was 23. – To join the conversation, please click here.
We’re drawn away to Everton in the @EmiratesFACup 🏆
See you in February, @Everton 👋 pic.twitter.com/ekePPJVkOD
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 12, 2025
