My elation more than makes up for your lack of ecstasy. We destroyed the media darlings in their own ground, and emphatically showed that, despite them pipping us to the title, there is no doubt which club of the two promoted that year is truly worthy of a place amongst the elite. Whilst we may not have tapped the final nail in their coffin, it's incredibly gratifying to know that we at least helped dig the grave. Oh, plus we're out of the relegation zone.
Pens: Last season: Bournemouth 9 Palace 11 This Season (22 out of 38 games played): Bournemouth 1 Palace 3 Cheating ****s.
Well done for that research! it’s easier to see VAR has cost us a couple of goals by VAR refs making mistakes (Spurs/Southampton) VAR has cost Bournemouth by being correct!
I can't say I feel sorry for him at all, have had more than enough of him pretending to cover up his smug little grin in interviews when things have gone their way over the last few years, and by Christ they've had more than their fair share of the rub of the green. What a shame it's all catching up with them ! His short stint at Burnley apart, he should have moved to another, or dare I say it "bigger" club by now. In some ways, his position is a little similar to GT until he went to Villa in 1987, needed to "test himself" in a different environment But bow-locks to Bournemouth, like most on here I'm absolutely stunned & delighted by what's happened over the last month. I was gobsmacked when the powers-that-be tore up their rule book and everything they've gone by over the last seven years by appointing a British manager, and what a job NP & his team are doing. There's enough raw talent in those players, but previously it seemed there was no way of getting them organised and getting the best out of them. The way some have responded has genuinely surprised me. There's still plenty to do, but we've given ourselves a real opportunity to get out of the mess we'd drifted into. I didn't think that was remotely possible at the start of December. It'll be nice to put a bit of daylight above the teams below us and escape with a few places and points to spare, but I'll gladly settle for finishing where we are now !
What a contrast to the last time we played Bournemouth. At home, on 26th October 2019 only 10 weeks ago. We were timid and fearful. We set out with 5 at the back and two DMF's. We were desperate for a clean sheet, nothing else seemed to matter. Now you do need a solid base for sure, but Flores came in and could only see a tactical solution as the way to solve this. Roll forward 10 weeks, we have the same players, Bournemouth were strong, no matter how much they are whinging about their injuries, they had the majority of their key players on the field. We just rolled them over and looked a class above our opponent. We did the same to Villa recently also. We're now competing and beating high class opponents in United and Wolves also. This is not down to tactics, it's down to leadership. Having a structure for players to adhere to and there being consequences if they don't reach that mark. We're now playing with 4 at the back, and look, the opponents are finding incredibly difficult to break us down. We don't need 5 at the back. We just needed something to believe in, to have the mental side worked on. Pearson & Shakespeare have created this, but also Mullins and Stack need credit too. They have formed a very good management team and it works. The players are loving it. Will it work for a long time? Well who knows. Without warning Watford tend to go in and out of form. Great runs to depressing defeats. But this time it does seem different. The bar is high and while the British core of players buy into it, the standards will not drop. The feel good factor is back and I just cannot see it going wrong now, certainly not for this season. The blueprint is there and everyone knows what they have to do in order to gain these good results. Slip below that standard and it will go wrong again for sure. We don't have the talent of City, where we could play at 60% and still win. We need to be at 80% or above. Once we're at that level, I'm confident we can beat anyone outside of the top six, just like we were last season. Last season we were the best of the rest. We had the best record against the clubs outside of the top six. Where we fell short was when we played the top six, although ironically, we've done better this season against the top six already, by picking up 5 points. This is what gives me the confidence. We're now back to the place we were when we started last season with those 4 straight wins. If we maintain this level, which will be very hard because it does takes it's toll on players physically, but if we can, then I can see a top half finish is possible. We're only 6 points away from 10th as it is now.
Indeed. 'Double reverse pike' Wilson's sole contribution all afternoon was to rub a bit of 'bell-end cheese' all over the note.
NP has definitely given the players the confidence and structure to play well. I think playing 4231 is perfect for Sarr and having Doucs making runs into the box suits him too. Our attacking 4 are hard to defend against. On top of that we are pressing much better, defending from the front and Del boy and Sarr are tracking back really well. The defence is no longer exposed in the same way.
The problem is, we're now too good. Sarr, doucoure, capoue, deulofeu, chalobah and deeney will all be signing for barcelona and madrid in the summer and we'll be going down next season with a record low points tally. So we're still doomed! just a year later than now.
Haha, only 4 weeks ago everyone on this forum would have bitten your hand off, for the chance of going down from the P.L. Next season!
It's a disaster. Rather than a glorious promotion season next year we will have to go through another relegation battle which this time we'll lose. Gutted.
This is the moment just before Deeney smashed home the loose ball. There are 9 Muff players in the box, apart from the one who challenged Doucouré no one seems to be doing anything, look at Ake's positioning, what is he doing there?
Yes but we'll earn like a billion pounds from those deals and will be saved from impending financial oblivion, which surely is the main objective of football, no?
It makes a refreshing change that we're not putting up a frame of the Watford defence. The first goal was the same also. There was a mass charge towards Sarr on the ball, where everyone went to close down. This left Doucoure the time to control Sarr's pass, take a couple of touches before lashing the ball home. It was just comical. The Bournemouth fans have to change their chant from "we score when we want" to "we conceded when we want". Do they still sing "Champions" as well? They may as change that chant to "Championship".
I think this was mentioned on the commentary. No Bournemouth player reacted when the ball came towards Deeney, none of them tried to get in the way, absolutely no desire to stop the ball. It's difficult to get a team out of that kind of mind set
I don't have anything against Bournemouth but one or two of their players have irritated me over the years. Harry Arter and Adam Smith. Favourite moment yesterday was just before the breakaway when Delefeou should have done better, Smith went down pretending to be fouled, never a foul and it nearly cost his team a goal. Horrible player
A Muff fan on Twitter said that Nige is a good coach, but not in Eddie's class. So they don't need him, it seems.
It looks like he is in position A of attempting a "standing dump". He had the gall to try to out-in-game-poo some of the fine members on this forum. An audacious attempt that backfired (not literally).
A lad I coach,the poor confused WHU fan whose maternal grandparents support Loon, sees Smith often. He works in the pub/restaurant that Smith frequents regularly. I think he began at Spurs so probably has family nearby or lives in the locality.
....still grinning. Every time I stop, I just have to think of Eddie Howe's press conference and off I go again
Bournemouth have also had a drastic reduction red cards awarded to their opponents. Last year Bournemouth ' Won' 9 red cards which is 19% of the 47 red cards given last season. This season they have 'won' 2 red cards, only 8% of the 25 red cards awarded thus far. Despite VARs obvious problems it seems it is eradicating the ability off serial divers like Bournemouth to cheat their way to survival each year.
In the interest of balance it isn’t quite as obvious for Bournemouth as it look: Penalties won Season - Watford v Muff 19/20 - 4 v 1 18/19 - 1 v 9 17/18 - 6 v 3 16/17 - 3 v 10 15/16 - 7 v 4 Total (before current season) 21 v 27. So muff had on average won 1.5 more penalties per season than us. Still a big switch to this season, but nowhere much as pronounced.
There isn't much between any of the sides in terms of skill so desire and confidence is key. Bournemouth are lacking in that on the way we were prior to NP coming in. Looking at recent fixtures they've played quite a few in the wrong half of the table. Rather than winning and effectively making themselves safe like Palace, they've lost them all (Brighton, West Ham and us). If they lose to Norwich (next match) things could get very ugly
There are far more things that are more important than football. A fan for years or a fan for a minute is still a fan. Relax a while ok
