Bournemouth 0 Chelsea 1

[Proud-Blue]

That Sancho performance was fantastic.

I'd probably have given MoTM to Sanchez because he was excellent and saved a penalty, but that was a superb debut from Sancho. I really hope that gives him the fire and confidence to rediscover that Dortmund form.

[Bison]

6 minutes ago, Ham said:

Turning positives into negatives since Clearlake. Well done.  

Just calling it how I see it. Why was our most experienced attacker, who didn't play international football over the last two weeks, glued to the bench for 80 mins? 

[Ham]

6 minutes ago, Bison said:

Just calling it how I see it. Why was our most experienced attacker, who didn't play international football over the last two weeks, glued to the bench for 80 mins? 

Just enjoy the frickin' win 

[Rob B]

Obviously not a great performance but that is a BIG BIG win.  We would have dropped points in that game last season.  Great to keep a clean sheet too. 

Maresca deserves a lot of credit for the subs.  We were much calmer with Tosin and better at finding passes into midfield.  Sancho was a threat all half and surprised me with how well he protects the ball for a little guy.  Almost Hazard-esque.  I wasn’t a fan of the signing but I really hope he proves me wrong. 

And we need to find room for Nkunku in this team.  He’s just so clinical and oozes an aura of someone who will just get goals.  In the next PL game I think it has to be Sancho, Nkunku & Palmer behind Jackson. 

Colwill, Sanchez and Caicedo were also excellent and deserve a mention.  Not the best day for Neto, Disasi and Fofana who will all probably be looking over their shoulder…

Winning when you don’t play well is such a novel feeling of late.  
Love it. 
 

Edit - Anthony Taylor, what a prick.  Genuinely never watched a game where a ref was so card-happy.  New premier league record. 

Edited Saturday at 21:26 by Rob B

[My Blood Is Blue]

2 minutes ago, Rob B said:

Obviously not a great performance but that is a BIG BIG win.  We would have dropped points in that game last season.  Great to keep a clean sheet too. 

Maresca deserves a lot of credit for the subs.  We were much calmer with Tosin and better at finding passes into midfield.  Sancho was a threat all half and surprised me with how well he protects the ball for a little guy.  Almost Hazard-esque.  I wasn’t a fan of the signing but I really hope he proves me wrong. 

And we need to find room for Nkunku in this team.  He’s just so clinical and oozes an aura of someone who will just get goals.  In the next PL game I think it has to be Sancho, Nkunku & Palmer behind Jackson. 

Colwill, Sanchez and Caicedo were also excellent and deserve a mention.  Not the best day for Neto, Disasi and Fofana who will all probably be looking over their shoulder…

Winning when you don’t play well is such a novel feeling of late.  
Love it. 
 

Edit - Anthony Taylor, what a prick.  Genuinely never watched a game where a ref was so card-happy.  New premier league record. 

Agree Nkunku has to start, he showed tonight he is a proper difference maker. So calm, so clinical and so good. Keep him fit and keep him in the team.

As for Taylor, I can’t get over how awful he was tonight, got to be one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a ref in the PL. Am I right in saying we’ll get a fine for having too many players booked? Absolute joke. 

[Original 21]

Great result. Pretty awful  performance. Disasi should not be playing right back. He can barely play in his preferred position.

Sanchez was terrific in goal and kept us in it when we were really struggling. Have to say that Colwill is starting to look like a proper defender. And Caicedo single-handedly kept the midfield from imploding.

Sancho made more of an impact than Madueke, Neto and Felix . Nkunku is a proper finisher. Jackson really isn’t. Cucurella is a terrier. Not convinced by Veiga and Tosin. A couple for the Thursday games I think.

Palmer has been strangely subdued so far this season. Think we really missed Enzo as well in midfield. Important win though given how shocking we were for most of the game. 

The referee should have given himself a red card for that display. 

Edited Saturday at 21:32 by Original 21

[Holymoly]

Looks Iike we snatched victory from the jaws of Anthony Taylor.

[My Blood Is Blue]

1 minute ago, Original 21 said:

Great result. Pretty awful  performance. Disasi should not be playing right back. He can barely play in his preferred position.

Sanchez was terrific in goal and kept us in it when we were really struggling. Have to say that Colwill is starting to look like a proper defender. And Caicedo single-handedly kept the midfield from imploding.

Sancho made more of an impact than Madueke, Neto and Felix . Nkunku is a proper finisher. Jackson really isn’t. Cucurella is a real terrier. Really not sure about Veiga and Tosin. A couple for the Thursday games I think.

Palmer has been strangely subdued so far this season. Think we really missed Enzo as well in midfield. Important win though given how shocking we were for most of the game. 

Right back becomes a problem for us when Gusto is injured. We can’t rely on James, so we have no real alternative. Cucurella maybe? He’s done it a few times before, but not ideal. Maresca should start having a proper look at Acheampong soon.

[Leo]

What is Nkunku's goals to minutes ratio for us ? got to be the best by some distance. 

[Rob B]

19 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Agree Nkunku has to start, he showed tonight he is a proper difference maker. So calm, so clinical and so good. Keep him fit and keep him in the team.

As for Taylor, I can’t get over how awful he was tonight, got to be one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a ref in the PL. Am I right in saying we’ll get a fine for having too many players booked? Absolute joke. 

Agreed he was truly terrible.  Over six yellow cards for a team is a £25k fine.

[Lump Of Celery]

Great performance for Sanchez, credit where it is due

Agree that it is quite baffling that Nkunku was on the bench so long having been at Cobham for 2 weeks. It's not just that he is a great finisher, it is the quick feet he has that set himself up. That's what we lack with Jackson who has pace, but quite often moves break down with his poor control or poor passing. It's a tricky one because if we play him at 10 then Palmer is less effective, but Nkunku at 10 and Jackson have linked up well on a few occasion.

Sancho looks lively and Neto definitely occupies defenders, I think those 2 with Palmer and Nkunku will be our best attacking 4. I am undecided on Madueke as he can be so hit and miss, also unsure if Neto can play on the right as not watched much of him.

Veiga was OK on the ball but his positioning and pressuring of opponents was really poor, looked a bit of a headless chicken out of possession at times following the ball but never getting anywhere near ball or surrounding players. Not sure what he was doing jumping in the crowd when we scored but I rate the passion 🤣

Caiceido I thought had a really good game too.

Quite confuse what Cucu's role, he spent a lot of the game loitering ahead of the attacking mids

Anthony Taylor has completely lost the plot. I predicted he would bottle it if anyone deserved a 2nd yellow, lucky for us it was Cucu with a challenge worse than probably 10 of the other yellows. I didn't think he was even as particularly bent or biased as he usually is against us, just a total looney refereeing performance that kind of ruined the game

[chara]

What was it ? 14 yellow cards?...supposed to be a way of keeping a game under control..the number of cards shows how that worked!

The Guardian printed something like,,I think after Jackson got carded for dissent,,, Taylor wasn't going to accept any disrespect.....so don't for F'sake give reason for disrespect,,disgraceful.

[boratsbrother]

54 minutes ago, Proud-Blue said:

That Sancho performance was fantastic.

I'd probably have given MoTM to Sanchez because he was excellent and saved a penalty, but that was a superb debut from Sancho. I really hope that gives him the fire and confidence to rediscover that Dortmund form.

Knowing our luck, he'll go onto be player of the season and Utd slap a £120 million price on him.

[Lump Of Celery]

4 minutes ago, boratsbrother said:

Knowing our luck, he'll go onto be player of the season and Utd slap a £120 million price on him.

We already have an obligation to buy him for, I think,  £25m next summer

[chiswickblue]

Sánchez, Colwill, Caicedo, Sancho and Nkunku were excellent.

Palmer and Madueke were quiet but possibly because Fofana and Disasi were poor so the attackers weren't receiving the balls in good positions.

We can't play Disasi at RB again. Acheampong needs to be given a go, he can't be any worse.

The Jorge Mendes Vanity Project was his normal self when the game is in the balance.

I'm not sure whose vanity project Veiga is, but it's a not a good look for our midfield depth. Caicedo does so much work, but he needs real support and so far neither Fernandez, KDH or Veiga have looked like the answer.

Cucurella's role seems very confused and makes him look like even more of a headless chicken than normal. He's going to pick up a huge number of cards playing like this.

Overall we have enough excellent players to have a good season but some problem positions remain and the squad depth is a big concern, even with a small number of injuries so far.

[Siidi]

Fantastic result. Bournemouth seemed very well drilled for this match; clearly more prepared than us. 

How Nicolas Jackson starts consecutive matches head if Nkunku is hard to understand. Yes, we want him to develop. But surely not at the expense of us winning matches. 

Sancho was brilliant, and I must say, better than I imagined him to be. 

Sanchez deserves special mention as well. 

[johnnybozo]

Bournemouth played well and Sanchez had to do his best not to crack out one of his howlers all game, credit to him.

Maresca once again proving that this is not the same side that comes out tepid at half time. Whatever he says in the dressing room seems to resonate and his substitutes are good.

Promising. And Sancho already looking like he's linking well with some of the boys.

Just bench Calamity Jackson and play Nkunku or Guiu though. Still can't hit an open barn door.

[Backbiter]

2 hours ago, chiswickblue said:

 

We can't play Disasi at RB again. Acheampong needs to be given a go, he can't be any worse.

 

Agree. The fact that he has played RB for us in the past does not mean he CAN play there. Hopefully Gusto and (wishful thinking) James will be back soon. It's unbelievable that four games in we were already without five players today. Who says 42 players is too many?

[Backbiter]

3 hours ago, ShedMiddle said:

 

I thought Neto was poor in the past two games. Palmer, was quiet in the second half.

He has contributed nothing in his two starts. Shockingly bad tonight.

[xceleryx]

Pretty terrible performance for the most part and quite fortunate to walk away with three points. That said, I'll take it.

Sancho, Sanchez and Cucurella probably the three standouts. Nkunku with a bit of quality as well right when it was needed. 

Also a perfect example of why Enzo is important. Sure, he has limitations, but his ability to receive the ball and then move it forward is unmatched by anyone else we have. We really struggled with that for virtually the entire game until things opened up and we went a bit more direct.

[Sciatika]

I'll watch it later. For now, I will enjoy the feeling of a win, even a scruffy one. I hate to say it, but a Spurs win in the NLD would be handy (wash my mouth out with soap and water), and Wolves beating Toon would cap a good weekend.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

I think we deserved to win the Palace game and drew and deserved to draw this game and won. So at least that has balanced out. 

But can refs please give players 2nd yellows. 2 games in a row that's happened to us now. 

[My Blood Is Blue]

Having slept on it, a few of my thoughts are below:

Positives

We won and got another 3 points.

We saw again, Maresca isn’t afraid to change things at half time and his in game management and changes worked well for us.

Sanchez had a really good, solid game. But be slated him a lot and often, but fair play to him he was good and long may he continue to prove me wrong.

Tosin improved us when he came on, just by giving a bit of calmness at the back that we’d been lacking. Not an elite defender by any means, but a calm head who plays things simple.

Sancho played really well and caused Bournemouth all kinds of problems. If he can maintain this form and get his confidence back up, then we’ve got a bargain. Early days obviously, but a really good debut.

Nkunku. Simply has to start for us, he’s too good not to and Maresca has to find a way to get him in the team. I’d play him up front, but happy for him to play behind Jackson with Sancho and Palmer either side. Game changer.

 

Negatives

Anthony Taylor. He wasn’t even particularly bent yesterday, although I’m sure he ‘missed’ a couple of free kicks for us close to the area, although I haven’t seen replays yet. He was shockingly bad though, to the point where he surely has to miss a game or two. No way on Earth was that a 14 card game, unless the players were constantly insulting his family, that we couldn’t hear. The club need to put in a genuine complaint.

Overall performance was poor for the majority of the game. We look like what we are at the moment; a lot of new players under a new manager. No fluidity in the team and no real natural understanding out there. But if we can grind out results through this period then I’ll be very happy.

Disasi, he isn’t a right back and when he plays like he did yesterday he isn’t a starter in any position. Really poor.

Fofana, as I feared, is so far away from match sharpness and readiness. I said in the summer he’d be 6, maybe 9 months of football away from being up to speed and back to the player we signed and I stand by that. He’s missed so much football, so it’s no real surprise, but I’m not sure I’d be playing him in every PL game yet. Tricky one to manage though.

Midfield. Caicedo played well, Veiga didn’t look great, although improved a bit in the second half. It just all makes the Gallagher sale look even more ridiculous. Let’s pray Lavia is fit and stays fit soon.

[Original 21]

Reflecting on the game a bit, it’s actually grim how many players we had out injured or unfit to start: James, Gusto, Lavia, Enzo, Dewsbury Hall. That’s both right-backs and practically our entire midfield. Unsurprisingly that’s where we had most issues in the game.

I have no idea what made Maresca think Disasi was the solution. We could practically play anyone else at right-back and been better. No surprise we improved once he went off.

Credit to Caicedo who held the midfield together all on his own, protected the defence and linked with the forwards. Veiga looked all at sea so Palmer was forced to play deep and was less effective again. Sanchez was great though and looked like a proper keeper for the first time.

Sancho and Nkunku were the game changers which makes you wonder why they didn’t start in the first place. We missed out on an elite striker again and it’s depressing to think we have to watch Jackson play upfront for another season.

We were playing not just the opposition but trying to cope with a ref who was having some kind of mental breakdown. Looked to me that half the bookings he gave were trivial. 

A great result overall in a game where we played poorly, hung in, and managed to turn one point into three.

[east lower]

5 hours ago, xceleryx said:

Also a perfect example of why Enzo is important. Sure, he has limitations, but his ability to receive the ball and then move it forward is unmatched by anyone else we have. We really struggled with that for virtually the entire game until things opened up and we went a bit more direct.

Yep, he’s one of those players that’s a better player when he’s not playing.