Bournemouth away 3pm Saturday 12th August (not on TV)

Lukerz

Areola
Coufal - Zouma - Aguerd - Emerson
Souček - Paquetá
Bowen - Fornals - Benrahma
Antonio

That was a decent 11 Moyes went with & some big calls with Areola & Fornals.

Adding Ward-Prowse & Álvarez to that will add quality in different areas. But we have a lot to build on.

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

That was a decent 11 Moyes went with & some big calls with Areola & Fornals.

I'm not sure it was a big call on Fornals tbh, who else was there given that Downes wasn't included in the squad (presumably because of a likely loan to Soton)?

Lukerz

He could have easily played…….yeah fair point.

Although think it’s time to try Benny as a 10 as otherwise his days are numbered as a LW.

Lukerz

Not sure why Moyes is so hesitant to play Cornet for more than 5 mins.

buffybegood

Lukerz said:

Not sure why Moyes is so hesitant to play Cornet for more than 5 mins.

Yeah, I'd definitely have given him at least 20 mins on for Benrahma.

secrethammersfan

I thought Areola made some good saves in the first half, and the team seemed in control for the majority of the match. Although the addition of a midfielder and the mandatory new striker will definitely be welcome, I'm tempted to say it didn't look like the team was missing 100 million in the middle.

thornburyiron

Interesting to see Bowen say that it’s up to the players on the pitch to manage the game and they didn’t do it.

Lukerz

The main positive for me, was that our midfield were the biggest strength of the side & that was in the absence of Declan Rice. Certainly saw enough from Soucek, Paqueta & Fornals to show we should be alright & that’s with JWP & Alvarez to come in.

Cornet for Benrahma & Mubama for Antonio earlier (around 65-70) may have helped us a bit more but there wasn’t much on the bench.

Lukerz

I also think Antonio can’t be expected to have produced too much in this game. He’s played 45 minutes of pre-season & trained for 2 weeks before this game. So starting him made sense but there was only going to be so much he could produce. Moyes could’ve taken a chance & given Mubama a start but it seemed logical to get him up to speed unless he leaves. I like the look of Solanke as a possible option.

jay_in_cpt

Lukerz said:

The main positive for me, was that our midfield were the biggest strength of the side & that was in the absence of Declan Rice. Certainly saw enough from Soucek, Paqueta & Fornals to show we should be alright & that’s with JWP & Alvarez to come in.

Cornet for Benrahma & Mubama for Antonio earlier (around 65-70) may have helped us a bit more but there wasn’t much on the bench.

While I certainly don't disagree that the midfield did well enough and held their own as such, I personally think Bournemouth are one of the weakest teams in the PL as well as the 3 new teams, I can't judge the new teams too much as haven't seen their current teams, but like you said, this is the one area we seem to be building on, I just hope they can manage to keep Paqueta because again yeterday he did seem a cut above the rest IMO.....

Brother_Sledge

They were a bit fortunate with their goal and we hit the woodwork twice to their once so could easily have come away with 3 points.

Lukerz

I think when you go away in the PL, score a goal & hit the post twice from inside the 18 yard box you can consider yourself a little unlucky. They did hit the bar but I don’t consider their shot to be of the same quality & threat as the two we had. They did put the pressure on, I never really felt like we were up against it & felt we had control of the game defensively. The issue is not killing them off & looking for the second which would have guaranteed 3 points. That was the frustration & even Moyes said he was ‘hoping we could’ve hung onto the 1-0’ & that was the issue. When you settle on one goal you are always at risk from a screamer, mistake, penalty call or, like yesterday, a deflection from a nothing shot.

But I think maybe we were a little tied by the options we had on the bench, once we got to that hour mark & the team maybe needed a freshen up. They brought on five subs before we made our first, that’s not a Moyes issue (late subs), it’s having a lack of trustworthy options on the bench because nobody on that bench, bar Ogbonna, has proven themself at West Ham.

MrsGrey

Moyes said he was ‘hoping we could’ve hung onto the 1-0’ ... when you settle for one goal

Lukerz, to be fair, I think his comment has been taken out of context and it doesn't mean he was settling for one goal. He also said (same interview) "today we needed to get that second goal" to have the game wrapped up.

I also know that this won't influence fans (not saying that's you) who like to cherry pick to suit their existing opinion about him.

By the time we got to 80 minutes, I imagine most fans were hoping we could hold on for the win!

Lukerz

True 👍

Lukerz

One takeaway was that it would be nice to see Kehrer get a run in the side at RB. I feel we become more & more limited in possession with Coufal & Zouma next to each other. I know Kehrer is not as good defensively but we really need to get somebody who has composure & the ability to pass so we can build play more.

jay_in_cpt

Thought Coufal had a good game personally

Lukerz

I really like Fornals in the side & I think interchanging with Benrahma is going to be key to whether Benrahma has a longer term future here. Fornals allows Benrahma to move centrally as he can cover the LM spot, but then he can move into the central role & link play between midfield & the front three. I don’t know why, last season, Moyes seemed to keep him out the side but he really gets us ticking. He has games where his impact is not as obvious but his influence is always there.