Cherries Draw at London Stadium

Cherries arrived at London Stadium on the back of a great win against Arsenal,or a poor defeat against Wigan,whichever way your glass was filled.

Eddie kept with the same starting eleven that started v Arsenal,but rang the changes on the bench after the poor showing at Wigan,with Arter,Pugh and Afobe all missing out in favour of Josh King,Junior Stanislaw and Kyle Taylor.

The game started and it seemed Bournemouth had a hangover from the Wigan game,and were second to almost everything,West Ham starting the brighter of the two teams.The formation we were playing did not help,as it looked like we were playing for a point with 5 across the back,and only Gosling and L Cook in the middle being constantly outnumbered when in possession.

A pattern was emerging where we would have the ball,quickly and easily surrender possession,and West Ham would totally waste their chance with either a poor final ball or woeful finishing.

After many attempts,the best chance of the game fell to Arnoutovic whose flick from Zabaletas cross 6 yards or so out was brilliantly saved by Begovic.

Whenever Cherries got anywhere near the West Ham box,it was again poor decision making or being to intricate with the passing that let us down,I don’t think we forced a save from West Ham keeper Adrian at all in the first half.

Half Time
West Ham 0 Cherries 0

The second half started much the same as the first,Bournemouth being pressed hard and surrendering possession,and West Ham wasting the chances.Arnoutovic again had the best chance when put through on goal ,but Steve Cook managed a superb sliding tackle as he was just about to pull the trigger.

As the game went on ,the ineffective Jordon Ibe was replaced by Junior Stanislas,who had almost immediate impact,a brilliantly weighted ball finding Ryan FRASER who accelerated past his marker before unleashing a powerful shot into the net at Adrians near post.
However ,as the delirious Cherries fans were still celebrating,a lapse in concentration at the back saw a high ball not dealt with twice,Arnoutovic flicking on for HERNANDEZ to poke the ball past the oncoming Begovic.
This really was gutting as we have seen this happen to us before after a lot of hard work,notably against Chelsea in the Cup.
As the game drew to a close,Josh King was thrown on for Ryan Fraser but no clear cut chances were made,both teams I think happy with a point.

So,in a way,dissapointing that we couldn’t hold the lead and grab the three points,but I think most people would have took a point before the game,and the performance for 60 percent of the match was poor,we were very sluggish,but I don’t think the tactics helped.

Ratings

Begovic 8 Solid handling,and commanded his area well at set pieces
Francis 7 Better without a tricky winger but still made one suicidal pass
S Cook 9 Superb performance from a Captain in the making
Ake 8 Solid as ever
Daniels 6 Slow,ponderous and constantly dispossessed ,off form
Smith 7 Worked hard,didn’t get down the flanks enough
Ibe 6 Ran into too many brick walls
Fraser 7 Poor first half,better second,took his goal well
L Cook 8 Quiet first half,superb second.
Gosling 7 Very poor first half,better second
Wilson 6 Struggled in the lone role albeit with poor service

Subs
Stanislas 7 Immediate impact,must stay fit
King 6 not on long enough to make a difference