AFC Bournemouth hosted West Ham United at Dean Court on Monday, the game was also shown on Sky Sports for the Monday Night Football selection.
Going into the game the weekend results had seen the Cherries climb to seventh in the Premier League table, a point would be enough climb above Aston Villa into sixth place, whilst a win by three goals, would have seen AFC Bournemouth leapfrog defending Premier League champions Manchester City to go fifth.
In the end, the Cherries would have to settle for a point with a late dubious penalty gifting the visitors the lead before a spectacular free-kick from Enes Unal stole the limelight.
After the match, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports...
“I don’t think it is a good result for us even if we scored the goal at the end. We were better in the second half. I didn’t like the first half. We were pushing to win and then the penalty happened and we had to take the point. I don’t think it is a good point for us.
“The game went very slow in the first half for us. We were not being brave enough to put them under real pressure. We improved in the second half but it wasn’t enough to win it.”
“I am very disappointed (with the penalty decision). We have had this meeting before the season and I argued personally because they don’t want defenders to defend with their hands behind their back.
“I told them, ‘we are going to continue this because you are calling penalties’. They said, ‘don’t worry, it’s a natural position, we are not going to call it’. The first one, bam. I am very disappointed. I complained about this rule. They didn’t want defenders to defend unnaturally.”
Man of the match against West Ham
Christie
Christie
Vote
Dango
Dango
Vote
Semenyo
Semenyo
Vote
Cook
Cook
Vote
Unal
Unal
Vote
Someone else
Someone else
Vote|
billythekid
I went to Dean Court hoping to see a very good game between the two sides.
First half I think West Ham had more of the play and our side were a bit out of sorts and it was goalless at half-time.
AFCB came out for the second half with no changes but looked like a different side, they pressed West Ham, found their own players with passes and in the game had 29 shots and 9 on target against 16 for our visitors with 3 on target, a total of 45 goals, reported to be the highest total of goals in one game in this league this season.
Then out of nowhere after our keeper had made a good save from a West Ham player from a cross from the right, VAR once again raised its ugly head and deemed that Adams had handled the ball.
When I got home from Dean Court I put Sky on to watch the incident on playbacks and could see no Clear handball from Adams, even those at Sky mentioned they thought it was a harsh decision.
The referee didn’t blow for a penalty at the time and only after he was told to go the video monitor and after a long time he decided it was a penalty.
Then a few minutes later AFCB were awarded a free kick from around 30 yards out and Enas Unal who had earlier come on as a substitute took the kick and it must be one of the best goals seen this season in the Premier League as it beat the West Ham keeper who had a good game as the ball nestled in the top and far corner of the net and justice was done to make it 1-1.
The home crowd with the 11,204 attendance left having witnessed the Cherries yet again coming back late and this time gain a point which has taken them up to 6th in the table on 25 points.
AFCB_Liam
Our finishing (Unal aside). My god. 29 shots!
We upped the game 2nd half. Definitely deserved a point and probably all 3 although West Ham edged the first half.
Dango is always better from the bench on the wing but we don’t have many options at the moment.
Thought it was a game where lots were 7 out of 10 but nobody really stood out.
MB1980
Very harsh handball. Wouldn’t have been given without var and I doubt a single person would have complained.
Don’t think it changed trajectory and the cross landed perfectly on the intended recipient’s head, who fired a header point blank at goal from 6-yard box, seemingly not having to check his run to re adjust for the handball.
I know rule sticklers will wheel out ‘by the letter of the law…’ but I see it as what’s in the spirit of the game… term used to be officials sometimes… when it suits them.
That decision was not in the spirit of the game at all. Yet another example of how bureaucratic pgmol can’t see the wood from trees with convoluted laws they’ve elected to implement. It’s an absolute nonsense.
Even more ‘amusing’ when you consider that volleyball assist that lead to them scoring at their place a couple of years back. Yet that was deemed the right decision under letter of the law…. endorsed by officials and pundits alike afterwards..
Utterly bonkers. Imagine showing those 2 incidents to someone unaware and asking fir their opinion! :D. Highlights how wonky the system we have in place is. Letter of law indeed… how about an ounce of common sense, please.
We then have another one in var box ruling out Dangos legit last-minute winner v Newcastle earlier in the season. A decision derided by pretty much everyone afterwards. A highly paid official making a glaringly wrong ‘handball’ decision in a professional, multi-billion pound industry. Spent minutes watching it over and over…yet still manages to make a decision that’s wrong, according to law and everyone afterwards. Different if made by an official on the pitch and limited, one-off view and intensity/pace of the game. People may moan, but will let it ride. But when it’s someone who takes minutes, watching it over and over… rules are constantly changing, granted, but it’s his job to know them and implement them correctly. They know about rule changes in summer, so time to learn them. It’d perhaps be unreasonable to expect them to know the minute of every single rule. But that’s not an excuse, as they have access to a laptop and can access relevant chapter/passage for incident at hand.
Don’t want to blame one decision on pgmol season, but those 2 extra points v Newcastle could determine Europe or not. Or a few extra million for finishing a higher place in the table. If it does, it’d be assuming to see the club take it to pgmol. Or at least say ‘granted we backed var, and accept a reasonable degree of human error. But that example alone is totally unacceptable, as one of your employees spent 5 mins watching it and still arrived at the wrong conclusion. It’s his job to ensure rules are applied fairly and properly to ensure fair competition. His blatant incompetence has incurred losses amounting to x. We want reassurances as to why it happened and that anything along those lines won’t happen again. What are you doing to give us confidence if it happens again we’ll be coming at you for loss and for failing to do your job… implement laws correctly and fairly, as we’d have lost faith and it’s impacting fair competition.
They want respect and should get it by default. But how about doing your job properly… knowing and applying laws accordingly and consistently. With a degree of intelligence and common sense. Surely they hire people with the right skill set?
Not surprised AI keeps getting booked. He seems competitive, but reasonably mannered, intelligent bloke. Must be maddening witnessing some of the stuff pgmol do or don’t do during games.
"I thought the penalty was harsh"
Henry reacts to Bournemouth's late draw against West Ham 👇 pic.twitter.com/smPcZaoYfF
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 16, 2024
afcbmdl27
Great shift from the lads.harsh handball! Did it actually touch his hand?!.
A point is a point, considering we were 1 down after 89 minutes, and conceding so late, we have to take it.
Their goalkeeper won’t have a better game for the rest of his career and possibly that’s one of the best of his long career!!.
6th, we shouldn’t get too carried away, but wow! As it stands we are the 6th best team in English football! Don’t forget how far we have come -17! Still in dreamland after all these years, we are prem. So glad I was born and bred in Bournemouth.. it’s a pure joy !.
"That's my distance!"
Carra and Henry analyse Unal's free-kick 👏 pic.twitter.com/07VbGQszBb
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 16, 2024
DangerousDave
Our lack of cutting-edge is becoming a real concern at this point. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a side create so much/get into so many promising situations but struggle so badly in front of the goal. We have a real lack of quality finishers in the team and I fear it will prevent us from doing something special. Say what you like about Unal, but that’s two games in a row now that it’s felt like we were never going to score only for him to pop up and do what nobody else could. He clearly has a knack for putting the ball in the onion bag. There is a legitimate argument to make that despite his obvious limitations, the rest of our forward line struggle so badly to be clinical that we need to find a way to get him in the team from the start.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1868781039566344557
The second half was much better than the first, maybe we just about did enough to earn being the better side but our finishing wasn’t up to it.
If our bench was slightly stronger we’d probably have won. Wasn’t particularly impressed with West Ham and I think they’re in trouble.
Still, an entertaining evening. – To join the conversation, click here.