Peter Neil Bell's Blog: Cherry Chimes, page 41

A marvelous second half start by Bournemouth

Two goals in the space of about three minutes of the second half for Bournemouth against Chelsea reminded me of all that is great about supporting the Cherries. The ground was buzzing, smiles were back on faces and the players were loving every second of being able to deliver for the fans.
Bournemouth win the second half but not the game.You can't beat that level of excitement and pure pleasure at seeing your team play so well. It was tremendous play and for once it was easy to forget about the position of the club in the table and to just enjoy the moment of being ahead against a top four side. It felt amazing, because Bournemouth simply haven't come from behind in hardly any games this season.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream eBook version -available now!Jefferson Lerma's header started the ball rolling. He has not been a big goal scorer in the past, but perhaps he is now seeing that he needs to give the team more in that area. Set-pieces have been very good for Bournemouth and they led the way in that statistic in the Premier League for goals scored, but the real excitement for me came in the way the second goal was scored. Bournemouth were purring. The turn by Philip Billing in the middle of the park was sublime, and he played his one two with Stacey perfectly with the full back speeding up the right wing with such power. It was as if the ball was sucked into the net by the home crowd and Callum Wilson first tried to get the important touch and then Josh King did.
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At the start of both halves Bournemouth looked to strike early. It is what we used to see when the club first got up to the Premier League and perhaps the team has lost some of that mentally. It was back though for the match against Chelsea, and if the team continues to play like that we could yet see Bournemouth secure a sixth Premier league season in a row.

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Alonso snatches draw from Bournemouth in last few minutes

Alonso snatches draw from Bournemouth in final few minutes

Match ReportAFCB 2 v 2 Chelsea29 February 2020Attendance: 10,667 Here we go fourth verses 16th in the table.Every pint is vital in a relegation battle and Bournemouth were close to gaining three points until Marcos Alonso netted his second goal in the 85th minute to deny Bournemouth their third home win in a row. Alonso had opened the scoring in the 33rd minute to give Chelsea a 0-2 half-time lead. Bournemouth had started both halved well though and with a dramatic three minutes scored twice in the 54th and 57th minute of the second half as Jefferson Lerma and Josh King found the net. A shock result was on but then Marcos Alonso pounced when Ramsdale had made a great save to deny Mount an equaliser. The draw was the least that Bournemouth deserved but other results saw them drop into the bottom three on goal difference.

The group hug - it's a massive game for Bournemouth.Bournemouth made four changes with Steve Cook, Lewis Cook, Philip Billing and Ryan Fraser coming in for Simon Francis, Dan Gosling, Harry Wilson and Andrew Surman.
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Match Description
The first attack comes from Bournemouth. Fraser goes down the right plays Stacey through and his cross is hit towards goal by Billing, but Caballero saves.

Billing again goes close but hits the side netting. He robbed Tomori from the throw in and should have done better with the finish.

Chelsea come back with, Alonso winning a corner off of Stacey. A volley from Mount is pushed out for a second corner but Aké clears.

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Billing plays a great ball down the left for King and Callum Wilson shoots but right at Caballero.

Lerma puts in a crunching tackle on Mount on 12 minutes. Jorginho gets booked for a foul on Billing.

Stacey wins a corner. Pedro comes out with the ball. Billing is playing well and makes a good interception, but Callum Wilson can't keep the ball in play.

Stacey wins a corner. There was a penalty shout by Bournemouth players but the referee has given a free kick to Chelsea.

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Aké stops a Pedro pass when Chelsea were looking good for a chance. Steve Cook heads out. Adam Smith concedes a corner. Billing clears.

Aké gives Chelsea a corner. King clears. Kovacic takes down Wilson but there's no free kick. The home crowd aren't happy about that.

Mount has a snap shot but no power and Ramsdale saves down to his left.

Chelsea make a cross from the right from James and Gidroud gets his foot to it, Ramsdale puts it on the bar only for Alonso to score at the far post with a volley on 33 minutes.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream is on sale now!Another Chelsea corner. Lerma clears, but Chelsea have another corner. Steve Cook just gets the ball away in time.

Chelsea corner. James shoots fro range but Ramsdale does well to keep it out to his left.

Mount almost gets in from a ball over the top.

Bournemouth are behind but they started well.Second half
Chelsea on the break with Mount and Alonso takes it up and crosses, Giroud puts the chance wide from six yards. A bug let off for Bournemouth.

Bournemouth have a free kick, but Fraser goes down. Billing plays on Stacey and he's blocked.
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Stacey clears when King had lost the ball. James shoots over.

Bournemouth corner. Another follows. Lerma rises and heads in on 1-1 on 53 minutes. Jefferson Lerma's name rings out around Dean Court. A belting header!

Fraser into Billing, Billing makes a great turn, Stacey gets down the right and Callum Wilson can't get there, but King scores at the far post 2-1. A long VAR wait, but the goal is given. Bournemouth have turned it around. The crowd has played its part lifting the team.

Adam Smith is booked. The noise is defending. This is why we come to football. Every Bournemouth tackle is being cheered.

Aké heads down and Wilson shot right on front of goal is saved by Caballero.

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Tomori and Jorginho are off for Chelsea. William and Barkley are on after 64 minutes. The rain is driving down.

James crosses and Giroud heads wide. Junior Stanislas replaces Josh King on 67 minutes.

Barkley shoots but hits his own player. Christensen is booked for a foul on Wilson. Giroud is replaced by Batshuayi on 72 minutes.

Chelsea see the offside flag go up. Barkley shoots and its deflected for a corner.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream eBook version -available now!Lewis Cook blocks for a corner. Ake clears. Another Chelsea corner. It's spooned wide by Azpilicueta. Corner again. Wilson comes away with it.

Dan Gosling replaces Lewis Cook on 80 minutes. Bournemouth are being driven back.

Lerma clears for a Chelsea corner. A shot from Mount deflects and Ramsdale saves for a corner.

Another shot goes wide from Azpilicueta.

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Mount shoots and Ramsdale puts it onto the post but Alonso is there to head in and make it 2-2 on 85 minutes. Bournemouth were desperately unlucky. They haven't held out.

We have five minutes left. Callum Wilson is booked. Ramsdale is out quickly ahead of Batshuayi.

Five minutes of added time. Pedro is blocked.

It's ended 2-2.Summary
Bournemouth didn't choke but they fell back on their heels after getting ahead in this game with a period of intense and exhilarating attacking play. Chelsea gathered themselves and came back and the point might just be seen better for Bournemouth in a few weeks time than it seems now with other teams leaping past them.
Bournemouth players put everything into that game.AFCB line up AFCB Subs: Boruc, Francis, Rico, Gosling, Stanislas, H Wilson, SolankeChelsea
13 Caballero, 28 Azpilicueta, 4 Christensen, 29 Tomori (Willian 64), 24 James,
5 Jorginho (Barkley 64), 17 Kovacic, 3 Alonso, 19 Mount, 11 Pedrom
18 Giroud (Batshuayi 72)

Chelsea Subs
1 Arrizabalaga, 2 Rüdiger, 8 Barkley, 10 Willian, 12 Loftus-Cheek, 23 Batshuayi, 47 Gilmour


Eddie Howe thanks the crowd.Referee: Andre Marriner 3/10 - came under some stick for not giving free kicks. The foul on Callum Wilson by Kovacic really deserved a yellow.

Cherry Chimes MoM: Jefferson Lerma

AFCB Ratings: Ramsdale 7, Stacey 7, S Cook 6, Aké 6, Fraser 6,  Billing 6, Lerma 8,
L Cook 6, King 6, C Wilson 6
Chimes Newsletter - out today!
Cherry Chimes' March Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month. The newsletter has a special story - Bournemouth will need to do it the hard way.
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Bournemouth seek an unlikely double against Chelsea

Eddie Howe was in bullish mood ahead of the fixture with Chelsea in his press conference. He looks upon the game as 11 against 11 on the pitch and would obviously be delighted if Bournemouth could secure an unexpected double win this season against Frank Lampard's side, and he asked the home crowd to get fully behind the team.
Bournemouth will look to help save their Premier League chances of survival today.One of the bottom six teams is going to pick up a couple of wins sooner or later and when they do it will send tremors through the other teams still down the bottom. Chelsea are a great team but they don't always get it right against Eddie Howe and they have just come off a mid-week game in Europe which they lost - perfect time to play Chelsea? I am not sure, but Bournemouth can't waste any games at this stage and three home wins in a row would be a rare glimmer of delight in what has been a wretched season for the Cherries.


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Eddie needs big players and hearts now. Where is he going to find that in his team? The players need to be courageous and start believing that they can keep wins going at home. Bournemouth are likely to have Lerma and Aké back and Eddie will have his choice of central midfielders to pick from again. It might be a time to pair Lerma with Lewis Cook in midfield if he feels the team needs something different. High work-rate and a willingness to take risks in front of goal is what the fans expect from their team, and if Chelsea don't rest players that played in mid-week, it might play into Bournemouth's hands in the second half.
Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream is on sale now!Bournemouth's problem will be trying to stay in the game long enough to be in touch in the second half. We know Chelsea get frustrated when they don't get a breakthrough as happened when the two teams met last December. The fans need to be positive now and help make the team take their best game to Chelsea and the most unlikely double win of the season could just happen. UTCIAD!
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AFCB Home FormLDLWW
Chelsea Away FormLWDLD

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Can Bournemouth raise their game for Chelsea?
Possible AFCB line up
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Chimes Newsletter - out tomorrow!
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Can Bournemouth raise their game for Chelsea?

The last match in February for Bournemouth will see them return home and take on Chelsea. Frank Lampard will want a response after their mid-week battering by Bayern Munich. He felt Chelsea had a lot of work to do after such a result, but Bournemouth are equally in need of a lot of improvement for different reasons.
Where can Bournemouth find improvement?Chelsea might be sitting in fourth place and be aiming to fight off the chasing teams for a Champions League place last season, but it is clear that they have had their won problems when you see that they have only recorded five clean sheets this season, just one more than the Cherries. It does make sense that they are being linked with a return for Nathan Aké with those kind of stats. Of the nine defeats they have suffered, of course one was by the Cherries in December. What is more, Chelsea haven't yet won a way in the Premier League this year.

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Lampard does have a striker problem with Tammy Abrahams being injured, but when he can draw on the likes of Olivier Giroud you can't say that Chelsea are toothless up front. They are averaging 1.67 goals per game and average 5.6 shots on target every game. So, already we can expect Bournemouth's defence to be kept busy.

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Losing away at Newcastle United and Manchester United this year will have increased the pressure for Lampard to get a result at Bournemouth. But Bournemouth will have a punchers chance of getting another surprise result. Getting up for Chelsea is never a problem and Bournemouth are becoming a bit of a bogey team for the London club. But Bournemouth are only averaging 3.29 shots on target per game and are averaging 0.96 goals per game. At the other end they are conceding 1.59 goals per game, so we can see why they have been losing more matches than they win.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream is on sale now!Raising Bournemouth's game will need more than a few smart words from Eddie Howe. Bournemouth have to play like their lives depend on it in front of their home crowd, because there aren't many more home games to get points on the board.

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Is 35 points enough to stay up this season?

Is 35 points enough for safety this season?

It seems strange that so many teams are finding wins difficult to come by at the bottom of the Premier League. This week was the second week in a row when none of the bottom six managed a win and Brighton were the only beneficiary, by moving a point further clear with their draw against Sheffield United. It does make you winder is 40 points going to be the safety line or can we draw it closer to 35 points this season?
Can AFCB claw themselves away from the bottom three?Well if the bottom six continue to fail to put points on the board then the situation might not change that much. There will be a few six pointers to come, but most games for the bottom six are against higher table opposition. It looks like there is going to have to be some strange results for various teams to get passed 40 points mark, and Bournemouth need to just start picking up any kind of points to give themselves a real chance of putting themselves out of reach.


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I'm not convinced that Norwich City are capable of putting a run of results together to keep them up now, but Watford and West Ham have the ability to beat top sides and Aston Villa will keep motoring along trying to get the odd point and making things as hard as they can for other teams. Bournemouth and Brighton have been looking like they will be caught, but they still sit three and two points above the drop zone, and yet with just one more result going against Bournemouth you'd sense that they would become as highly backed as Norwich City for the drop.

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On the other hand a win to take them to 29 points would be a massive step towards safety if those below pick up nothing for another week. It's more a race of attrition as no club looks like escaping the pull of relegation. If it is a slow point accumulator we could see one of the lowest points total on the board with a club still staying up - not a great record to have, but one that any of the bottom six would take right now.

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Has Surridge been unlucky not to get more minutes?

Has Surrdige been unlucky not to get more minutes?

When Sam Surridge was recalled for from his loan at Swansea City, I thought we had a good chance to see a lot more of our home-grown striker. But despite a goal in the FA Cup against Arsenal, his first team opportunities might be sliding away as Josh King and Dominic Solanke slip past him in the pecking order. The Aston Villa home match was Surridge's last sub selection.
Sam Surridge's time is coming but it could be next season.Sam Surridge has done nothing wrong and has probably elevated his case of being a first team player next season, but breaking into the Cherries first 11 is going to take time and he may have to choose whether he is happy enough with getting odd minutes or going out on loan against next season. His appearances have suddenly dried up, although he is getting time to play for the U23s. Eddie Howe will be pleased that Sam has some Premier League experience under his belt now, but he is clear with young players that it takes time to perform consistently at the higher levels of the game.
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It will be intriguing to see what happens this summer. Josh King could well be departing now after the January interest and several teams have made it no secret that Callum Wilson could be a potential target. It all probably depends on where AFCB finish this season as either a Premier League of Championship club. But if Bournemouth are relegated, I'd imagine that Sam Surridge will suddenly become a top priority for AFCB to hold on to.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream eBook version -available now!Surridge is well acquainted with the Championship and has already made a name for himself, so I am sure he would be up for the challenge. But Bournemouth would loose an awful lot of experience if they were to lose a couple of their strikers in the summer. It could of course be the making of Dominic Solanke, if he played at the Championship level, but AFCB will not want to have to test that. Even if Bournemouth do stay up it is likely that another new striker would be sought this summer and that could again put Sam Surrdige further back in the pecking order.
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Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Can a fit Lerma, Ake and Brooks make the difference for AFCB?

Can a fit Lerma, Ake and Brooks make the difference for AFCB?

Each time Bournemouth come out to play I find myself clutching onto straws as to which player might make the difference in the game and finally get Bournemouth over the line. But it just doesn't happen and I'm left wondering will even Lerma, Aké or even Brooks can save Bournemouth now?
This could be Aké's last few games for AFCB,. He won't want a relegation on his record.The three mentioned players are probably three of the players that most of us would have considered nailed on for first 11 places at the start of the season. They are quality players and would be seen as central pillars of Eddie Howe's hopes for a strong season. Now Bournemouth are waiting for them to come back into the picture to play games, but can they turn around Bournemouth's performances?

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I think they are the last hope to do that now. We have seen the team struggle when they are not available and with the quality of opposition that the Cherries are coming up against now, they need all three to be in the squad if not on the pitch for some of the biggest games in AFCB's Premier league history.
Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream is on sale now!We can't expect the other teams around Bournemouth to keep dropping points and rely on them to do so. Bournemouth need to expand the gap from the bottom three and winning at home looks the only way of that happening at the moment. But should Bournemouth fall short against Chelsea, I fear that the home crowds' heads will go down. But we need to stay strong for the players to help them believe that they can escape this difficult season with their Premier League status in tact.

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We know a win against Chelsea would be the shot in the arm the club needs to see itself march towards safety. If the selected trio was also a part of this game, I imagine the celebrations would be something very special at Dean Court - now wouldn't that ben something to savour! UTCIAD!

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Will Eddie drop his captain?

Will Eddie drop his captain?

Burnley targeted a weakness in AFCB's line up I believe last Saturday. They tried to get Vydra up against Simon Francis whenever they could in a one-one one and Bournemouth looked stretched whenever Francis had to try and go out wide to keep Matej Vydra in sight. Franics had had some reasonable games at home in the last few games, but even Eddie Howe must see that he can't keep playing Francis and expect him to keep pace with top strikers in the Premier League.
Francis gets caught out at Burnley but will Eddie Howe stay loyal to him?The next match will be against Chelsea and their striker, Olivier Giroud having just scored last weekend, will be relishing the chance to play against Bournemouth's captain. He'll have seen how much trouble Vydra gave him. So will Eddie Howe be brave enough to drop his captain?Advertisement


I think he has to as long as Nathan Aké is back and fit enough to play. Bournemouth's best central pairing is Steve Cook and Aké and must play his best team against a top four side if it is available. Simon Francis doesn't now command that automatic selection in my book and Bournemouth need to work out a way their defence can get a clean sheet.

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I don't think Eddie Howe got it right with dropping Diego Rico either unless Rico was struggling with something. It looked like just a way to shoe-horn Jack Stacey into the team and keep Adam Smith in the first 11. But it would have been simpler to choose between Smith and Stacey for the right back spot and let Rico resume at left back. Moving Adam Smith to left back didn't exactly go well, and I wonder if a left-footed Rico would have positioned himself slightly differently for that high ball that caught Adam Smith out for the  handball.



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Selection is really important now. It's time to drop the egos and personal favourites. Bournemouth need points and it needs to be round players in round holes. The best player for the best job. Some players just haven't been producing and it's more than time to let some of those players know who isn't up to the job at the moment.

Bournemouth are still not good enough with possession

No matter how disappointed Bournemouth fans were with the defeat at Burnley and how well the team performed in the first half, the players still made many mistakes and lost possession during the game far too often to help themselves. Burnley broke well for their first goal and the third goal was made from a mistake from Philip Billing on half way.
Bournemouth have to regroup again.I am not sure why Bournemouth think they can get through games by making as many errors as they did against Burnley and still hope to come out on top. Perhaps a team that takes their chances would be stronger, but there were far too many errors during the game to make me feel comfortable about the way Bournemouth are defending at the moment.

AdvertisementRamsdale was called upon to make many saves during the game and it is no surprise that he couldn't save the team every time. Simon Francis was out of his depth with Jay Rodrigues and got turned and beaten for pace on several occasions, so it is hard to see why he should keep his place when he is contributing to the problems. Steve Cook also has a habit of getting his hand involved too often when trying to make clearances and was perhaps lucky not to have given a penalty away considering that Adam Smith did give one away for an equally poor clearance.

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream is on sale now!The possession was good in the first half and there were times when the team looked menacing, but far too often Surman, Billing and Gosling made mistakes in their own half or further up the pitch that led to breaks that could have been punished. Burnley are not a high scoring team, but they managed three goals against Bournemouth and Bournemouth will have to go up against some of the top six teams in the next few weeks. Eddie Howe has to try and get the players to concentrate more and not make so many mistakes when in possession or the outcome will be even more unfavourable than the Burnley result.

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Previous post on Cherry Chimes - It could have been embarrassing at Burnley but for Ramsdale

It could have been embarrassing at Burnley but for Ramsdale

I really don't want to keep giving man of the match choices to Aaron Ramsdale. It is hard not to though when he is often the only thing standing between Bournemouth a real hiding by some teams. The match at Burnley could have been high scoring for both teams but in the end it was bad enough at 3-0, and I'm sure it could have been much worse.
Ramsdale stretches out at Dena Court.Burnley weren't scooping many of their shots wide of the goal like Bournemouth were. They needed Ramsdale to prevent most of their shots from going in. Ramsdale is becoming too busy in games and Bournemouth are not giving him nearly enough protection. We can see that Lerma is a big miss and with Aké also out in the last match, that is a big part of the defensive unit off the pitch. But Steve Cook and Simon Francis are experienced defenders so why didn't thy look comfortable with three central midfielders in front of them?

Advertisement Eddie Had a Dream eBook version -available now!Despite having a strong midfield and a lot of the possession, Bournemouth presented chances to Burnley more often than not. I didn't see Burnley having to play amazing football to get in with chances and Bournemouth had Ramsdale to thank rather too often. He at least, didn't go missing.


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What Eddie Howe isn't doing is getting Bournemouth back to thinking enough about how good a clean sheet would be. It is all a bit gung-ho to try and win games and while wins are what Bournemouth need, the odd point in away games is no disgrace. But I don't think Bournemouth are anywhere near a level where they can get a clean sheet at the moment. That worries me.
AdvertisementPrevious post on Cherry Chimes - Come on Eddie stop the rot