Post Match report for the Bournemouth game - Saturday, 28th December 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE: Brighton v Bournemouth - 28/12/19, P20.

ALBION END THE DECADE BY SQUEEZING CHERRIES HOODOO UNTIL PIPS SQUEAK


VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - tenth home match of twenty fixtures to date.
RESULT: 2-0 ~ Jahanbakhsh, Mooy . (h-t 1-0) . SHAPE: 4-3-3 .
REF: supported by VAR for contentious issues but otherwise tolerant.

PRE-KICKOFF: Xmas was over, 2019 would soon be condemned to history but meanwhile the Prem just keeps rolling on. It was a key-holed chance to get free from family festivities and indulge other competitive urges.
GATE: 30,441 . WEATHER: dry & mild but gloomy.


GRAHAM POTTER expounded more theories of Prem relativity. His mission is to develop sports psychology and turn man management techniques into positive results on & off field.
He made many alterations to the last starting eleven. Regulars, Dunk, Montoya, Propper & Trossard returned, while Bissouma & Jahanbakhsh also got selected.
Some unusual suspects populated substitutes.
Reality can be measured by a simple ongoing index: pt/gm = (3w + d)/P.
This value is compared to a base level of 1.00 for survival, which equates to 20 points post match.

TEAM . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . . . 8 Bissouma, 24 Propper, 18 Mooy
. 16 Jahanbakhsh, 7 Maupay, 11 Trossard

BENCH: 27 Button, 30 Bernardo, 15 Webster, 6 Stephens (84), 13Gross, 46 Alzate (84), 17 Murray (89).


GOALS: 3 - 1-0. Mooy feeds Maupay who held it up for JAHANBAKHSH to rifle a fast shot past the visiting custodian.
79 - 2-0. A fluid move forward involving a run by Trossard puts MOOY into the strike position and he shows skill to score.


INCIDENTS: early into the second period amid a flurry of boots, Burn kicks the ball away - VAR investigates potential red card.
Later into the second half VAR chalks off a 2nd home score due to offside prior to a scramble in the away area.
With fifteen minutes remaining VAR checks for a penalty against visitors but no go.
Prior to ten minutes from time Cherries are effectively reduced to ten men due to injury.

YELLOWS: none. Two opposition were booked.

SUBS: 84 - a double swap when Jahanbakhsh & Mooy are replaced by Alzate & Stephens.
89 - Bissouma goes off and Murray gets on.


SYNOPSIS: a very early opener added to home advantage, so further process was to keep a clean sheet, rack up multiple on targets, net more strikes and effectively put the game to bed asap.
However visitors were soon committed to stay in the game, come out in search of an equaliser and stretch end to end play to over ninety minutes.
Momentum maintained until the interval, although hosts initial impetus waned when travellers decidedly made a game of it. Domestic Amex support tried to lift their eleven when opposition forays became serious threats prior to half time.
Soon after turnaround south-coast opponents made all their alterations first, giving Potter options as to his tactics via selective subs.
The second Seagulls goal secured a serious cushion against depleted visitors.
BHA were perhaps flattered by this result.
Two rearranged and very average teams played out a local derby with certain amounts of ebb & flow. On the plus side it did encourage credibility of being a full Prem squad.
MoM - Mooy, must be signed permanently in January.

NUMBERS: poss 55%-45%, on target 6-2, off target 10-8, corners 9-2, fouls 8-11, yellows 0-2, subs 3-3.

FS