Written by kirsikka
Whatever the opposite of slick is, that’s what we are right now. Bumping into each other. Reading runs wrong. Poor control. It’s endemic across the whole team and in stark contrast to earlier on the season.
The penalty was a penalty in the same way penalties we’ve had before where the offence started outside the area and continued in was given. Really sloppy and needless from Jaidon Anthony, and he isn’t the first to be like that recently.
Feels like the team need a ‘thrash it out’ honesty meeting as they’ve not been very good lately.
AFC Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker yet again failed to make substitutions that impact positively on the game.
Well played:
Mark Travers – The next best from that performance could be considered, at best, average. Travers was great.
Room for improvement:
Harsh to single out one when so many were below par. When it’s like that, you have to look a little at the person giving them the direction so Parker needs to take control of the situation.
Despite a horrible run we’re still in a good position. Former AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe had runs of poor results but turned it around into a run of positive results. That’s what we need from Parker now.
Man of the match against Middlesbrough
Travers
Kilkenny
Kelly
Cahill
Billing
Someone else
Red_till_im_ded wrote…
Keeping a winning mentality going is easy. Stopping a losing mentality is difficult. This is where the leaders in the squad need to step up and drag the others back up to the levels required. But where are they? I look at players like Lewis Cook and Gary Cahill in that light but where are the others? Were not a ‘ roll the sleeves up and get stuck in’ type of side. We have a lot of confidence players. Those who shine when things are going well but disappear when things aren’t. Parker has got a bit work on his hands now with this lot.
MB1980 said…
I don’t have any idea what the answers are, but have more confidence in Parker compared to Jason Tindall or Jonathan Woodgate. If the next couple of performances are similar I will become more concerned.
Let’s see how we perform when most who’ve been out have played some more games.
The concern is sides have now worked us out. Hopefully, we can respond.
This is where Parker will need to demonstrate his credentials as more people become despondent, questioning him as manager, as we can see from this forum alone. It will be an interesting atmosphere if there’s little to no improvement by this time next month.
northstandmark added…
We’re starting to get back to something that looks first 11-esq on paper, and I’m sure a result will come soon.
My concern though is that further disruptions through injuries etc are inevitable, and we’ve seemed to forget how to win games without that consistent 11 we got into the run of form with.
Parker and co will need to come up with answers from the wider squad as the season goes on. And a bit of variety wouldn’t go amiss, we’re a little predictable.
The number of times we’d have a nice looking buildup only for a dodgy touch, bounce of the ball, a bobble, ricochet etc to break the move down. Every deflection seemed to fall into the path of a Boro player. Think back to Coventry equaliser, the offside Blackburn opener, we’ve lost the lucky touch. But it will turn. We just need a break. – Join the conversation, click here.
Your say…
Matt Stevenson wrote…
For those who didn’t watch it live, the xG timeline shows what a poor second half it was. At half time, I was relatively happy, we should have put away one of the three chances (Antony’s shot he put wide of the far post (about 1 in 2), Solanke’s header (38%) and Christie’s attempt that he put wide following a good ball from Billing). Whilst Phil Bill didn’t have his best game, if Christie had put in the pass, this could have been a turning point. Boro had created a close-range attempt from Crooks that Travers saved well (1 in 2), and a fairly lucky deflection that again Travers did well to keep out (1 in 25). At the interval, I thought we were more likely to win it as we had dominated the last 20 minutes.
After the break, it was again Boro who got off to the better start, but unlike the first half, we didn’t gain control. On 50 minutes Travers did well to keep out Sporar (1 in 4). 3 minutes later, Jones was professional to win the penalty from Anthony, although if the ref was consistent there could have been a foul earlier in the build-up when Jones tackled Anthony, who then showed inexperience as he chased back. Despite changes, we created little, and I was puzzled that Cook was taken off and Billing was dropped back to centre midfield when it looked like he was struggling. All key chances then fell to Boro, Jones with a 1 in 5 effort, and Tavernier (1 in 2) as Boro made attack the best form off defence.
So another disappointing result. We had lucky breaks / clinical finishing in the early parts of the season, but this has deserted us, although the game may well have been different if we’d gone in 1-0 up. Add in the injuries, the tough fixtures and the fortunate Coventry equaliser and Parker must be cursing his luck/worrying. The fixtures get better soon, so fingers crossed the management/team can put it right. – Join the conversation, click here.
