Vital Verdict – AFCB v Bristol City

Written by kirsikka

Good to see an unchanged side. We haven’t been able to do that often this season.

The conceded goal came from a stupid challenge from Jaidon Anthony that gave away a free-kick. I could see well in advance he wasn’t going to get there but he couldn’t resist. That went for a corner and from that, they scored from the man Anthony was marking. Not his best 60 seconds.

We certainly showed intent to create. Lots and lots of crosses in the first half but nobody was able to get on the end of them. We looked much more dangerous in terms of getting attempts on goal when passing through them. You could see the change in approach in the second half so credit to Parker for pushing that.

Ref completely lost control of Bristol City’s physicality. Utterly ridiculous wrestling going on throughout the whole match. I understand he may want to play advantage but on some of those (numerous) offences, he has to go back and book the player. Instead, he just encouraged them to do it even more. The ref’s name is Steve Martin. He certainly looked like The Man With No Brain out there and I’d call him The Jerk based on that showing.

Dominic Solanke’s goal was thanks to a head up to spot the run first-time pass from Ryan Christie. Beautiful.

Fast thinking on the corner from Lewis Cook for his goal. Wasn’t from the prepared playbook as you could see him shouting for it because he was in acres of space. One from the “you have to buy a ticket to win the lottery” school of shooting and scoring.

Stupid goal to concede so late. Where was Jordan Zemura? Where was the cover if he was out of position? One to analyse more later.

Seemed a simple choice for AFC Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker today with ‘go out and do what you did last time’ but that can easily get torn up when you let in an early goal. What we saw was a mature and professional performance in response. Very encouraging as given our run-in we may well find ourselves behind in some games in the coming weeks.

Three points continues to keep the pressure on the chasing pack as their window of opportunity to catch up gets smaller

If I have to criticise anything, I’d say that on the balance of play and opportunities that should have been a 4-0. That we let it go to 3-2 is a minor quibble.

Positive performances:
L Cook – A couple of shaky moments but was the beating heart of that win.

Solanke – I’ve criticised him before for not dominating his defenders but today he was all over the pitch and was the class act on the pitch. Excellent.

Zemura – Amazing energy up and down (apart from the late goal?). Could have made better choices with his final ball a few times but overall well played.

Room for improvement:
Anthony – Not his best day. Felt like the weak link in our attacking play. Neat at times but offered no penetration and missed a great chance. He may regret that given Dembele’s cameo.

Christie – His all-round play was great but I’ve never seen such a talented player in all other aspects of his game with such poor finishing. He’s like a mythical animal with the body of a lion but the tail of a pig. Genuinely shocking. So he’s here for that alone as otherwise, he was very good.

Waz afcb wrote…

Incredibly pleasing the show of intent we’ve shown in the last two games. The performances have been light years ahead of the turgid Peterborough and Reading displays. It’s like Parker has all of a sudden told them to express themselves.

The one point I will make is that when the fullbacks bomb forward then somebody has to cover that space they leave behind. City created two chances from open play and both happened because our full backs were caught higher up the pitch.

Positives:
-L Cook really is a phenomenal footballer when utilised in his best position and in form. Dictated absolutely everything today. A joy to watch.

-Lerma- what an absolutely colossal performance. His link-up play in the final third and his constant willingness to run in behind was absolutely key to a very good performance. Often this season Solanke has had no one running beyond him, today that wasn’t the case.

-Solanke- complete strikers performance. Hold up, running in behind and a goal. Perfect.

-Christie- can’t shoot for toffee but absolutely essential to how we play.

Negatives-
Nat Phillips. Looks shaky. I don’t really get him as a player if I’m being honest. Looks uncomfortable dealing with situations that should be bread and butter to him. Not a Mepham fan at all but I see little from Phillips to suggest that he’s any better.

-aside from that it was just getting caught out with the full backs high up the pitch h a couple of times.

Your say…

retro red said…

At the end of the day, it was an entertaining game and another 3 points. Apart from defending the set-piece we played some great football. I just wish we could have a greater desire to have more shots on goal as Lewis Cook proved.
Onwards and upwards, looking forward to West Brom. – Join the conversation, click here.