The Cherries let an early lead slip as they were run down by a West Ham United side, championed by Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia, that managed three goals in the second half.
Bournemouth’s Harry Arter managed to catch Adrian napping with a powerful right-footed shot from outside the box. Adrian scrambled to get a hand to it, but could not block the shot effectively.
Bournemouth enjoyed the bulk of the chances in the first half, but had their momentum halted when, in the 67th minute, Payet scored from an audacious free kick attempt.
The result means that Bournemouth move within three points of the relegation zone, while West Ham’s efforts move them ahead of Manchester United and into fifth place.
Formations
Bournemouth went with a very familiar setup against the Hammers. Simon Francis continued to stand in at centre-back, even with Sylvain Distin available and on the bench. In-form Adam Smith again started at right-back, who continued to link up well with the Bournemouth midfield. One of the league’s most consistent passers in Andrew Surman began at number six.
Eddie Howe also opted to start Benik Afobe, who has been a Cherry for less than a week. That left Glenn Murray and recent arrival Lewis Grabban on the bench.
West Ham too went with a similar lineup to recent weeks. Michail Antonio again got the nod in midfield. The ‘Pogba-esque’ midfielder has been impressing the West Ham faithful with a good balance of strength, speed and touch, not something you expect from a man of his size.
No new signings were in the lineup for West Ham, but the return of talisman Dimitri Payet will feel like one. Payet was named on the left of Slaven Bilic’s front three. The Frenchman had five goals and three assists to his name before he was halted by an ankle injury back at the start of November.
Payet a positionless player
Payet lined up as a left-winger by the book, but he roamed as he pleased around the pitch. Payet, the recognised playmaker in the team, was pulling the strings for the Hammers all over the park, scoring an inch-perfect free kick from the left and setting up and assist for Enner Valencia’s first goal from the right.
After putting in a shift for his side, you could hear the praises of the Frenchman being sung by the West Ham fans, even after he was substituted.
For those who don’t speak ‘drunk East-Londoner’, it goes:
We’ve got payet, Dimitri payet,
I just don’t think you understand,
He’s super Slaven’s man,
He’s better than Zidane,
We’ve got Dimitri Payet
Bilic joined the festivities in a post-match interview, where he too sung the praises of the midfield maestro.
“He is that kind of player, he’s a top class player and he’s a player that makes a difference,” Bilic told the press.
“The physio has done a great job and he (Payet) has too. Basically he’s one of those players that is making all the other players better… brilliant player!”
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Afobe’s debut underwhelming
Benik Afobe was signed by Bournemouth just a couple of days before this fixture. Afobe, a more natural striker, was prolific for his former club Wolverhampton, where he scored 22 times during his year-long stay.
Afobe’s $9 million fee brought with it the expectation that he would command the Bournemouth front line and nab a couple of goals along the way. However his first outing for the club was a forgettable one in front of goal. Two obvious chances were squandered and he suffered from an obvious lack of match fitness that saw him removed in the 72nd minute.
Despite a less than enterprising performance, Howe sprung to the defence of his new target man in a post-match interview.
“It is very difficult, especially with how we play, but the pleasing thing [was that} he was on the end of those chances and we know with his quality he’ll put them away,” Howe said.
Nevertheless, both Howe and Cherries fans will be hoping he finds his form sooner rather than later. On the positive side, Howe seems to have found a much more traditional/centralised striker in Afobe. Howe has been making do with attacking midfielder Joshua King playing the ‘out-and-out’ role, who made a habit of drifting out of position.
Set pieces decided the game
In a game that was separated by two goals, West Ham owe their win to two expertly taken free kicks from Payet and Valencia. Some relaxed goalkeeping from Artur Boruc in the second instance did not help Bournemouth’s case.
Bournemouth had more attempts on goal than West Ham though were unable to deny the dead ball efforts of Payet and Valencia. Howe too confessed that those two moments of quality ultimately decided the game.
“I thought the quality of West Ham’s first and third goal were the difference really, two free-kicks right out of the top drawer. Very little we could do about either goal… and that swung the game their way,” Howe said.
Conclusion
Usually Bournemouth find a way to dictate the tempo of play, but against West Ham they struggled to produce the speed of passing that they have become notorious for. Howe will be looking to get his new signings comfortable playing the Bournemouth way. It was clear that the newer players were operating with a different tactical ambition to the rest of Howe’s side.
West Ham, for the most part, found a good balance between possession and counter-attacking. Payet and his generalship on the field is likely the main contributor to West Ham’s confidence on the ball. With matches against relegation-threatened Newcastle and Aston Villa coming up in the next few weeks, Bilic will be hoping his in-form side maintains its swagger and takes maximum points from those games.
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