Match Day Bournemouth v Huddersfield, Tuesday 4 December 19:45

[SALTIRE]

Match chat.

 

[AnkleBiter]

Good time to play Bournemouth? On the back of 4 successive defeats... possibly. I view Bournemouth as a side that has a buzz/energy about their play which gets better with confidence. So we need to frustrate them to begin with.

Good time to play us? Probably! We're all pissed off after Saturday, it was a huge setback. There is potential that that could result in additional motivation, a bit of a siege mentality perhaps.
We need another Wolves type performance, solid defending, dominant midfield and some decent play up front. Mounié out is a blow, he hasn't scored this season but has been a decent target up front. I suspect Depoitre will come in, he's been dreadful so far this season.

Think Bournemouth will get back on track with a 2-0 win.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Good time to play Bournemouth? On the back of 4 successive defeats... possibly. I view Bournemouth as a side that has a buzz/energy about their play which gets better with confidence. So we need to frustrate them to begin with.

Good time to play us? Probably! We're all pissed off after Saturday, it was a huge setback. There is potential that that could result in additional motivation, a bit of a siege mentality perhaps.
We need another Wolves type performance, solid defending, dominant midfield and some decent play up front. Mounié out is a blow, he hasn't scored this season but has been a decent target up front. I suspect Depoitre will come in, he's been dreadful so far this season.

Think Bournemouth will get back on track with a 2-0 win.

It's definitely been a frustrating few weeks, losing a string of games narrowly despite (mostly) decent showings, and most of them containing some controversy or other that went against us. After building up a lot of momentum this season it risks fizzing out if the run continues much longer. We've a few injuries to content with as well. One of which being the longer term Smith that requires a bit of adjusting the shape around and we've not got that right yet.

So far this season we're at our best when teams let us get possession, move it around, get a into a rhythm. If you sit deep that's ok because we've got the creativity and bursts of pace to find ways through.

Where we struggle, and it's something Newcastle and Burnley did very well as an example to follow, is when we're not allowed any time in midfield. Get 5 men in there, get in our faces and not let us settle. Lerma is a great help, but the rest of our midfielders: Brooks, Stanislas, Lewis Cook, Surman, Fraser to some extent - nice footballers but not exactly screaming physicality..

Partly why we did well (but just not quite good enough) against these recent top sides is because they don't really get stuck in, they just sit and wait until they can out-class us. In our truly poor performances against Newcastle and Burnley we just got battered in midfield. That's something I believe Huddersfield can do. Certainly showed it in spells last season, did it perfectly to us up there, and did it against Wolves only the other week.

So yeah Huddersfield's recent improvement does concern. If we can just take the positives from recent defeats and keep the good energy flowing then I'd back us. I would start to worry if we struggle to get our foot on the ball and find our flow. Then we try and force things, over-elaborate, and leave ourselves open.

 

[AnkleBiter]

Ahahaha fuck my life

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Huddersfield looking decent in all departments except the final ball. Dominating the midfield as what worried me, and us pouncing on two early openings ruthlessly is the difference currently. If this carries on Hudds will get it right eventually.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Jeez that was hard work. Thankfully Huddersfield never did get it right because they continued to dominate and still struggled to create the chances their possession and pressure deserved.

As poor as I've seen us at this level, yet we've come away with a win. I feel for Huddersfield but also fear for them when they're losing a game like that.

 

[AnkleBiter]

Yep, summed it up for us there. After the start we had we can't afford to lose at home to Brighton then lose an away game dominate.

Totally bored of compliments about performances... can't fault our effort tonight but sadly I just can't see us getting enough points this season.

We play Newcastle (h) Southampton (h) Fulham (a) and Burnley (h) all over the festive period, then we desperately need a goalscorer in January, which won't be easy to find/afford!

Congrats to Bournemouth of course. 6th... wow, incredible times, savour it!