AFC Bournemouth travelled to Old Trafford on Monday to face Manchester United on Sky Sports’ flagship programme, Monday Night Football.
Down the years, the programme has been treated to some classic encounters in the top flight of English football, but they may well all have to step aside now that the Cherries and head coach Andoni Iraola have introduced chaos football to the mix.
Whilst on this occasion the points were shared, AFC Bournemouth have now scored ten goals in three appearances at Old Trafford, taking 7 points.
After the match, AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola told Sky Sports…
“It had everything. Moments where you think it’s a loss, moments where you think we have this one, we are comfortable.
“Even at the end, at the last minute, two clear chances, and I was thinking, ‘maybe win this one’. It’s just a point, not a lot in the standings, but we can take good and bad things from today.
“We are two teams that play quite aggressively, quite open and probably today we attacked much better than we defended. The second goal is a cheap goal, it’s a cheap one for us to concede. The corner is not even a great header.
“We finished really well the first half. When we scored the 1-1, and we were feeling comfortable and we were finishing the half much better. That’s why the goal we conceded just from the corner has hurt me because we were in a good moment.
“You didn’t even know if we were happy finishing the game, or give us one minute more.”
Man of the Match against Manchester United?
Tavernier
Tavernier
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Semenyo
Semenyo
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Evanilson
Evanilson
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Senesi
Senesi
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Jimenez
Jimenez
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Someone else
Someone else
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VanRocko31
Genuinely incredible game. That will live long in the Premier League archives.
Shame we didn’t win it at the end, but also glad we held on.
We have shown that when we want, we can score.
Defensively, I don’t actually think we were that bad. 2 goalkeeping mistakes, a truffert mistake and a quite wonderful free kick.
AFCB_Liam
Incredible game, hard to summarise or draw any proper conclusions from! We were awful for the first half, bar a few minute spell, and United looked completely dominant. Goals change the game, and the early one-second-half rattled them completely.
Once we got in the lead, we never looked like keeping it and retreated too far while giving it away in midfield, especially Kluivert.
2 more errors (Petro “punch” and Truffert) plus a ref howler to give them the lead, and then superb spirit to get back into it. Kroupi is deadly!
Best performances were from Jiminez, Tav, Smith and Semenyo in flashes, plus deadly finishes from Eva and Kroupi.
Truffert had one of his poorest games, Kluivert miles off it and not sure what more can be said about Petro (25m!?) other than he needs a rest. Even when not making errors, he looked so skittish.
Seen enough spirit to say we will be fine this season as long as we adequately replace Semenyo. But enough defensive chaos to say we will be bottom half. United are a much improved side vs the last 2 seasons, but if we’d had Kepa today, we’d have won.
Final point, United are a very whiney side, led by the chief weasel-rat Fernandes. Nice to wipe his grin away.
"Difficult to explain… we can take good and bad things from today"
Andoni Iraola reflects on a 'nice game for the neutrals'! 😅 pic.twitter.com/0Pkd1YQwpG
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 15, 2025
Ice8cold
I’d have taken a point before the game, so rather happy with tha was super deflated when we went 4-3 down due to some BS decision, and the team could have very easily also done so, but they kept going.
The first 30 mins were really that bad – to think we would go on to score 4 after that. I certainly didn’t!
Yes – some work to do, defo some signings needed to address our defence, but we can be proud of what we did tonight.
Bishop
A hard-earned point.
Very difficult when all you’ve worked on for a week goes out the window after 3 minutes. Plus, every second ball and 50/50 bounced their way with the referee to help them out when needed.
We don’t seem to have a player on form at the moment, and it’s a case of digging deep, battling and competing all over the pitch, which we did admirably once we’d adjusted to losing Adam’s.
Our confidence should be on the up after that, great stuff.
UTC
billythekid
Jamie Carragher said that was probably the best Premier League game we have seen this season.
What a game of football, it had everything: good goals, mistakes, and players giving their all.
Also, those 8 goals we didn’t have to wait around before they could be celebrated because of VAR tonight.
Probably over the whole game, a draw was a fair result, but it could have gone either way, and in the end, we may have just taken all 3 points.
The good Scott and Tavernier partnership we saw against Chelsea was again evident tonight.
table
All this “Great game for the neutral” guff, there are no neutrals when it comes to ManU. You either support them or, like the rest of the world, you want them to lose : )
Let’s enjoy the game for what it was, outstanding drama. We support a club capable of doing what we did tonight. We got the same number of points tonight as we did against Chelsea. One was a good defensive performance, and one was a great attacking display. Which one would we want to watch again : )
Every goal scored, ever, has at least one mistake from someone and at least one piece of magic from someone. It’s football, it’s why it’s so good. That’s why I’m going to revel in that match, could have won it, could have lost it. What we did do was compete until the final seconds and contribute to an outstanding Premier League match. It’s fecking great following this club on nights like this : )
Also, the main thing I wanted to say is, I’m really chuffed for all those Cherries that were there tonight. I’m so pleased your commitment was rewarded with a match like that. Safe travels home, and I would have loved to have been there sharing the love with the players and management at the final whistle : )
P.S., what a manager we’ve got, equalise in the 85th minute making it 4-4, instead of “seeing the game out”, “dark arts” “game management”, we’re gambling 1 point to win 3 right up to the last kick : )
Pps Special times with a special owner, manager, team. If you’re not enjoying it now, maybe supporting the Cherries isn’t for you : )
afcdibby
Cracking game of football, but I don’t think their 3rd was handball. – To join the conversation, please click here.
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DJ
I have been a writer and website administrator on the largest AFC Bournemouth fan website for almost 25 years. Previously on a now defunct fan network and since 2005 on vitalfootball.co.uk We have been nominated for various fan website awards down the years, however we have always been the bridesmaid…