Written by kirsikka
After a heroic last-second win against Liverpool, the current league champions and having finally come through our two-month horror list of fixtures in surprisingly good form, next up was bottom-of-the-table Wolves. Less a banana skin and more a full-on banana tree blocking the way. We could all see it coming, and there was every chance we were going to smack into it.
Man of the match against Wolves
Scott
Scott
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Petrovic
Petrovic
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Kroupi
Kroupi
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Truffert
Truffert
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Cook
Cook
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Senesi
Senesi
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Jimenez
Jimenez
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Adli
Adli
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Someone else
Someone else
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No returning players from injury meant no changes to the starters. Rayan was added to the bench. 19 years old and having just left a city that famously suffers from areas of deep poverty, his first trip in England took him to Wolverhampton…
Let’s not lose sight of reality, though. We were still starting with a striker as a 10 and a fullback on the wing, and without the resources to swap them out that our system needs. Forget where they are in the table, Wolves are still PL, so getting a positive result in those circumstances should still be recognised as excellent.
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Edwards’ Old Gold sounds like a box of knock-off chocolates from Lidl. If we were expecting them to collapse like a caramel soft centre, we were in for a disappointment.
It was a battle out there. That’s the best way to describe it. Not a dirty, tackles flying, players head-to-head, retro style football contest. More one where we looked tired, and they were throwing everything they had at us, knowing their next four home fixtures looked impossible, so if a revival was going to happen, it probably needed to start today.
We got an early warning shot. A ball was played inside Truffert and picked up by the striker’s run. He got near the goal and attempted to shoot, but completely shanked it in hilarious fashion. Shocking. Only… somehow the ball skewed across the goal and turned into the perfect cross to be nodded home.
Oh dear. You never want to give a team fighting for their lives something to hold on to. The good news is the initial run was mistimed and clearly off, with the flag going up as soon as the ball hit the net.
Still, this seemed to galvanise the crowd behind the team a little bit. I’ve learnt today that apparently, galvanised is a bad thing when it comes to football stadiums. Not in this sense, though, as it definitely lifted them.
To be honest, it was thirty minutes of them, mostly in the ascendence, with us struggling to get a proper foothold in the game whilst they struggled even more to turn their possession into anything useful.
Then Scott did well to intercept a pass in their half and then ghost past one of their players before trying to play a one-two near their box. Adli’s return ball actually found Kroupi instead. He took a touch then and hammered a volley into the back of the net. Glorious.
The best strikers are risk-averse, willing to be selfish at times and roll the dice in their desperation to score. When those gambles pay out, they’re praised for their instinct. I’m starting to wonder if our young French striker shouldn’t change his name to Kroupier, given how often he’s winning.
Having scored, Wolves completely deflated through to half-time, and this was our best period of the match. You could see their confidence and belief had totally drained away.
They did nearly get one opening after a Hill mistake nearly let them in, but Cook covered well. There was a similar situation from Hill in the second half, where he gifted them a chance, only that time for it to end with a poor shot that Petrovic saved well. He’s the man in possession of the shirt at the moment, but against a better team, those could have been costly errors.
We also had one more great opening when a good ball from Kroupi sent Adli through wide, but he couldn’t get his shot past the keeper.
The second half started brilliantly when Jiminez, unusually quiet by his standards, went on a brilliant run down the right but saw his effort well saved.
Meanwhile, they huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow our house down, creating little of note for a long period despite dominating the play.
Finally, their chance came from a counterattack down their left that led to a cross into the box, which picked out the only Wolves player against six defenders. His first-time shot seemed destined for the net, only for Petrovic to save well. The striker may bemoan his bad luck that it didn’t go a little further away from the keeper, but he still deserves a lot of credit for keeping it out.
Time for some subs as AI unleashed the tremendous twins Rayan and Ryan, on for Kroupi and Adli.
There were some encouraging early signs from the Brazilian, with a few nice touches. Much more to come in future matches, I’m sure.
Wolves were now in desperation territory and were throwing bodies forward and leaving gaps at the back. Whilst they controlled much of the match, they didn’t look especially safe when we got it forward fast.
Petrovic made another decent save low down after a second cross from a corner came to the edge of our box, and a shot was fired in. Truth be told, an in-form striker of quality might have buried the follow-up. Fortunately, it fell to Strand Larsen, so we were safe.
Then they won the header on a corner with a deft flick only to see it bounce back and out off the far post. We were seriously riding our luck whilst theirs was that of a team going down.
Evanilson and Jiminez were replaced by Toth, who picked up the right midfield role, and Unal.
We haven’t seen a lot of Toth yet, but in his brief appearance, I thought he looked up for the battle. Decent early signs.
He nearly scored straight away when a 3-on-2 counterattack saw Rayan play it to him, only slightly overhit, which sent him wider than needed, from where he couldn’t quite get his shot on target.
Then, for the third win in a row, we scored in added time to put the result to bed. A great pinged pass from Truffert found Rayan in the area. He stood strong when someone tried to bundle him off the ball, got to the byline and found Scott in the middle to slam home.
Three points, but this wasn’t a comfortable win. If we’re honest, the score flatters us. You could even say a win flatters us. That’s what happens when you’re fighting for your life at the bottom, though, even your better performances somehow turn into a defeat. Good for us on this occasion.
Selected Player Watch
—– Kroupi Jr —–
He’s just got it. He’s goals on legs. There were some positive improvements around other aspects of his game out there, yet he’s still not a 9. However, you can’t deny his finishing. Lethal.
—– Adli —–
A bit of a helter-skelter performance from him. Gave them problems, but also got a bit too wound up with the ref. I actually think that’s why he was subbed, he was in danger of getting a second yellow for dissent. As the only senior fit winger, he needs to cut that out.
—– Petrovic —–
Kept the scores level to give us the opening for the win last match out, kept our slender lead intact today. Having been extremely shaky earlier in the season, he’s starting to look the part. Maybe a looming Greek presence has fired him up. More, please.
—– Truffert —–
Was in a real battle out there and stood up well. Was the pick of our defenders for me, and also played a key part in our second goal.
—– Scott —–
It was a scrappy, niggly battle out there. He looked more up for the fight than in some previous performances, evidenced by not being shunted into the 10 role when Christie came on. AI trusted him to keep at it. Made the first goal happen and capped it off with a goal.
—– Rayan —–
Just over 20 minutes and, based on that alone, he looks like a physical specimen who is direct and skilful. I like the way he learnt from one dribble, when he was bumped and went down but didn’t get a free kick – welcome to PL levels of physicality. The next time someone bumped him like that, he stayed on his feet and got an assist. Very promising.
AI and Tactics Watch
It’s a hard one, really, because for long periods out there we were second best. I get that if we weren’t ahead, we would have approached things differently. I understand we wanted to draw them on, win it back and then hit them like lightning. However, it didn’t really work out like that.
There were long spells of their possession where they didn’t look like creating much, and that’s fine. That isn’t the whole story, though. There were also a few periods where they could easily have scored. In fact, should have scored if we’re honest with ourselves. Some good work from Petrovic, some abject finishing from them, a little luck and the post all helping to keep our clean sheet.
Three points away from home is always a good result in the Premier League. However, I don’t think AI is going to be happy with that performance as a whole. Elements, sure. Yet, the way it played out definitely wasn’t what was intended.
You can see some players are on the ragged edge as the impact of the injuries is taking its toll on those who have been left to play. Jiminez is a good example of a player who had some great individual moments but was far short of his usual lung-busting all-action self.
This is where that final signing, if we manage to get it over the line, will make a huge difference. Add another winger and the returning Brooks to our options, and the way we approach the match totally changes. So, fingers crossed on that front.
It’s a game that will live short in the memory, but the points will stay forever, so job done really.
Next up is a really tough one against a Villa side having a superb season, and who fancy they’re still in the race for the title. Given they stole our Premier League place, let’s exact a little revenge and put a dent in those hopes.
Your say…
Uttoxeter Cherry said…
This was one of my few games in person, so I feel able to contribute, but didn’t see the match quite the same.
I thought we bossed much of the 1st half and Wolves were unable to cope with our possession. It must have been at least 60:40 in our favour?
Admittedly, we didn’t create much until that wonder goal.
2nd half was different as we ceded too much ground and allowed Wolves to take control. They stopped launching direct balls and instead started to play through us while we went more direct. Strangely, I never felt we would be breached, although there were a couple of close shaves and some excellent reflex saves in there.
I still think we were the better team with better players.
FWIW.. I thought Hill and Senesi had good games, and Scott too in midfield, although his ball carrying does occasionally put us in danger when crowded out. As a playmaker, I thought Cook was excellent and would probably be my MOM. Petrovic is up there, too.
Evanilson needs to sort out his last ball and take the correct option.
Adli is a trier and gives us energy, but I don’t like his playacting.
Rayan looks like a prospect, and I liked the look of Toth in midfield.
Finally, always great to get to a match and share the atmosphere with the fantastic Cherries fans. We were great today with some good banter with the home supporters!
The joy when the 2nd goal went in. What a feeling. Nothing else comes close. – 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…