PLAYER WATCH v Bournemouth (H)

[tonyoz]

PLAYER WATCH v Bournemouth (H)

Each incident in the match was rated on the following scale: 

+5 GOAL 

+4 Excellent play 

+3 Very good play 

+2 Pleasing/good play 

+1 Decent play 

  0 Routine stuff 

-1 Sloppy play 

 -2 Disappointing/poor play  

 -3 Very poor play 

 -4 Terrible play 

 -5 Own goal 

The ratings for each player were then combined to produce a measure of the players overall contribution to the match. 

 
Ratings       

Key incidents per player = coloured stars              Overall contribution = numbers

Kaminski                *****  ***     5                              

Lenihan                  ****************  **********     8     

van Hecke              *****************  ***************     4

Wharton                *********  **********     -4

Pickering               **************** *****     15

Travis                     ******* ******     -1

Buckley                  *********  ***     4

Rothwell (59)        ********  ********     1  

Hedges (59)          *********  ****     6

Gallagher (67)       *********** **     10

Diaz                        *********  ******    5

 

Poveda (59)           ****  **     1

Dolan (59)            **  ***       -4

Dack (67)               **  ****     -2

 

Highlights and Lowlights 

(A justification for the main ratings given above)

Well, the dream is hanging on by the tiniest of mathematical possibilities. We have to win everything and our closest rivals have to win zippo. Same team as last time when we hammered PNE. 

04 Commentators saying that Bournemouth have 25, 13 and almost 20 million pound players on show!

07 Danger! A throw down their left wing sees Solanke outpace van Hecke but our new Player of the Season gets back and dispossesses him in that seemingly effortless way of his. He hits it to Hedges on the right wing but he is dispossessed too and the Cherries man squares into the box where van Hecke is there again to clear.

08 It eventually results in a free kick for us near halfway and Gallagher takes it quickly, firing it forwards for Diaz to chase but it’s not quite good enough and Diaz can’t bring the ball under control. Nice idea though.

12 Solanke turns Wharton too easily and he’s away, Travis gets a foot in but Billing gets the ball and heads to the box. He pulls the ball back and puts Pickering on his backside but van Hecke stays with him and gets in the crucial block as Billing shoots. Good chance for the Cherries there.

14 A long ball from Bournemouth goes over our defence, Wharton is behind the play and barges into the attacker on the edge of the box. Yellow card! The free kick is on the left side of the D. Billing hits Travis in the wall and it goes for a corner. Bournemouth are trying to claim a penalty! The corner is long and Wharton has lost his man. Travis mis-kicks his chance to clear and it’s chaos but Lenihan hoofs it out of the box.

18 Bournemouth continue to look dangerous. Christie puts it into the box and we are at 6s and 7s. Buckley gets a foot in but there’s no relief. Rothwell gives the ball away and then Buckley brings down Cook midway in our half. It comes to nothing, fortunately.

20 A Bournemouth man brings it out from deep and launches a high long ball midway into our half and the defence is asleep. Van Hecke and especially Wharton have lost their men. Billing, unchallenged, heads it to the totally unmarked Solanke who sidefoots it expertly past Kaminski from 12 yards. Rovers are claiming offside but Lenihan was playing them all onside. Poor, poor defending all round. It had been coming. Travis and van Hecke are having a go at each other.

22 Here they come again and van Hecke robs Billing, just outside the box, as it was looking dangerous again.

25 Lenihan sends in a cross and Gallagher gets up and heads towards goal but it’s tortoise pace and the goalie dives and palms it round the post.

27 Just inside the Rovers half, Lenihan plays a beautiful in-swinging ball down the right wing, behind the defence, for Diaz to chase. He takes it into the box and lets loose near the corner of the 6 yard box but it hits the outside of the right post. A good run by Ben but a disappointing ending….the angle was narrowing all the time. Ben hasn’t scored this calendar year at Ewood.

28 Bournemouth come again down their left wing. First Lenihan is beaten, then Hedges, then van Hecke on the corner of the box. Billing squares to Solanke on the penalty spot but is shot is deflected fortuitously into the arms of Kaminski by a combination of van Hecke and Pickering.

31 Bournemouth are liking their left wing as another attack arrives. Zemura squares the ball into the box past 3 or 4 players to Solanke near the penalty spot. Wharton gets in half a challenge….enough to make Solanke re-think and pass back to Anthony on the edge of the box and his shot crashes against the top of the bar with Kaminski beaten! It’s all too easy for Bournemouth and we are lucky to only be one down. Neither Lenihan nor Rothwell did enough in that build up.

32 Dear dear, we are being made to look second rate here.

36 The commentator says that Mowbray’s 5 year stint will be remembered “quite fondly”!

His colleague agrees and says Tony can leave with his head held high!

39 Hedges mis-controls and as the challenge comes in, he’s booked for diving. Rather harsh I think.

44 Another wasted short corner. Why do we do that?

46 Rothwell puts a speculative left-footed shot well over the bar. Lenihan wins 4 aerial challenges in a row! The whistle goes for half-time.

 

47 Rovers continue to pass side to side in Bournemouth’s half with no spark of inspiration or attacking intent. Hedges, on the right wing, can’t get a cross in as he has to turn back each time to get the ball on his good left foot. Pickering has lofted a couple of half-decent balls into the box but that's it. Oh! Diaz makes a good run infield from the left wing and feeds Hedges on the edge of the box. He gets it back to Diaz who skips past a defender and fires in a shot from the left corner of the 6 yard box but it’s narrow again and the keeper blocks at the near post. 

Now Buckley commits his regular “yellow card” poor tackle to pass the initiative back to the Cherries. As Tyrone pointed out last time….we are at the bottom of the disciplinary charts in the Championship! How is that possible when our aggression levels are as low as I can remember them?

50 Now van Hecke leaps in recklessly, near halfway, and it’s another yellow card. The crowd is a creditable 21396.

56 Zemura goes past Hedges, Lenihan and Travis; he heads into the box and outpaces van Hecke embarrassingly. He reaches the 6 yard box but he’s narrow and Kaminski saves at the near post. It rebounds to Lerma 10 yards out with the goal gaping but Pickering slides in to make a fantastic save on the line. Another massive let-off.

58 Rothwell goes on one of his runs into the middle of the Bournemouth half before releasing a lovely ball for Diaz to chase into the left channel. He’s in behind the defender and runs into the box but again he’s wide and his shot is blocked at the near post. Gallagher and Hedges were well-placed in the middle….squaring would have been a better option.

59 Hedges and Rothwell off, Poveda and Dolan on.

66 Bournemouth have us all worked out as we continue to pass back and forth across the field just inside their half. No more Preston derring-do, we don’t seem to have a clue how to break them down.

Oh my! Solanke leaves Wharton for dead. He beats van Hecke and Wharton again as the 2 Rovers fall over each other! There’s only Kaminski to beat but from 14 yards Kaminski puts in a great save. We can’t handle these guys at the moment!

67 Gallagher off, Dack on.

69 Christie finds Dembele in acres of space on their left. Van Hecke brings him down recklessly but the ref plays advantage. Solanke casually jogs with the ball into the box. Lenihan and van Hecke front up but Solanke simply slips the ball between the 2 of them to the incoming Billing who smashes home from 10 yards. There were FIVE defenders in the box and every one of them had eyes only for Solanke. No one saw the danger man arriving - Pickering was too slow to react. It was all too easy and sadly inevitable. There’s some confusion about whether van Hecke has received a second yellow but he’s still on the pitch!

73 Travis puts in a good cross from the right wing to Dack, in the box, 10 yards out. Dack controls, turns and shoots but he’s tightly marked and the defender deflects out for a corner. Pickering takes but it’s poor.

77 A nice ball forward from Lenihan but Diaz is offside. A long ball comes forward from Bournemouth and Wharton is beaten in the air by Billing. Pickering gets a head to it before Solanke but Wharton gets the ball tangled in his legs and Dembele comes away with it, he nutmegs van Hecke and the ball is on a plate for Billing again, he fires past Kaminski from 11 yards inside the left post. Game over. Many fans have decided that’s enough as they head for the exit. The remaining fans blast out “Rovers till I die” in defiance.

81 Another nice chip into the box by Lenihan to Dack but he’s offside this time.

83 Our lack of ideas going forward is highlighted now by Dack continually dropping back into our half to get a sniff of the ball!

84 Dack flicks a nice ball over the defence but Diaz lets it hit his back and go out for a goal-kick. He was offside again anyway.

86 Oh! Dack is dropping even further back in his frustration!

87 A bit of neat interplay between Poveda and Dolan on the edge of the box and then Travis falls over in the box claiming a penalty…..errrr…no!

88 Dack, van Hecke and Travis all seem intent on proving that the only way we can stop this lot is by fouling them. Frustration abounds.

The final whistle goes. The players walk round the pitch applauding the fans. Later Tony brings out the whole crew including wives and kids but only the very dedicated few are left in the ground. A sad sight in truth. So many blown chances have led to this……it should have been different but …….the way the team are performing right now, any progress beyond here would likely have been embarrassing. Ah well! There’s always next year!

Edited May 2, 2022 by tonyoz

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The usual vote of thanks Tony. As you say, an embarrassing game all around. We looked scared to really take Bournemouth on. When we needed to play with more urgency we were passing it back and forth along the back four again. It could have been a game were a back 5 again would have been the better bet. Our two centre halves had a busy afternoon against the pace of Bournemouth’s strikers.

I’m surprised you had Pickering down as MOM I thought nobody in the team came out with much credit and he was no exception.

[tonyoz]

29 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

The usual vote of thanks Tony. As you say, an embarrassing game all around. We looked scared to really take Bournemouth on. When we needed to play with more urgency we were passing it back and forth along the back four again. It could have been a game were a back 5 again would have been the better bet. Our two centre halves had a busy afternoon against the pace of Bournemouth’s strikers.

I’m surprised you had Pickering down as MOM I thought nobody in the team came out with much credit and he was no exception.

As for Pickering…..all the big attacks came down the other wing or through the centre….all of the goals, the crossbar hit, the great Kaminski save and the one where Pickering put in a great sliding stop. He also put in some crosses. He looks good (on paper) compared to the other defenders because they took the brunt and suffered for it! Wharton and van Hecke had a lot to deal with and never looked comfortable. He won by default!

Edited May 2, 2022 by tonyoz

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, tonyoz said:

As for Pickering…..all the big attacks came down the other wing or through the centre….all of the goals, the crossbar hit, the great Kaminski save and the one where Pickering put in a great sliding stop. He also put in some crosses. He looks good (on paper) compared to the other defenders because they took the brunt and suffered for it! Wharton and van Hecke had a lot to deal with and never looked comfortable. 

I respect the amount of time and effort you put in Tony. As far as I’m concerned if you say so, fair enough, you’ve done the hard work. I just watched it once in real time.

[tonyoz]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I respect the amount of time and effort you put in Tony. As far as I’m concerned if you say so, fair enough, you’ve done the hard work. I just watched it once in real time.

Thanks Tyrone. I always try to reply to other fans comments and explain anomalies. I’ve appreciated your support over the year.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, tonyoz said:

Thanks Tyrone. I always try to reply to other fans comments and explain anomalies. I’ve appreciated your support over the year.

It’s been a pleasure reading your reports over the season, win lose or draw. Of course some have brought more pleasure than others. Just one more game to go now and we can all have a break.

[windymiller7]

Thanks once again Tony. Always hard to read after a demoralising defeat, must be even worse taking the time & effort to run through the whole 90mins again.

Always appreciated though mate. 👏

[tonyoz]

2 hours ago, windymiller7 said:

Thanks once again Tony. Always hard to read after a demoralising defeat, must be even worse taking the time & effort to run through the whole 90mins again.

Always appreciated though mate. 👏

Thanks. It's not so bad when I know that you guys are, at least, taking the time to read it.

[Herbie6590]

Fancy sharing your master spreadsheet season final scores & we can nominate a @tonyoz BRFCS Player of the Season…? 🤔

[tonyoz]

3 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

Fancy sharing your master spreadsheet season final scores & we can nominate a @tonyoz BRFCS Player of the Season…? 🤔

Yes. I’ll update it then post it. Ok, this is how it stands now:

Edited May 3, 2022 by tonyoz

[Herbie6590]

Ayala…crikey…👌🏻

[Exiled in Toronto]

Maybe two TonyOz awards: highest average and highest cumulative, which looks like Lenihan by a mile!

[tonyoz]

9 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

Ayala…crikey…👌🏻

Yes, two things: I have modified (refined heh heh!) how I score each incident. I was maybe a bit more generous marking aerial challenges…which favored the centre backs..just maybe. Secondly, maybe we’ve forgotten how well Ayala marshaled our young defence when he came in. He was impressive back then. 
Oh! I forgot…..Lenihan was just ahead of him (if I remember correctly) when they were playing together…..Darragh has fallen off over the bad run.

Edited May 3, 2022 by tonyoz

[tonyoz]

8 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

Maybe two TonyOz awards: highest average and highest cumulative, which looks like Lenihan by a mile!

I’m often surprised when Lenihan gets serious criticism on the forum. To my mind he’s been very consistent. His low scores generally come when he’s up against a classy centre forward. On Saturday, he struggled at full back as Bournemouth attacked with quality down his wing.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

That was always the worry playing him at full back. When he came up against a forward and not a wing back.