AFC Bournemouth returned to Dean Court to face fellow recent promotion winners Nottingham Forest.
The Cherries squad remained ever depleted with the additions of Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing and Lewis Cook all unavailable for this game.
Joe Rothwell got the nod to step in for Lewis Cook, whilst new signing O. Dango made his debut on the right-wing, with Ryan Christie moving into a more central role. Kieffer Moore took the number 9 position.
This meant that once again AFC Bournemouth head coach Gary O’Neil had to promote players from the Cherries development and Under 18’s squads to make up the substitutes bench.
The only area that O’Neil does have options is in defence, despite the loss of Ryan Fredericks. Thankfully Adam Smith returned from suspension to take the right-back role, Jordan Zemura returned to left-back, whilst Lloyd Kelly and Jack Stephens were the preferred centre-back pairing with Marcos Senesi and Chris Mepham dropping to the bench.
This proved to be a much improved performance, with the Cherries creating numerous chances, however, they were punished for only taking one with the visitors hitting back late on to share the points.
After the game, O’Neil told Sky Sports…
“My over-riding emotion is disappointment because the boys put a lot in.
“It’s a small error for the goal. Forest are a threat on transition and we managed it so well for the whole game, they don’t really hurt you with the ball, they hurt you when there’s a turnover. That was annoying that one of them caught us.
“There were so many positives from the game as well but, so close to the final whistle, I’m disappointed we weren’t quite able to take all three points.”
Man of the match against Forest
Neto
Anthony
O. Dango
Lerma
Rothwell
Zemura
Kelly
Someone else
gutted not to take all 3 but a point on the board and another goal🙌🏽 GIG pic.twitter.com/yGIT6ySt4v
— Jaidon Anthony (@JaidonnA11) January 21, 2023
AFCB_Liam wrote…
Gary O’Neil can take some credit for finally realising that we must play Jordan Zemura and Jaidon Anthony together. A few weeks too late. Was also a good decision to play Rothwell.
We were excellent first half and pressed very well, winning a lot of 2nd balls and much better forward play.
However, sitting back like that against a Forest side having a shocker was criminal. We threw 2 points away which is crucial given our upcoming fixtures.
This doesn’t change things, GON HAS to go if we want any chance of staying up and we need a manager who can manage a game and hold on to a lead. Our set pieces remain a shambles and we were lucky to not concede from a corner yet again today.
Good debut for Dango. Looks raw but positive. Anthony and JZ were excellent. Rothwell had a strong first half. Nobody had a poor game we just messed it up tactically.
northstandmark added…
Punished for a passive 20 mins second half where Cooper made several changes and O’Neil sat on his hands and let it drift. We looked just about on top for the most part but momentum was only going one way and punished in the end.
Admittedly O’Neil’s bench isn’t exactly full of options, which is another issue.
NWCherries98 said…
billythekid wrote…
Think on first impressions and he is still a bit raw we might have got a natural winger with this young Ouattara.
He has a turn of pace and he made the goal for Anthony to break our duck of being the only team before today to not have scored in the PL since the World Cup.
Bit erratic with his two shots but was in the right place to get the chances.
Cleared the ball in our defence to prevent a Forest player from scoring.
Pity the error which led to their goal from I think it was Kieffer Moore.
Another plus was Neto in goal, not messing around with short goal kicks, straight down the field and into their half of the pitch.
So, so good to see Zemura back on top form. – To join the conversation, click here.
Change at the bottom of the #PL table ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/owW7xYjNZ5
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 21, 2023
