AFC Bournemouth traveled to Merseyside for the long-awaited trip to Goodison Park to face Everton. From the moment the fixtures came out, this game looked like the first real opportunity for a potential three points having already faced West Ham United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford, Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Arsenal in their opening 7 Premier League outings.
All seven sides are either currently occupying the top six places in the top flight of English football, won a European trophy last season, nearly qualified for Europe last season, or are Chelsea.
Everton, with all due respect to them, were fortunate to not be relegated last season and haven’t won at home since…well, when we last visited and handed them the three points to stay up, over four months ago.
To be honest, when you read that, it won’t be a surprise to know Everton won and won convincingly. But it’s the hope that kills you and all that.
AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports…
“Until we are more solid defensively we will make those mistakes and it will be tough to win games. We knew that whoever scored first would be a big advantage.
“Mistakes are pretty obvious, it’s not the first time that’s happened this season and it’s costing us points, games. We have to accept there is a moment when you have to take responsibility. We are a team but they are costing us points.
“We knew it would be a huge game, very important for us, it changed the situation a lot from winning or losing this game. We made the mistakes and they didn’t.
“Concentration is something we have to work on in training. You have to focus for 100 minutes and not make these mistakes.
“The same as today, when you’re in relegation spots you want to take the points. We had chances today but we didn’t take it. We needed to be concentrated and we were not. We needed to be solid at the back and we weren’t.
“We have to find the way and turn this around.”
The boss' take after a tough afternoon. pic.twitter.com/P8rkHFswXJ
— AFC Bournemouth š (@afcbournemouth) October 7, 2023
Man of the match against Everton
Tavernier
Neto
Philip
Someone else
No one
Red_till_im_ded wrote…
At the end, the players looked dejected. I don’t think that’s just down to the result. We are worse than last season and have injected Ā£90m worth of players into the squad in the summer. Signing injured players when we so desperately needed players to come straight in is just plain ridiculous. Not signing a forward was ridiculous. Those who screamed at those who questioned our matches up to this point what’s your excuse now? That was embarrassing to watch. It doesn’t look a happy team. A loss to Wolves and Andoni Iralola might be looking for a new club. I don’t disagree with the appointment necessarily but it seems our chairman acts quickly on impulse and questions need to be asked about our recruitment team. Second from bottom and deservedly so on our performances so far. Being played off the park by Arsenal is acceptable. Being played off the park by Everton is not acceptable. The team selections leave a lot to be desired at the moment. We leak leadership, quality, and goals.
redharry said…
In 57 years of watching us that is the first time I have left a league game before the final whistle, clueless, leaderless, unforced errors- where do you start?
AFCBmattjamr replied…
Feel like a mug for getting excited for a manager whose philosophy in his own words is ‘organised chaos’
That’s not a philosophy or a way of playing the game, it’s how you’d describe U8s football.
We were so desperate for exciting football after the dress from O’Neil and Parker we’ve been duped into hiring this fraud.
Garbo added…
Neto 4 must be more confident to catch the ball and not limply punch it away, distribution poor too
Smith 4 poor and slow got turned for the last goal
Zarbarnyi 3 Absolutely hopeless today gifted them the first and nearly a couple more later in the game
Senesi 4 marginally better than his CB partner but his tackling was abject
Kerkez 3 defensively lightweight and too easily beaten most times, not much going forward either
Tavernier 5 some flashes of flair but final ball inconsistent
Cook 7 our best player on the day
Christie 5 battled but was largely ineffective
Phillip 5 okay at times but looked like a frustrated figure with what was going on around him
Dango 3 withdrawn quite rightly a shadow of the player I thought he would be lately
Solanke 5 usual battling but not much change out of the Everton defence
Subs
Moore 6 had a few efforts on goal and showed aggression in the box our only player to do so
Brooks 4 could not impose himself in the time he had on the pitch
Sinisterra 5 showed some attacking flair and tracking back but the final ball was not the best
Aarons not enough time to mark!
Rothwell 4 hardly got a foot on the ball and was easily overrun in midfield
Ref 4.5 below average day for Mr Coote (think I got his name right?)
We look like a mess atm and only a win will save the knives from being sharpened for Andoniā¦.although our recruitment duo of Hughes and Blake are failing the club!
AFCB_Liam posted…
It’s a shambles top to bottom sprinkled with a bit of misfortune.
Our obvious weaknesses going into this season were full back, defensive midfield, and striking options to cover for Dom.
2 of these 3 we failed to try to address until far too late in the window and one we didn’t address at all. Signing Adams was a punt, but we didn’t have the luxury of waiting on an injured player. We should’ve at the very least signed another DM to start the season. We left ourselves completely exposed regardless of the further setback for Adams. And if Dom gets injured we are entirely screwed with no proper cover. We tried to offload Moore to swap for Daka but failed on the last day of the window.
The selection is bizarre. I honestly cannot think of any possible reason Dango is starting over Brooks, Semenyo, or even Anthony who we let go for a seemingly completely disinterested Sinisterra. We are playing Billing in a place that suits none of his strengths.
The form of Senesi and Neto seems to have dropped off a cliff but our formation and system leave the defence horribly exposed and Cook isn’t the guy to protect them.
We need to give AI time to try to implement something or there was no point hiring him. At the moment there’s a lack of discernable style but these things sometimes click suddenly. The biggest worry for me though is the body language of the team as it’s starting to look a bit reminiscent of the last relegation season with finger-pointing and slumped shoulders. AI needs to motivate this lot and they need to stop feeling sorry for themselves.
And please, for the love of god, someone needs to sort out our set pieces. It’s beyond embarrassing. We should have a clear out of the coaching team if they can’t at least manage this. – To join the conversation, click here.
