Match Day Bournemouth v West Ham, Saturday 11th March 15:00

[SALTIRE]

Match chat.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Well it's certainly been an eventful week at AFCB towers. What was an excellent point at Old Trafford has been slightly overshadowed by the attention on two individual incidents involving Mings and that pony-tailed swede. It's been many years since I've known our fanabse to be so angry about something as they are the FA's treatment of that game. And I think we can harness this for good. All the moaning and debating about team selections and why we've slipped so far down the table etc has stopped dead. All we have now is a solid mass of angry support and a siege mentality developing. I hope similar has occurred in the playing staff, and if it has then Howe has harnessed a siege mentality many times before to superb effect during his time.

Obviously we're going to be without Drew Surman and Tyrone Mings due to their suspensions. Surman is easy enough to replace and IMHO Dan Gosling might actually make us slightly more effective. However Mings is an altogether different problem, because so far as we know Simon Francis is injured and very unlikely to make it fit for the coming weeks. So the only obvious candidate is Baily Cargill. He's spent half of the season in League One on loan, before making his first AFCB appearance of the season at Old Trafford helping to see that game out. Cargill is fairly untested at this level, but a youth product thrown in at the deep end feeds even more into that siege mentality.

In attack Josh King continues to score week after week. I'd like to see Fraser and Ibe either side of him for a lightening attacking 3. Wilshere was on the bench last week to make us more workmanlike, it'll be interesting to see if Howe brings Jack back in to make us expansive, or sticks to a more rigid midfield.

 

[PDS]

The United performance gives us hope that we have turned a corner on our wretched form- and back to back home games is probably the best opportunity we'll get to show that.

We were very unlucky to lose to West Ham earlier in the season - it was one of the worst games you will ever see between two teams playing terribly, but we were undone very late in the game. We can be so much better than that, but often struggle to show it.

The pressure is on, not just tomorrow but next week against Swansea too. With a threadbare back four we really have no choice but to attack, Christ knows what scoreline that will lead to.

 

[RobotSophie]

I'd guess 1-0 to Bournemouth

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Playing well and should be leading, perhaps even by a couple. But West Ham also dangerous in attack. Both defences are not very good.

How do we miss two penalties in half an hour? Don't think I've seen that before. Of course west ham clinically score 30 seconds after we missed the first.

Definitely more goals in this given the state of bth defences.

 

[JimJams]

King wins it.

 

[Jamie_SFC]

Good game to watch that. Bournemouth fully deserved the win.

Maybe Fonte will stop giving interviews about us and focus on defending better. He was awful.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Yeah Fonte was poor, not helped I think by the shape west ham played. Back 3 spread so wide that Fonte was effectively a right back. For all his strength, he isn't a full back. Also in midfield west ham gave us a lot of space to pass through.

Their strength was Antonio, such a good player. Touch, strength, finish, everything. For all west ham's poor defending, we never got to grips with Antonio either.

The scoreline will suggest a tight win. The reality was we played most of the better football, created a hatfull of chances and missed them. Refused to make a sub when midway through the second half it seems so obvious we needed fresh legs. And so nearly dropped what should have been a routine win.

But we kept plugging away and sure enough down our left their right we created yet another chance. Hat-trick Josh King. 1m quid he cost, scoring every game, how much is he worth now?

5 game ban, Who gives a fuck. We're AFC Bournemouth and we're staying up.

 

[JimJams]

Hat-trick Josh King. 1m quid he cost, scoring every game, how much is he worth now?

2m quid?

 

[claret50]

I haven't seen the game yet but well done the Cherries on their win, from what I've read you deserved all 3 points.

 

[Super_horns]

Not always on the right end of results but Bournemouth do seem to at least have exciting games most weeks.

I notice King didn't celebrate much for the first 2 maybe feeling a bit guilty missing the penalty!

 

[PDS]

I've never seen a game of football like that in my life; it was played at 100 mph - and we still found time to miss two penalties.

The transformation of Josh King in the last 18 months has been incredible - he looked like another speed merchant; but physically and technically he has developed into such a goal threat. In one run he took about 4 players out of the game. By far our best striker right now, even if we had a fit Wilson.