Bournemouth away 3pm Saturday 12th August (not on TV)
Aaaaaaaaaand we're back
Bournemouth have had two major departures over the summer, the obvious one being the rather ungrateful ejection of Gary O’Neil as manager despite saving Bournemouth from relegation. The finger of blame for O'Neil's departure is being pointed squarely at ambitious American owner Bill Foley who bought the club last December.
O'Neil's replacement is the rather inexperienced Andoni Iraola who started his managerial career in 2018/19 with a less than successful 7 months at AEK Larnaca. Following a season with CD Mirandes in the Spanish Segunda he joined Rayo Vallecano, won promotion to La Liga in his first season and has managed two mid table finishes along with a Copa Del Rey semi final.
At Rayo Vallecano he favoured 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 with possession-based football, playing down the wings in attack, a high line and “intense pressing” in defence. Whether the players he's inherited at Bournemouth will be able to adapt to his tactics is another matter.
Bournemouth have had two major departures over the summer, the obvious one being the rather ungrateful ejection of Gary O’Neil as manager despite saving Bournemouth from relegation. The finger of blame for O'Neil's departure is being pointed squarely at ambitious American owner Bill Foley who bought the club last December.
O'Neil's replacement is the rather inexperienced Andoni Iraola who started his managerial career in 2018/19 with a less than successful 7 months at AEK Larnaca. Following a season with CD Mirandes in the Spanish Segunda he joined Rayo Vallecano, won promotion to La Liga in his first season and has managed two mid table finishes along with a Copa Del Rey semi final.
At Rayo Vallecano he favoured 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 with possession-based football, playing down the wings in attack, a high line and “intense pressing” in defence. Whether the players he's inherited at Bournemouth will be able to adapt to his tactics is another matter.
Comments
Noticeably Bournemouth have yet to sign a DM/CM to replace Lerma
Another player to leave on a free is last season's first choice LB Marcus Zemura who has joined Udinese but he has been replaced by 19yo Hungarian LB Milos Kirkaz, signed £15.5m from AZ. We saw him in the first leg of the Europa Conference semi.
In addition Junior Stanislas has been released
Maybe not as good as his dad,,,
Bournemouth have also signed 23yo Ivory Coast AM Hamed Traore for £20m. He joined on loan from Sassuolo in January but only made seven appearance due to injuries
They have also signed Romanian GK Ionut Radu on loan from Inter but as Neto is club captain and they also have Darren Randolph on their books its unlikely he'll get much playing time
Finally they signed RM Romain Faivre for £12.8m from Lyon but he's gone straight out on a season long loan to Loreint where's he's been on loan since January.
Bill Foley bought a stake in Loreint in January so effectively he has bought a player for one team he owns with money from the other team he owns. Which sounds a bit dodgy
Bournemouth played their last friendly today against Lorient today, they won 2-0 and Faivre was in the starting XI
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Bowen - Paqueta - Soucek - Fornals
Benrahma
Mubama
Areola, Ogbonna, Kehrer, Johnson, Coventry, Downes, Cornet, Antonio, Ings
Is how I would go, but wouldn’t surprise me if Moyes throws Antonio straight in to start.
Fabianski
Kehrer - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Bowen - Soucek - Paqueta - Fornals
Ings - Mubama
That side, to me, is pretty balanced. You’ve got one attacking full back or winger on each side, and one more defensively solid. It can easily switch to a 3-4-3 in possession if you want it to. And you’re putting Ings - who is easily the best finisher among our forwards - in a front two which is where he’s best.
If Bournemouth are playing a high line than we'll probably play on the counter and exploit the space behind.
We've won our last three meetings by a combined score of 10-0, the last time they scored against us was a 2-2 draw with goals from Callum Wilson and Josh King
#notknockingpotter
In all honesty, given how things have panned out so far you'd think Sullivan shoulda just sacked Moyes in June and paid him off; it's just not possible to lose the players we have this summer and not have enough faith in your manager to let him replace them.
Premier League
Referee: Bankes, Peter
Assistant Referee: Robathan, Daniel
Assistant Referee: Greenhalgh, Nick
Fourth Official: Ward, Gavin
Video Assistant Referee: Salisbury, Michael
Additional Video Assistant Referee: Davies, Neil
Fabianski
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Paqueta - Alvarez - Fornals
Bowen - Antonio - Benrahma
Areola, Kehrer, Ogbonna, Johnson, Downes, Soucek, Cornet, Ings, Mubama
Moyes "deep ended" Soucek 3 days after he joined from Slavia Prague but otherwise he prefers to introduce new players with a few appearance off the bench before bringing them into the starting line up
Fabianski or Areola
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Soucek - Downes - Paqueta
Bowen - Antonio - Benrahma
Lingard joined Friday 29th January
Watched from the stands Liverpool (h) Sunday 31st January
Started against Villa (a) Wednesday 3rd February