AFC Bournemouth extended their unbeaten run in all competitions into double figures on Tuesday evening, leaving London with a point against Chelsea.
The Cherries had initially fallen behind at Stamford Bridge but a penalty from Justin Kluivert and a stunning goal from Antoine Semenyo put the visitors in to the lead.
However there were two controversial refereeing decisions during the game that will be looked back upon by the media, the first was a potential red card for David Brooks which saw the referee sent to the screen by VAR only to keep with his original decision and then for Chelsea’s equaliser to stand despite there being an infringement by Chelsea on the AFC Bournemouth wall.
After the match, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told the Daily Echo…
“It’s a difficult one.
“Sometimes games are quite easy and you finish happy or sad.
“This one is very difficult because I think the result is fair. I think Chelsea were better than us in the first half. I think probably we were lucky to finish just with the 1-0.
“I think we were better than Chelsea in the second half. I think we deserved the turnaround. And I think probably the point is fair, but the way we’ve lost the point, I don’t think it’s fair.
“I think there is a goal that they score that should be disallowed. When they shoot the free kick, you stop the image and Cucurella is touching our wall.
“It should be one yard, it’s not, we cannot argue if it’s half a yard or three quarters, he’s touching Semenyo like this.
“And I understand the referee live, 94 minutes, the pressure of Stamford Bridge.
“But one guy in the VAR only has to check this free kick, stop the image when he shoots. They are in a legal position, no, they are not. One second, that’s it.
“I haven’t understood a lot of decisions today about the referee…”
Man of the match against Chelsea
Semenyo
Travers
Kluivert
Huijsen
Someone else
Written by kirsikka
Travers in for Kepa due to loan rules and Kluivert on the bench as the only senior option to come from the bench, AI again showing how he always wants a pacey forward to bring on for the final 30. Meanwhile, with a mere five of the starting XI playing out of their preferred position it felt… pretty desperate.
The first 45 minutes was everything you’d expect in that scenario. A complete backs-against-the-walls job with the press looking disjointed and being consistently bypassed. Even though it’s inculcated into the players, some of them don’t seem to be able to do it in other roles.
Chelsea took the lead early and it came after an uncharacteristic soft Zabarnyi challenge near the halfway line left Jackson surrounded by three AFCB players. They stood and watched him gather himself and wiggle free. Bizarre. He ran into the gaping space they left, and played it into the path of Palmer who sold Travers a dummy and slotted home.
The rest of the half was basically Chelsea spurning chances. If we did get forward, an interception or tackle came and one pass left us undone. Something looked very off.
There was more injury woe when Hill pulled up and had to be replaced after 20 minutes. AI had to play his only card as Kluivert came on and Cook move to right back for a testing 70 minutes.
The one bright spot came from an interception of a pass by their keeper and the ball being worked to Kluivert who hit the post with his shot. They immediately broke up the other end and hit the post with their shot.
That first half was like a match of old against one of the Sky Six. Relying on resolute defence, poor finishing and good luck to survive in the hope we could snatch something. I’m not quite sure how it stayed at 1-0 but the whistle came to much relief.
A performance of circumstance with the lack of players obviously impacting how we played but it also made me appreciate even more all those other games this season where we’ve gone at these teams and more than matched them.
We needed a tactical reset to try and address the issues. However, such was the challenge with the resources available it required AI to pull a camel out of the hat.
I’m going to be honest and say I couldn’t pick out what he did that was different. Was it a tactical tweak or did he simply re-instill belief in the men on the pitch? Whatever it was, they came out looking a totally different team.
Only a few minutes after the restart and the usual Kluivert hustle paid off. He intercepted a ball near the halfway line and played in Semenyo who was fouled in the area. Clear penalty. Kluivert scored where Eva couldn’t and the scores were suddenly level. Not really what we deserved at this stage but they stole three points in the reverse match so…
Meanwhile, the insufferable Owen Hargreaves on TNT joins the list of ex-footballers who should never be allowed to commentate on a match. He claimed, “They do this, Bournemouth. They hang in there with the big teams”. Fair enough as an assessment of that first half but also absolute proof he hasn’t seen us play any other match this season because, frankly, that’s absolute rubbish.
Then came another turning point. In the second or third minute, Brooks had been absolutely clattered off the ball by Cucurella during an AFCB attempted break but the ref missed it. Now, from an AFCB corner Chelsea cleared and DB unwisely decided to get some payback, only he yanked him down around the neck or from his hair. Again the ref missed it.
However, step in Stockley Park, mainlining in EntitledSixOin, sending the ref to the monitor for a potential red. For some reason, with 168 cameras in the stadium, they kept showing us a really long distance shot rather than something a little closer that would have shown it more clearly.
Many a the ref would have saved himself the inevitable media flak from the pundits who don’t want to see a team like AFCB in the PL and so taken the easy decision to send him off. Somehow, this man in the middle took the correct but brave choice to only issue the yellow. I’m impressed.
Good tings became incredible things then when Christie found Semenyo on the edge of the area, he feinted one way, went the other, and bulleted the ball into the top corner of the net. 2-1 and an against-all-odds victory looked possible.
The thing is, in the second half we were the better team. They looked bereft of ideas apart from trying to catch us on the break whereas we looked consistently dangerous. I wouldn’t say we dominated the way they did in the first 45 but we were definitely on top.
Then it came… AI time. That period of the game where our players have run the other team ragged with their constant pressing and harassment only for us to bring on subs and fresh legs take advantage of exhausted opponents. We’ve seen it so many times this season and was the clear reason why Kluivert started on the bench. Only this time there wasn’t a single senior pro available.
The only change made was to take off the now walking on paper-thin ice David Brooks to bring on Jebbison and move Dango back to his more suited wide role. It nearly brought a third as DO chased down Cucurella near the byline, won the ball and crossed to Jebbison who teed up Kluivert. His goal-bound shot was blocked but sometimes you have to respect the opposition and simply say it was a fantastic covering challenge.
You could see the players were suffering as the defending started getting ragged with lots of niggly fouls in dangerous positions being committed. There was nothing left in the tank. In the end, we paid the price as one set piece too many meant an injury-time free kick was rifled into the net from outside the area.
2-2 the final score. Unfortunately, it isn’t a win, but let’s not be churlish toward a group that left everything on the pitch and valiantly won a point.
Selected Player Watch
—– Travers —–
All he can do is put his name in the head of other managers when he gets his sporadic appearances. Tonight was mixed. There were shaky moments and good saves. Happy to admit this evening showed Kepa is correctly number one right now.
—– Dango —–
A thankless task for him tonight. Out of position against top-quality defenders in a match where we spent the first half looking a bit of a mess. No criticism as it isn’t his natural role and the guy never stops running. When he moved back to the wing, it was almost like he’d been brought on as a sub the way he was accelerating at times.
—– Kluivert —–
A bit like Christie, there’s nobody else like him at the club and you appreciate it all the more when you see someone else try and play the role. Excellent.
—– Zabarnyi and Huijsen —–
It was a bit of an onslaught at times. Both had good moments, both had poor moments. I thought DH was the more impressive of the two out there but I’d imagine both will feel they learned a lot.
—– Adams —–
Quietly effective in the second half. I don’t have access to a Tactics Bus but I’m concerned the gaping holes in the first were a sign that he isn’t suited to the Christie role in this system as that’s where you’d normally find him hassling the opposition. Again, not his natural position so no reason to be too critical.
AI and Tactics Watch
Hard fought doesn’t even begin to cover it. Playing against a team with three or four players for every position, and there’s us with ten fit outfield senior pros trying to outwork them. Every sinew was strained, every lung was bust, and every hamstring stretched to the limit. It was a performance of heart and character, but also a performance that saw quality once we got our act together.
In a fair world, we would have won the home match. In a fair world, they would have been out of sight at half time tonight. In a fair world, the sheer bloody-minded relentlessness and belief of this team would have got three points after taking the lead tonight.
The world is not fair. A point is a magnificent return given who we have available but the team deserved all three tonight. I’m gutted, but I’m even more gutted for them. It was like they were screaming “This is Sparta” in the face of an endless horde of fresh Chelsea players. They weren’t even the 500. They were the 11.
No respite for downed Warriors though, with another game coming on Saturday. If Hill’s injury sees him out, and we have to expect that, there’s a real chance we’re down to ten fit outfield players.
10. Ten. X.
However you want to say it, that simply isn’t realistic. They can’t go on rescuing unlikely points like this. We let Billing and Aarons go. We have to trust that Francis and Pinto know what they’re doing but if releasing them to early loan moves doesn’t result in some kind of reinforcement in time for Newcastle you have to question their judgement on sanctioning the departures at this point.
I don’t get this “We aren’t ready”, “Let’s keep on building and try another season”, “Europe would be bad for us” narrative. I remember season after season missing out on the League One playoffs by inches and never being able to get a team over the line.
The Premier League isn’t like that. It’s brutal. It’s ruthless. It takes no prisoners. You have to take your shot when the opening is there and, right now, the shot is on. Even if we hang on to players or somehow find equally good replacements, there’s no guarantee we’ll get the same results again or be in this same position again. Football doesn’t work like that. We need to go for it now.
AI and this team keep digging deeper and deeper and getting results but sometime soon we’re going to fall through the hole at the bottom unless they get the squad backing that is so sorely needed.
To the players, manager, and coaching team: Fabulous effort tonight. I couldn’t respect that team effort more.
To Bill and the transfer team: Over to you.
Your say…
Neil Dawson wrote…
The yin and yang of football. So often its us with the late goal and a draw feels like a win, today it was the opposition and a draw feels like a loss. Both yield the same point.
Kluivert as you say, the sacrificial lamb in the temple of the press – ready to come on and help win a game late. However, Hill’s injury changed that and we saw his buzziness early – which actually helped us get a 2-1 lead – just probably a little earlier than we like.
We stood off them a little early on (I’m guessing Andoni can’t utilise the mad press all game at the moment) and then pressed either side of half time. Dango had a tough task today against better centre halfs and the ball wasn’t sticking before then. Kluivert’s arrival changed this.
Semenyo’s goal a thing of beauty and power – he is a player in bursts and seems on one now which is great. I thought we missed Cook in midfield as well, Christie was having a slight off day and Adams takes up some odd positions that mean he joins the gaps late.
That said as the match grew so did we and we played into their nervousness and ponderous play from the back.
In the end, we actually looked comfortable, they weren’t really battering our door down. Christie gave away the free-kick though and that gave them one clear sight. I think Dango and Travers both could have done a little better as was pointed out on TV but neither are first choice starters and both gave their all, arguable a fair result.
Plusses –
Kerkez – always an audition for the lad when we play top teams and he is better than whoever they had plucked out to play left back.
Kluivert’s mum and Semenyo were outstanding.
I love Deano. Full stop.
Minuses
Losing Hill – the luck at the moment and he had just broken through.
Christie – quiet and at fault for both goals.
MOM – Se….men….yo – To join the conversation, please click here.
