AFCB v Wolves – Highlights & Reaction

AFC Bournemouth returned to Dean Court after the October international break still in search of their first Premier League win of the season.

The visitors were Wolverhampton Wanderers, led by former Cherries head coach Gary O’Neil.

The first half proved to be an example of why the AFC Bournemouth hierarchy of Neill Blake, Richard Hughes, and owner Bill Foley opted to sack Gary O’Neil at the end of the 2022/23 campaign and replace him with current head coach Andoni Iraola. The visitors sat deep, eleven men behind the ball, held their shape and only attacked on the counter-attack on turnovers. The home side, aggressively pressed, won the ball high up the pitch, kept possession in the opposition’s half and took the lead through Dominic Solanke.

The second half proved an example of why Gary O’Neil proved he was more a substance-over-style boss, with his organised side coming out after the break with a quick smash-and-grab equaliser, before going on to take all three points.

The Cherries were the making of their own downfall, fast asleep at the start of the second half and then individual moments of madness, giving Wolves the impetus, first with Lewis Cook’s sending off and then individual error’s from Neto and Billing to combine to gift Wolves the three points.

After the game, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports…

“We mostly played like we wanted it, but there are mistakes at this level that you cannot commit and we did.

“We were attacking very well and were doing well, but after Lewis Cook’s sending off everything gets much more difficult.

“Even with 10 players, we gave everything. We defended well then at the end we made a second mistake.”

“Lewis and Neto know they made the mistakes. We are not keeping the focus to compete and win games. I’ve not seen the red card repeated, but he was the first one to apologise. He left us in a difficult situation, but we were close to taking at least one point. We conceded in the worst way.”

Written by billythekid

The team looked well-balanced from the start of the game and Scott, Brooks, and Billing were all involved in the build-up to Solanke putting us 1-0 in front.

Our side played well first half with Cook having a good game.

Our team were caught napping early in the second half and Wolves drew level.

Then the turning point of the game, a foul by Cook on Hee-Chan, the Wolves player goes towards Cook and it seems Cook put his head forward and the referee gives Cook a red card.

That was the first turning point of the game, Cook had been playing well in his midfield role and then a second of madness and he gave Wolves a one-player advantage.

Our side did well and defended our goal area and kept the score to 1-1 up until the 88th minute when our captain and goalkeeper made a terrible blunder. Instead of getting the ball downfield he rolled it to Billing with Wolves players around him and Billing not with full control of the ball, lost it and Wolves said thanks very much and soon after Neto was picking the ball out of his net with his team yet again staring at defeat.

There was a lot of huffing and puffing from our side after but it was just too late to get a point.

Most of the 11,175 going home again not seeing their side get a win.

Andoni's reaction to #BOUWOL 💬 pic.twitter.com/DMf9Ld6ozy

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) October 21, 2023

RobTrent added…

Still quite cross with today.

I couldn’t see their equaliser because people were still taking their seats so no idea what happened.

Once Cook did whatever he did we were always going to be on the back foot but as the game went on we started to carve out some chances.

Then the goal kick. FFS. Andoni was telling Neto to slow it down, but what does he do? We’re looking okay for a draw and he quickly rolls it to Billing and they press and score.

The first half was better than in a long while but boy, we cannot buy a win at the moment, can we?

Proud moment. Stick with us, we’ll put things right🍒 pic.twitter.com/Nj71l4USUR

— Alex Scott (@AlexScott_7) October 21, 2023

table said…

How many goals have we conceded 5 minutes on either side of half-time? Why does it just derail us so much?

We run around, and do loads of the nitty-gritty stuff well enough but I hardly ever see a shot on goal or even expect it. A first-half 1 goal lead ain’t going to win us a match this season, from what I’ve seen. We’re not organised, mentally sharp or smart enough to grind out a win and we’re not “gung-ho” enough to go for the jugular.

I’m not a fan of the manager “digging” players out after the match for “individual mistakes”. I’m not sure our best managers did this.

I was surprised GON was sacked but not shocked. Then AI was appointed, and all I read was “organised chaos”, and “rock and roll football”, I’ll sign up for that. First 2 games, I could see signs we were going back on the front foot, it’ll take a while but there’s something to build on. My opinion is, we haven’t moved forward in nearly 3 months, the revolution appears to have stalled. We need to be better than we were 3 months ago, not blaming individuals.

I don’t want us sacking AI and becoming ” Just a shite Watford Football Club”. Maybe I was suckered in by the hype and I wanted more. Maybe I should try and be patient but having seen over 200 Premier League matches involving Boscombe, I can see we look like a team in a relegation fight ( with a quarter of the season gone), when I thought we were moving up from “survival mode”.

We need to be better than losing because of a couple of mistakes, playing at our best for long enough periods will cover that.

AFCB_Liam added…

Worrying times. Individual mistakes alongside a general lack of form across our team is a recipe for relegation. There isn’t one facet of our play that looks better than last season. Yet to see any sign of this rock n roll football that was promised, more like hotel lounge music.

We will now be without Cook for 3 games including Man City and Newcastle. Madness that we got to a position where a player who started less than half our games last season is now our sole defensive midfield option.

Getting increasingly worried about our attacking recruitment. Tens of millions were spent in the last 2 windows and struggling to see much impact this season from Semenyo, Traore, Kluivert, Dango or Sinisterra (1 goal and 1 assist between them this season). We go back to relying on Dom and Billing for any creativity. At least some promising signs from Scott.

Neto simply has to be dropped/rested. It’s beyond embarrassing at the moment, it’s 2 or 3 howlers per match. I panic every time the ball enters are area, awaiting the flap. If neither Radu nor Randolph can provide effective cover then, again, what has our recruitment team been up to?

Burnley game is huge but no doubt they’ll also be massively up for it and we are often quite charitable with teams out of form… – To join the conversation, click here.