AFC Bournemouth have concluded their most dominant performance in the Premier League to date, after they put 3 goals past Norwich City.
Bournemouth took the lead in the 10th minute of the game through a Dan Gosling header, the returning Marc Pugh providing the assist with a pin-point accurate cross from the left side. This sent the Cherries into the halftime break a goal to the good.
The second half would see more of the same as Bournemouth extended their lead through Benik Afobe and Charlie Daniels, Daniels also chipping in with the assist for Afobe’s first ever Premier League goal.
The result means that Bournemouth have moved a further 2 points away from the relegation zone and into 15th position, leapfrogging Norwich, who drop into 16 position.
Formations
An injury to star-midfielder Matt Ritchie saw Marc Pugh return to the lineup. Originally thought to be playing in the right midfield position, Pugh quickly moved over to his more natural position on the left. Many might have expected new signing, Juan Iturbe, to take the field ahead of Pugh given the hype that has surrounded his arrival at the Cherries. Iturbe however, was kept on the bench for the entirety of the game.
Other than the addition of Pugh, Howe fielded an identical starting lineup to the one that faced West Ham just a few days ago.
Norwich went with a traditional 4-4-2 formation, as they have done for most of the season. Though Wes Hoolahan had a knack for dropping a bit deeper than his striker partner, Dieumerci Mbokani. The only notable change comes in midfield where, suffering the ramifications of a red card against Stoke, Gary O’Neill was replaced by Matt Jarvis on Norwich’s left wing.
Focus on defense
Bournemouth manager, Howe, has long stated his ambitions of surviving relegation through the fortifying of his team’s defense. After a prolonged period of 5 straight losses over October and November last year, Bournemouth have kept 4 clean sheets in 10 games.
This newly established defensive prowess was on display in a variety of forms. But was most evident in the efforts of Adam Smith. Smith, usually notorious for lingering forward, was an integral part of the Bournemouth back line, making 7 of the team total 22 interceptions against the Canaries.
Bournemouth interceptions [Smith (left), team (right)] (Squawka)
With all the praise that can be offered to the defense it did seem as though the focus on defense may be affecting forward penetration and more particularly Bournemouth’s patented passing game. Howe’s back four only maintaining a 73% pass success rate over the course of the 90 minutes.
But with three goals to their name on the day, it’s hard to criticize too much.
Norwich lacking focus
A fairly pessimistic post-match summary from Norwich Manager, Alex Neil summed up his side’s performance by stating “I thought we didn’t deserve anything out of the game, I thought Bournemouth were the better side”. He showed further disdain for his side’s lack of consistency over the course of the game:
“We got caught out by a couple of things we spoke about before the game, so that’s disappointing.”
The Canaries lack of focus revealed itself in a couple different ways. Firstly was the low tackle success rate. They seemed incapable at times of stopping the flow of Bournemouth’s attack, leaving them with an average tackle success rate of just 39%.
Meanwhile, a more noticeable lapse in focus came from makeshift left-back, Robbie Brady. Brady looked out of place in the defense and even more so in the role of ‘throw-in taker’; managing to throw the ball to his teammates on only 4 occasions of the 10 throw-ins he took. Perhaps Brady opted for the long throw a little too much but, regardless, it was highly profligate.
Afobe finding feet
While Norwich will be looking to forget the game with haste, Benik Afobe will consider the outing as one that deserves to live long in the memory. The club’s new record signing scored his first goal for the Cherries since moving from Wolves.
The goal aside, Afobe looked to have a positive influence on the play, holding the ball up well and finding teammates with his passing. Something that Bournemouth have been without since the loss of talisman striker, Callum Wilson, back in September.
Speaking to the media after the game, Howe had only great things to say about Afobe. “It helps him and it helps the team. As a striker you want to score and you want to get that monkey off your back and thankfully he’s done it… it was an excellent finish.”
Afobe spoke up for himself afterwards, claiming:
“First of all, we just wanted to win the game and we’ve scored three goals, kept the clean sheet and I’ve got my first goal- so I’m delighted… Words can’t describe it. I’ve dreamed about that since I was a young boy.”
Conclusion
Howe recognised the importance of the fixture, both before and after the game, placing a higher value on games against other relegation-threatened teams. After the game Howe proclaimed the win “a big day for our club and our season”.
“Today was pleasing because… we never let the momentum drop; we scored a key second goal, at a good time and kept a clean sheet- and they’re all things that were going to need to do between now and the end of the season.”
While Alex Neil insisted the defeat will be quickly put in the rear-view-mirror as they look to find their form in training, before facing Liverpool in a week’s time.
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