Preview Percy would like to know who Europe’s 33rd best player is. Read on as he looks forward to Saturday’s visit of AFC Bournemouth if you’d like to know who holds the coveted 32nd slot...
Next up we return to league action where, at 5:30pm on Saturday, we will play host to AFC Bournemouth. Sky are in charge of broadcasting duties and as far as I can tell there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of engineering works in the general vicinity. Check just in case.
So Bournemouth, then. It’s been a season of thirds for them so far. After an initial defeat up at Anfield they then went through the rest of August, September and October undefeated. At that point they were sitting in second place. However, they then went through their next 11 games without a win, November and December and the first game in January seeing the seeing them lose six and draw five.
Of course if you’re on a bad run Tottenham are the perfect team to help turn things around and, including the Cherries’ 3-2 win over them at Dean Court they’ve won four (including wins at home to Liverpool and away at Wolves and Everton) and drawn two (away at Brighton and at home to Villa). All of this has left them in ninth place with 37 points from 26 games played so far - a significant improvement on the 15th place they found themselves in after their 3-2 defeat at home to Arsenal on 3rd January.
Their new-year renaissance may have had something to do with the fact that they were one of the few clubs to have indulged in any activity during the winter window. The big news down there was, of course, the departure of Semenyo to the Emptyhad for £64m. They didn’t go mad with the fee, mind. Their first arrival was the previously unattached Fraser Forster, who came in on a short-term deal to provide goalkeeping cover after an injury to their number two custodian Will Dennis.
The first money spent was the £10.4m shelled out to Ferencvaros for 20 year-old midfielder Alex Toth who, Daisy tells me, has been listed by something calling itself a “Football Observatory” as the 32nd best player in Europe.
Not quite sure how they tell the difference between the 31st and 32nd best to be honest but I’m sure there are some really interesting scientific formulae involved involving Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and, for all I know a spot of Einstein. However neither Daisy nor I could be bothered to do further research. Toth made his full Hungarian debut last March since when he has gained eight further caps.
The biggest fee they shelled out in January was the £24.7m paid to Vasco Da Gama for the young winger Rayan. The 19 year-old, who has been capped at Under 20 level by Brazil, has hit the ground running, adding an assist in his sub debut at Wolves and scoring in both of his subsequent starts at home to Villa and away at Everton. Back at Vasco he amassed 19 goals in 74 league appearances and his quick start will make him one to watch.
The other large-ish fee was paid to Internazionale for full-back Alex Jiminez. This was less of a new transfer representing as it did the fulfilment of Bournemouth’s obligation to make the player’s September loan deal permanent after he had tripped the required appearance threshold. They also brought in Greek international Christos Mandos on loan from Lazio to provide further goalkeeping cover.
They have four on the injury list at the moment. The influential Kluivert, along with Gannon-Doak, Tavernier and Soler will all be missing on Saturday evening.
And on that bombshell we shall move on to the Wild And Wacky World Of Association Football. And if you ever wanted a microcosm of what is wrong with refereeing in this country a quick gander at last week’s cup-tie between Villa and Newcastle should tell you all you need to know. The match showed simultaneously both why VAR is needed and why it should on no account be operated by anyone from PGMOL. Anyone who decides that a handball that took place inside the box was in fact outside the box and that a naked-eye offside wasn’t really is not good enough.
Kavanagh, you may be interested to note, is rated as the third best referee in England. For those of you not statistically-minded, this means that there are two other referees who aren’t quite as dreadful as he is. Kavanagh’s punishment, by the way, is to have the day off this weekend. On full pay. So if you’re thinking about committing a crime I’d suggest asking for a fortnight in Marbella if you get caught.
Elsewhere, the Football Regulator has made an appointment that has raised a few eyebrows in the game. Amongst the non-executive directors appointed this week was none other than Tara Warren, late of this parish.
Our former Commercial Director, who has spent the last umpteen years working for someone who has arguably been the most vociferous member of the “Say No To The Regulator” lobby, is now a director of that self-same regulator. Now the “non-exec” nature of the role means that Ms Warren’s role is likely to be more of an oversight-governance nature, rather than her having much to do with the actual, er, regulating. However, it still seems an odd choice, nonetheless.
And so to us. Well banana skin avoided with a much-changed side is what sums that up best. Burton gave a good account of themselves and were unfortunate to have not been awarded a penalty-kick when the scientific theory known as Mavropanos’s Uncertainty Principle made an appearance. However, despite their dominance of the ball it was notable that Areola barely had a save to make.
We improved in the second half, though it was only the introduction of some of the bigger guns, in particular Summerville, that turned the game. Which would probably have petered-out quietly but for the harsh sending-off of Potts.
The ref clearly had a yellow in mind but either having been swayed by the home side’s complaints or thinking that he had a chance to even things up for the last few minutes he changed his mind leading to a finale that was probably less frantic in reality than it appeared. The ref further blotted his copybook, missing a hands around the throat moment at the end that must have had Todibo wondering why he’s had the last few games off.
Todibo will be available for selection, his place on the naughty step having been taken by Potts. Pablo will be another few weeks whilst Fabianski? Who knows.
So to the prediction. Well they are a decent side and on a good run. However, they are beatable and we have, in recent weeks, shown a bit of fight. This has made me more optimistic of late. The prospect of going level on points with Forest – maybe even overtaking them if the scousers give them a thumping – should add a bit of juice to the mix.
They are beatable - and I reckon we will beat them. So the £2.50 that I would have spent on trying to find out the identity of Europe’s 33rd best player will instead be going on a wager for us to win a thriller by the score of two goals to one.
Enjoy the game!
When last we met at the Olympic: Drew 2-2 (Premier League April 2025)
Areola’s blunder gave them a first half lead. Sub Fullkrug gave us a glimpse of what might have been with a superb header. Bowen’s header to put us 2-1 up was equally impressive but Evanilsen’s late equaliser cost us a couple of points.
Referee: Sam Barrott
Had a nightmare at the Olympic last season, a VAR decision took 6 minutes because the semi-automated offside system couldn’t cope with a crowded penalty area. He still got the clear to the naked eye decision wrong. A cursory glance at his record suggests another Atwell - well out of his depth to the extent that each blunder secures his place in the so-called select group.
Danger Man: Rayan
Has started in a rich vein of form.
Percy and Daisy’s Amazing Bournemouth Fact Of The Week Type Thing
According to Met Office records Bournemouth gets an average of 7.7 hours of sun per day. Which begs the question: Why does it always rain cats & dogs when we play down there?
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