Ange Postecoglou spoke to the media at the Vitality Stadium after our 1-0 loss against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Thursday evening.
Here’s a look at some of the things he discussed...
Overall thoughts
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_First up, Ange was asked for his views on the performance..._
Ange: "Very disappointing. We started the game well, started the game the way we wanted to and started controlling it but we gave away a poor goal, a really poor goal, again. That allows the opposition to, and it is a difficult place to come to anyway, sit back and play the football they want, to counter-attack and we have to open up. It is disappointing and not good enough. It is not something that is a one off. We have done that now three or four times and paid a price for it."
_You dominated possession but had only four shots (on target)?_
Ange: "Like I said, we started the game well, but football is a game where you try to control it and dictate it to play the way you want to, but when you give goals away like we did tonight, and we have done that consistently not just with set-pieces but just in general this year, it just gives the opportunity then for the opposition, particularly a team like Bournemouth, to play on the counter which is what they want to do. We have to open up. They can sit back... just really disappointing it has happened again. Something for me to mull over and do something about."
Tiredness? Schedule?
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_Ange was asked, 'is this match down to tiredness because of the busy schedule?'_
Ange: "I don’t know but again we need to be better in the way we deal with certain things. When you are coming to a place like Bournemouth the one thing you do know is it’s going to be a tough game with the conditions and the way they play, they sort of keep under control the whole time. But I thought we started well so to give them a goal is just, like I said, madness from us. Not just because it is a set-piece but because we have done that on a number of occasions this year with balls arriving in the box and we are paying a big price for it."
_Ange was asked for an update on Ben Davies, who went off injured on 62 minutes..._
Ange: "It looks like he's done his hamstring. Him and Radu have played every game. It's the one position we can't rotate. He'll obviously be out for a period of time now, we'll just have to wait and see how long it is. It's a consequence of having the squad we have at the moment."
Inconsistency
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_Asked was asked, 'what do you put the lack of consistency down to?'_
Ange: "We just don't have this real understanding of game state to know that just because we've started a game well, to allow the opposition the opportunity then to turn the tide and play the game on their terms. We've come from behind often and it's something that we've done really well but you can't, especially in a place like Bournemouth where it's going to be tough anyway with the conditions, you can't give them a goal like we did tonight. Because you're just going to work doubly hard to create opportunities, they're going to get more opportunities because we're going to have to open up. It turns it into a game that's impossible to control."