AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was disappointed with the Cherries opening day defeat away to West Bromwich Albion.
For a third successive season the Cherries have lost on the opening day of the new Premier League campaign.
The Cherries travelled to The Hawthorns with new signing Jermain Defoe having not trained fully over the last week, he was included in the squad but only on the bench.
New signings Asmir Begovic and Nathan Ake however did earn a place in Howe’s starting XI, at the expense of Artur Boruc and Adam Smith.
Captain Simon Francis moved over to right back and Steve Cook moved to the right side of central defence to accommodate Ake.
Charlie Daniels completed the back four.
Ryan Fraser, Harry Arter, Andrew Surman and Marc Pugh completed a well recognised midfield four, with Joshua King and Benik Afobe up front.
AFC Bournemouth dominated possession, but created very little.
📊 The numbers from a frustrating day on the road…#afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/0TGPutunwO
? AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) August 12, 2017
Whilst the home side worked Begovic on a number of occasions and got the one break through when Ahmed Hegazi headed past Begovic from a set piece.
Howe told Sky Sports…
‘I’m disappointed, I thought with the set-plays we obviously didn’t deal with that well. It’s unlike us to have so much possession and not create, what I felt, was a really good chance. [That] was probably the most disappointing thing.’
‘I was disappointed with the build-up to it [Hegazi’s goal], which – against West Brom – puts you under pressure so that’s disappointing.
‘They defended very well and very deep with numbers. It’s very difficult to expose them with their shape. We had plans for that, we didn’t deliver that and that’s a frustration…’
‘…We’ve had enough football during pre-season to be ready. There wasn’t a problem there…’
🗣️ ‘The goal we gave away was a poor one’@afcbournemouth Eddie Howe tells @kristemple his side have a lot of improving to do #afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/2UiliOc3PH
? BBC Solent Sport (@solentsport) August 12, 2017
Your Say…
Druss_the_Legend wrote…
Dissect that performance then
Lets start by saying that West Brom at their place is a very tough proposition. No one expects to go there and find an easy match. That being said…
Talking points? Surman back in the middle. Back to negative slow moving balls through midfield or backwards. Francis at right back…for his height hopefully? I’d hate to think Eddie was falling into the old trap of playing your favourites players out of position because you just want to play them? Pughs performance? Jordons performance? Whats going on with that shirt name?
Ake played well as did Begovic apart possibly for the goal.
Not an unexpected result but still a very poor performance. – Join the conversation here.
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