Post Match report for the Bournemouth game - Saturday, 22nd December 2018
PREMIER LEAGUE; Bournemouth v Brighton
ALBION GET JUST DESSERTS WITH CHERRIES ON TOP
VENUE; Vitality Stadium, Boscombe - tenth away game of 18 fixtures.
RESULT; 2-0 . (h-t 1-0) . SHAPE; 4-5-1 . REF; maybe doubles as Father Christmas, with love of attention.
PREAMBLE; the Saturday before Xmas festivities actually commenced meant a trip westwards for blue & white supporters in search of stars. Many were hoping Santa would gift their team all the points but realistically reindeer might fly in the face of footy wish lists.
GATE; 10,491 . WEATHER; mild & settled.
CHRIS HUGHTON had Duffy banned and unfit Izquierdo & Jahanbakhsh unavailable. He decided to make changes to current regulars, being a benevolent pragmatist in this yuletide season of goodwill to all.
TEAM; . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 22 Montoya, 14 Balogun, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. 20 March, 8 Bissouma, 24 Propper, 9 Locadia
. . . . . . . . 13 Gross, . . . . . . . 10 Andone
BENCH; 23 Steele, 2 Bruno, 3 Bong (76), 6 Stephens, 7 Kayal, 11 Knockaert (70), 17 Murray (80).
GOALS; 1-0 - 21. After a positive opening, Seagulls backed off and opposition were allowed to strike a worldy.
2-0 - 77. Lack of defensive action gave offenders opportunity to use quick movement in the area for extra advantage.
INCIDENTS; 73 - a second booking following an error in passing and subsequently tackling, saw Dunk duly dismissed.
YELLOWS; 62 - Dunk collected his first card when appearing to take out the man with Bissouma also involved.
SUBS; 70 - Knockaert replaced fading Locadia, 76 - Bong came on for weakening Gross in a tactical reshaping. 80 - Murray got inserted while rundown Andone was withdrawn.
The sending off altered possible choices but visitors were on the back-foot during the second period and it did not change.
ANALYSIS; same old, same old in terms of outcome at ninety minutes. The glaring stat is yet another fail to score on the road. Deserving something from a so-called reasonable away display does not cut it in the final analysis. Goals count in the result but possession, shots, crosses and corners do not, merely contributing to chances or leading to scoring.
Albion are bringing inexperienced players to the fore but the squad has not the depth of quality to make seamless alterations when others are injured or out of form. Rotation was inconclusive for this contest against average opposition and maybe is an indictment of current levels of overall ability.
NUMBERS; shape 442-4141, poss 57%-43%, on target 3-5, off target 7-4, corners 6-5, fouls 8-18, yellows 2-2, red 0-1, subs 3-3.
MoM - Bissouma.
Fatmanslims
PRE-XMAS TABLE:
Po . Pl . -GD . Pt
12 . 18 . -02 . 24 West Ham
13 . 18 . -06 . 21 Brighton
14 . 18 . -08 . 18 Palace
15 . 18 . -08 . 17 Newcastle
16 . 18 . -14 . 15 Southampton
17 . 18 . -18 . 14 Cardiff
18 . 18 . -20 . 12 Burnley
19 . 18 . -20 . 10 Huddersfield
20 . 18 . -26 . 10 Fulham
