Report
AFC Bournemouth slumped to their second defeat of the season this afternoon at The County Ground as they were thumped 4-0 by a confident Swindon team. The defeat leaves Bournemouth 17th in the table after gaining a mere 8 points from their first 8 games.
Bournemouth made three changes to the side that faced Brentford on Tuesday as the injured Pugh, Arter and Francis were replaced by Fogden, McDermott and Cook respectively. Swindon started the game on the front foot, with wide man Matt Ritchie in particular looking dangerous. After having control of a lightweight Bournemouth side, Swindon broke the deadlock just after ten minutes. Bournemouth's insistence on passing out of defence produced a mistake as Fogden failed to control Cook's pass, Matt Ritchie intercepted the ball on the edge of the area and smashed a rocket past Shwan Jalal and into the back of the net. Paul Groves once again tried to make a diamond midfield work, but yet again it failed to produce good results. As the commentator on BBC Wiltshire said, "if you come to Swindon you must play 4-4-2 and try to match them". Grabban and Tubbs were often left isolated up front and could not make an impact on the game despite running around. The second goal came once again through Swindon's width, the ball found it's way to Gary Roberts who hit a curling cross from the left hand side, the ball somehow evaded all of Bournemouth's defenders leaving Andy Williams with a simple header. Bournemouth's best (and only) chance of the match fell to Matt Tubbs, the ball was played over Swindon's defence and Tubbs hit a low shot, but goalkeeper Wes Foderingham made a great save low to his right hand side. The teams went in at half time with Swindon looking increasingly comfortable, basking in their 2-0 advantage.
Groves made two changes to begin the match, with Josh Wakefield and Josh McQuoid replacing Donal McDermott and Wes Fogden. The visitors finally started pressing forward a bit, but a few sub standard corners aside, they never really looked like threatening Swindon's goal. The game began to have a feel of a training match, Swindon's players looked calm on the ball and played some nice, neat passes in short space. The third goal game when Matt Ritchie hit a low driven free-kick from the outside the right side of the Cherries penalty area, it amazingly went through everyone in the box and hit the back of the net before Jalal had time to sufficiently react. "Groves out" started to belt out from the visiting supports, alongside "you're getting sacked in the morning". With 10 minutes to go and the game looking bleaker by the minute I decided that it was time to go, so unfortunately I cannot comment on the fourth goal, but it was scored by Birmingham loanee Adam Rooney.
My Thoughts
Where to begin? It is simply beyond my understanding how a team that has cost so much money can play so appallingly. I have seen some bad times as a Bournemouth fan, but I do not remember walking away from a game this demotivated. I think this feeling is also held by many fellow Bournemouth supporters, there is simply something missing within the club. The team plays without passion, without fire or flair, there seems to be a constant lack of determination to push on and win the game. Today it was boys vs men, we were absolutely outclassed by a Swindon team that did what we should have done in all four of our home games. I don't like giving anyone abuse, but it is time for Groves to go, the results and performances have been completely unacceptable. Miles Addison's post match interview clearly shows that there is disarray in the dressing room, and this all just comes back to the leadership of the team. We can't play a diamond midfield with 3 lightweight players in it, McDermott, Fogden and O'Kane all get easily muscled off the ball constantly, and Partington isn't exactly a ball winner either. Addison and Elphick seem to have a lack of understanding when playing together, and the ball constantly gets past them. Grabban and Tubbs did nothing when they got on the ball, Tubbs has now missed two one on one's, and Grabban can't beat a man to save his life. We seriously need a man (like Di Canio, not as nutty though) to come in and give this team a kick up the backside and whip them into shape.
Anyway, thanks very much for reading once again and Up The Cherries...
 |
| Former Cherries target Matt Ritchie grabbed two goals |
Swindon fan here.
ReplyDeleteA fair reflection of the proceedings earlier this afternoon. Whilst I had hoped for a good Swindon response following the home defeat against Leyton Orient, I had expected more from Bournemouth, especially after the summer signings. Things seemed rather lacklustre, almost mechanical without any leadership picking the team up when they went down. Not enough mobility at the back, and not enough conviction up top.
Things take time to gel for all of the teams with a lot of new faces including Swindon; only 8 games gone, another 38 to go. I'm sure you'll get it together. All the best for the rest of the season.