Written by kirsikka
No Adams or Cook means Scott had to continue in the 6 role, with the other main change seeing Andoni Iraola actually start with his favoured formation by bringing Adli in for Kroupi, meaning Tavs moved into the 10 role.
There was no sign of including the ref in our pre-match huddle, which seems like a missed opportunity after Chelsea pioneered it recently. More on the man in the middle later.
Man of the match against Man Utd
Christie
Christie
Vote
Truffert
Truffert
Vote
Scott
Scott
Vote
Petrovic
Petrovic
Vote
Someone else
Someone else
Vote
The game looked like it was going to be end-to-end when an early Man Utd shot was well saved by Petrovic, which led to an immediate counterattack. Eva played Rayan through, but he scuffed his shot, and it went wide when he should have done better.
Things did settle down into a pattern, though. The dominated possession and peppered shots at goal, we broke away whenever we won it back and, particularly when we managed to thread a ball to Tavs, looked like we might find some joy.
The best from the Cherries saw another Rayan effort saved low down at the near post after the ball was won well by Hill.
At the other end, Truffert stopped a goal-bound effort with an excellent block. There was also a brilliant save from Petro when a ball scooped to the back post was met with power back across the goal.
Into the second half, and we really came out snapping at their heels, which seemed to rock them back. For fifteen minutes, we were the better side and starting to carve them open when a moment of madness swung things back the other way.
Cunha turned Jiminez inside the area and, rather than letting him go and hoping he was bailed out by someone else, he tugged him down. Clear penalty, which was slotted home with ease.
I was hugely frustrated to give away such a soft goal after a strong start to the half. This was a time when Jiminez’s petulance was a bad thing, with him unable to accept being beaten.
The good news is, it wasn’t long until the equaliser came!
A sweeping move from one end to the other as the ball was passed to Christie in a central position, and he sort of poked it home from the edge of the area.
I was worried as right at the start of the move, Truffert had played with fire in our area, almost giving away a penalty. VAR had a long deliberation before finally confirming the goal.
The bad news is, it wasn’t long until we were behind again.
The set piece curse struck again, even if this time it was unfortunate. A corner was sent in high around the six-year box, flicked off Senesi and then cannoned off Hill into the net for an og he could do nothing about.
The good news is, it wasn’t long until the equaliser came. Again.
First, though, was a near moment. A superb turn on the edge of the box by Scott, and he thundered a ball against the bar. It came out, hit the keeper, but somehow went wide. When your luck is in, those hit the keeper and go in. This is not a day Scott will remember for good fortune.
Still, shortly after, a slick move saw the ball slip through to Evanilson in the area and about to run on goal. The lumbering Maguire had no way to stop him apart from yanking him down. Unlike with Jiminez, there was no covering defender, which meant a red card and a penalty.
The preciousness of youth is a joy to watch sometimes. I’m biting my nails to the quick, barely able to watch. Meanwhile, teenage Kroupi steps up and takes the absolutely perfect penalty. Even if the keeper had guessed right, he wasn’t getting anywhere near it.
With the score level and them down a man, there was time for us to try and get a winner, but despite having a lot of the ball, we were never really able to test the keeper.
2-2 and another hard-fought point. Before I finish, though…
I’ll often rail about refs on here for one reason or another. Especially in matches against the Sky Six, where seemingly endless key decisions that could go either way always favour them.
No longer endless. We have found the end. In the shouting voice of the receptionist in Ghostbusters, “We got one!”
Our second equaliser looked like it was going to be Burnley of yesteryear all over again. There’s no way it was a stonewall penalty, but there was enough there that, had they wanted to, the officials could have leaned that way. Disallowed our goal and given Man Utd another penalty.
I’m a little but amazed if I’m honest. Pleased but dumbfounded. Was it clear and obvious? No. But the usual checking shirt badge system malfunctioned.
Actually, that’s unfair. The officials stood up and did what they’re meant to do in that situation. It wasn’t blatant; it was only debatable, and so the on-field decision stood.
I don’t think there can be any discussion about either of the other penalty decisions or the red card, so nothing doing there, but there’s something else that might slip under the notice of many. Another of the subtle advantages that we see so often in favour of those teams is added time.
They need a goal? Somehow, there are three more minutes being added than you were expecting. Do they need the game to end? Expect a low added time figure.
Until tonight.
I was expecting around seven minutes, but given the situation and the opposition involved, I thought that would be translated into five minutes. So to get nine minutes is… wow… I don’t want to read too much into it since it’s only one game, but hopefully it’s a sign that PL officiating will be more even-handed in these games.
I know, I know. It’s a dream. Please don’t take it away from me yet.
Let’s see what happens next time out.
But yes. Full respect to the ref and the VAR official for treating the teams equally and not bowing to the usual pressure of helping out the big side.
Selected Player Watch
———- Scott ———-
Lots of eyes are on him considering the news today, and he acquitted himself well. His most influential spell was after we went 2-1 down, after which he was stepping forward a lot more and running the midfield. I didn’t see anything impressive from Mainoo, but… he wears the right badge for Tuchel.
———- Jiminez ———-
Tonight was what you would call a learning experience. Lost out more than once to his man and then lost his head to give away the penalty. I’d say it’s something that he can improve with experience, but then 33-year-old Maguire committed an even worse one at the other end not long after, so…
———- Truffert ———-
Excellent defensively, excellent link-up play, excellent going forward, terrible final ball. It really is the final piece in his jigsaw.
———- Petrovic ———-
Some superb saves out there. And nothing he could do about either goal.
———- Tavernier ———-
At times, it feels like it’s Tavs to the left of me, Tavs to the right of me, here we are, stuck in the middle with Tavs. He’s kind of everywhere. He was the fulcrum on which a lot of our fast-forward play pivoted on. The fact that he’s covering four positions and doing very well in each makes him a modern-day utility player. Which is meant as a high compliment.
———- Rayan ———-
Much more involved and much improved for it. Sometimes you can see young players maturing in front of your eyes, and it felt like that kind of match.
AI and Tactics Watch
It played out much as you would have thought AI planned. Let’s be clear, they’re by far the form team in the PL, high on confidence and with a clear target to chase. This wasn’t the disorganised rabble of the previous regime, who we picked off more than once.
So it isn’t a surprise they had more of the possession and chances in the first half; the key is we were still causing them problems, and it didn’t look like they were overwhelming us. You could say the half-time score was 1-1 to the keepers, both having made an excellent save.
Then we started going after them more in the second period, upping the intensity and really pushing them. And it was working until… well, you know…
One thing you know about an AI team is that they won’t let going behind stop them. In fact, it normally means we turn things up to 11. And so it proved again. And a second time, after our set-piece weakness struck, albeit rather unfortunately this time.
This is the thing for me. Under AI, we don’t approach these games as free hits against a side assembled with five times our playing budget. He sets the team to go out and play as if they’re playing against their peers.
It sounds obvious and simple, but getting the players to believe that and deliver on it is a trick of sporting psychological genius.
Almost more than anything, if AI does leave, this is the thing I hope we can hang onto. The idea that every game is a game we should go out and try to win. It’s been a joy to see in action, and I’d be disappointed if we reverted to past approaches.
We didn’t manage to do anything especially dangerous in the period against ten men, and I think that’s the one place AI will feel disappointed. There were multiple situations which could have developed into something. Bad passes, overhit crosses or the wrong decisions put paid to them.
Apart from that, it was excellent.
A quick mention that it was good to see Gannon Doak back in action. He looked rusty, but I think it was the right call to throw him on, as you never know in those situations. He now has a few weeks to get more work done on the training ground.
In isolation, given the opposition and how well they’ve been playing, and the fightback required, it’s a superb point. In the context of our season, it does make things harder if we’re still looking up. If we’d managed to turn the screw in that final period against ten men then… well, it wasn’t to be.
There’s a long break now until our next match against the Champions-elect. Unless we put a spanner in their works and open up the title race. It’s going to be tough against set-piece specialists. Who knows with this group, though. As I said, we’ll step out onto the turf believing we can win.
Your say…
tindalls_hairband
As my son turned and said to me at the final whistle, ‘We’re AFC Bournemouth, we’ll draw when we want’.
Ice8cold
Great game to watch, a pretty good result, and a slightly better performance to make up for it. Happy with that, even if we can only draw these days.
Man Utd seemed pretty open at times, especially off the ball, but they’ve definitely improved from last season. Lammens is a pretty solid goalkeeper.
We seemed a bit less inventive when Maguire got sent off, although Utd were parking the bus then. – To join the conversation, please click here.
Photo of DJ
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…