Why did Watford's first goal suck the life out of the Cherries?

When your team is in a relegation battle you need players that are going to fight for the badge, not put their heads down and feel destroyed just because they have let a goal in. The damage for me from the Watford game wasn't the final scoreline, or the inability to get shots on target, it was the response to letting in the first goal.

Looking back at the incident, I don' t think Francis was actually that alert when the ball was first played to him by Travers. He had enough time to pass it out wide to Adam Smith and didn't take the easy option, heaven knows why. Travers did okay in getting it away from the goal, even if he couldn't pick up a Bournemouth player. There was time for the defence to reset and protect the goal, but Francis ran towards the ball and getting sucked in he left Decouré unmarked.

Okay, so mistakes were made and most probably by one of Bournemouth's most experienced defenders. But the timing of the goal was bad in that it was right on half-time and it gave Watford a lift and Bournemouth just didn't recover. The fans were of course angry with the way the goal had come about, but the negativity of the crowd no doubt transmitted to the players and they went more into their shell and were nervous about making further mistakes.
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Of course, the fans wanted the completely opposite reaction. We wanted the players to come out in the second half fight as if their lives depended on it. But the size of the task just seemed to big for the players. It was all hyped up before the game as being a massive three points and the need to perform, but the more they tried the worse things got.

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We need the players to feel they have a clean sheet going forward. We don't need them thinking about who they are playing or the league position or what has gone on before. They need to play the eleven players in front of them. Win their own battle and do their utmost to get the first goal. It's only then that I feel the players might start o relax and little and actually enjoy playing the game. That's is half the battle because at the moment, I don't think the players are enjoying it and Eddie Howe needs to get the players being pleased to be playing and giving themselves a pat on the back every time they execute something well.

The game is sometimes over complicated and I think Bournemouth have hit that barrier. The players need to break their game down and just work on how they can feel more at ease with each other. It is a team game and they all need to feel part of a team which is something I'm not seeing at the moment.

In other news, TalkSport has reported that AFCB are among the clubs linked with Stoke City striker Tyrese Campbell.

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