Plucky little AFC Bournemouth vs nasty Aston Villa bullies post match thread

[Ads]

Great result down here in the heat, lost my voice for the first time in two moths!

I thought that, as others have said, we struggled to impose ourselves in the first half, with Bournemouth fortunately not creating too much bar two shots towards the end.

Second half the midfield three flattened and stepped up a bit and we dominated them. Marvin looked very good, Richards was a beast, Amavi looked excellent going forwards and was nice and strong defensively too.

Defensively we marshalled them and you could see with Veretout and Ayew their quality on the ball, the extra time they give themselves and their movement, even if they weren't match sharp.

Gabby doesn't do it for me, while Guzans kicking is really poor.

Rudy won absolutely everything in the air and looks like Carew with a birds nest on his head. His goal was great, just bullied everybody out the way and drilled it in harder than most people can kick it. He's going to cause all sorts of trouble.

Gueye should have scored too and Gabby.

Very pleasing away win. You could hear the BBC rubbing their hands on the way down and we silenced them.

[old man villa fan]

Considering it was virtually a new team, I thought they did well.  It will take time to gel as an effective team.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting much today and would have been pleased to get away from there with a point and not taken to the cleaners.

I thought Gueye, Gana or whatever his name is was MOTM for his non stop running and intelligent use of the ball.  If he keeps that up, Delph will be no great loss.  Amavi gives us a very good outlet down the left and will put up with a few lapses.  Gestede reminds me very much of Crouch generally but the goal was an old fashioned centre forward goal.  He kept his eye on the ball and was not going to be knocked off it and then put power behind the header.  I don't think we can us him all the time as I think we will burn him out.

I think what we lacked today, especially in the 1st half, was composure.  It is an old story but some of the new players look as though they can add that.  Westwood was off the pace of the game and I thought Bacuna had one of those so-so games and just about got away with it.  Ayew looks as though it will take him time to get used to the PL as he looks as though he is used to more space and more time on the ball.  I think he was too far away from Gabby and became isolated.

Still think we need a good wide player for variation to open the game up.  May be not a starter but somebody you can bring on during the game.  A good right back would make a big difference and I am still concerned about the options in centre of defence.  I would be happy with Richards and Clark if they can stay fit and don't get suspended.

Going back to the point about composure, the one that really lacks it is Guzan, to the point where it can seriously affect his game.  Anything instinctive and he is very good but give him time and he cannot handle it.  This is a concern but I think we are going to have to live with it for this season.

Anyway, really pleased with 3 points today. Now let's see them have a go at Man Utd. 

[Ron Manager]

An excellent second half performance mainly from Micah Richards who was very good indeed. Amavi and Gueye showed up well but Jordan Ayew failed to impress. Gestede crashed in a header that our great 1960s centre forward Tony Hateley would have been proud of. We should have gone in at half time two goals down but rode our luck and just about deserved the victory. Three very welcome points!

[Chris Smith]

Really good second half, particularly pleasing with it being such a changed team. If we can get the delivery right I think we'll see Rudy doing that plenty more times.

Defensively we looked strong other than one or two moments that will hopefully get sorted as they get used to each other.

England regaining the Ashes and Villa winning away, I've had worse days.

[Matt C]

I just saw on the BBC that we didn't have a single goal from a substitute last season.

[Toronto Villa]

Is it only me that thought Bournemouth looked a bit 'long ball'? Granted I only saw the first half as the stream I was watching went to bits. They put the pressure on in the last 15-20 mins of the first half but they weren't exactly flying at us, and from what I picked up on here we bossed the second half.

It was long ball disguised as a cross field pass which I am sure the BBC would have been creaming themselves over had they won the game. And they tried it over and over again which we dealt with quite well all considering.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I thought Sinclair did well, too.

He did well tracking back but he's very N'Zogbia going forward; picks up the ball, runs forward, gets to a great position then hasn't got a clue what to do with it, loses it.

[eamonn]

What did Lambert have to mumble for himself after the game on Setanta?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I know it's not like we thrashed them or anything, but I think Bournemouth are going to struggle this year. I was surprised by how "agricultural" their play was, I thought they were a possession team?

They really impressed me in how often the managed to whip in a great cross into the box. If they'd had Rudy playing for them first half they'd of had a hatful. Second half I thought they ran out of steam more than ideas. They're great down the flanks but have nobody in the middle though much of that can be put down to Clark and Richards' performance.

[Chris Smith]

Is it only me that thought Bournemouth looked a bit 'long ball'? Granted I only saw the first half as the stream I was watching went to bits. They put the pressure on in the last 15-20 mins of the first half but they weren't exactly flying at us, and from what I picked up on here we bossed the second half.

It was long ball disguised as a cross field pass which I am sure the BBC would have been creaming themselves over had they won the game. And they tried it over and over again which we dealt with quite well all considering.

I think you are a little unfair. Most teams will us the long diagonal as an out ball because with the way defences are coached to drift over towards the man in possession there will always be space. That said,  as you say we did generally cope well although a better side might have worked us harder.

[DB]

Really good second half, particularly pleasing with it being such a changed team. If we can get the delivery right I think we'll see Rudy doing that plenty more times.

Defensively we looked strong other than one or two moments that will hopefully get sorted as they get used to each other.

England regaining the Ashes and Villa winning away, I've had worse days.

Bllody brilliant day....add to that sun is out, beer in hand and the missus is away.

[CT Villan]

Naughty Villa didn't read the script !

Guzan's shot-stopping was excellent, but his distribution was utter, utter crap.
Bacuna had some very dodgy moments too, thankfully Richards was on top of his game.
Other than Clark's mistake stepping up for a non-existent offside, he was very good.
Gana and Amavi were decent, Vertout and Westwood OK.
Gabby was not good enough (maybe not 100% fit) and he didn't work well with Ayew or Sinclair...not enough movement or possession upfront. Shame Kozak didn't play, but next time the excellent Gestede should replace Gabby in the starting XI.

[PeterWithesShin]

Now only 37 games away from being Champions.

[Toronto Villa]

Is it only me that thought Bournemouth looked a bit 'long ball'? Granted I only saw the first half as the stream I was watching went to bits. They put the pressure on in the last 15-20 mins of the first half but they weren't exactly flying at us, and from what I picked up on here we bossed the second half.

It was long ball disguised as a cross field pass which I am sure the BBC would have been creaming themselves over had they won the game. And they tried it over and over again which we dealt with quite well all considering.

I think you are a little unfair. Most teams will us the long diagonal as an out ball because with the way defences are coached to drift over towards the man in possession there will always be space. That said,  as you say we did generally cope well although a better side might have worked us harder.

I was saying during the match thread that they need to be a lot more creative in the PL if they want to stay up. When something isn't really working they'll need to find new ways to create chances. There will better teams than us that will really expose them if they become one dimensional. And everyone knows about Wilson so they will mark him out of the game. He had the one real chance today where he should have scored, and chances aren't so readily available at this level.

[mr woo]

Result great, performance dreadful. Will struggle again if that's the true standard of what's to come. I suspect however there will be a gradual improvement with Gil,  Grealish and a new striker to come.

Think Amavi is our best left back since Bouma. Suspect Ayew is a bad un. And Rudy is gonna be very hit n miss.

Sorry to be negative. That's just how I see it.