Written by Matt Stevenson
Here is the xG from the Shef U game. The first real chance was a penalty to AFCB (rated 79%). Solanke slipped as he took it though with the ball ending up over the bar. Bournemouth were largely dominant but fell behind in the 26th minute, Hamer prodded the ball past Kerkez to Bogle, whose shot was parried by Neto, but only to Hamer to score (1 in 4). The rest of the half only had bitty chances, with two 1 in 10 falling to Semenyo, until just before the break when Shef U had two big chances, both from headers, with first Davies and then McBurnie (both rated 1 in 5), at half time the xG was AFCB 1.43 Shef U 0.85. The second half started fairly flatly with the first real incident being Shef U’s second goal. A mix-up saw Neto punch the ball into Solanke and Robinson scored from the rebound (1 in 4). With 20 minutes to go things were looking bleak, but AFCB stepped through the gears. In the 73rd minute, Ouattara got free to head home from Christie’s corner (2 in 5). Four minutes later, Zabarnyi had a shot, 4 minutes later Ouattara had a header, both rated as 1 in 5. The pressure was building with multiple 1 in 10 chances until Unal met Ouattara’s flicked header to equalise (rated 28%). There was still time for a couple of 1 in 16 chances, but the Cherries couldn’t find the winner. The xG in the last 20 minutes was AFCB 1.57 Shef U 0.00, with the final xG being AFCB 3.35, Shef U 1.25. (Note, the site I use missed off two AFCB chances hence why the graph is low). The xGs produced by Understat were higher being AFCB 3.93, Shef U 1.92.
Man of the match against Sheffield United
O. Dango
Christie
Neto
Mepham
Unal
Someone else
The average positions of our players were very high (with only Neto (1), Mepham (6) and Zabarnyi (27) being in our own half. Cook (4) and Christie (10) were in front of the centre backs, with Smith (15) and Kerkez (3) playing high in almost a 2-4-4 formation. The first change was at half-time when Kerkez (who was on a yellow card) was replaced with Ouattara (11). Just before we conceded the second, Sinisterra (17) replaced Tavernier (16) and Unal (26) came on for Kluivert (19). On 74 minutes, Christie and Smith were replaced with Philip (29) and Scott (14). Cook switched to right-back. I’m not sure how all the attacking players were being utilised, but we probably had 7 men deep in the Shef U half for the last 20 minutes.
We had 75 touches in the opposition’s penalty area (a season-high) with four players having 10 or more: Sinisterra (14), Solanke and Ouattarra (11 each), and Kluivert 10. Sinisterra’s value was the highest of the season and he came on in the 62nd minute.
Our players tried to take on a man 16 times being successful 8 times. Ouattara was successful 3 times from 3 attempts and Sinisterra 3 times from 4 attempts.
We had 32 attempts (a season-high) (including six big (another season record) noting that chances can be provided after saves, deflections or a defensive error and not created. We hit the target 11 times (another record). Shef U had 13 attempts, three big, and hit the target 9 times. Semenyo had 6 attempts and Ouattara 5.
AFCB won 13 out of 19 tackles. Mepham won 3 from 3.
The foul count was AFCB 12, Shef U 11. Solanke made three fouls, whilst Christie, Smith and Solanke were fouled twice.
According to Opta, AFCB made no errors leading to chances or goals.
USCherry
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