Big Sam cut down to size by ‘Wee man’
Fraser hauls Bournemouth out of drop zone
THE Vitality Stadium crowd might have been chanting ‘Wee man! Wee man!’ but Ryan Fraser was standing tall after cutting Big Sam down to size and propelling Bournemouth out of the relegation zone.
The 5ft 4in Scotland winger was outstanding throughout and his two goals wrecked Sam Allardyce’s unbeaten start at Everton.
Fraser’s mazy dribbles from midfield provided Bournemouth’s principal threat all afternoon, so it was fitting he earned them a crucial win at the death.
Having seen his acrobatic first-half volley cancelled out by Idrissa Gueye, Fraser latched on to a through pass by Adam Smith with just a minute left.
Cutting inside on to his right foot, his shot was heading wide but took a deflection off Michael Keane’s boot to wrong-foot Jordan Pickford and spin into the far corner.
Those who deliberate on such matters may ultimately credit it as a Keane own goal, but nobody inside the shaking stadium cared much for that as they hailed their diminutive match-winner.
It was Bournemouth’s first success in nine Premier League games and a smiling Eddie Howe looked relieved afterwards.
‘It would have been really hard on us not to win,’ said Howe.
‘It was a great feeling when the winner went in. We make it difficult for ourselves and that is where the true character comes through. We dominated the game but we gave them a goal. The impressive thing was our ability to keep going.’
Bournemouth were certainly the superior side, with Everton well short of their best in the performances since Allardyce came along to haul them away from relegation danger.
The visitors’ only shot on target was Gueye’s goal — reward for a brighter start to the second half after Wayne Rooney had been introduced at half-time — but they failed to capitalise on the momentum.
Pickford made excellent saves from Callum Wilson and Jordon Ibe as Bournemouth pushed on and Allardyce felt his candidate for the England No 1 shirt had been failed by his teammates. ‘He is a top-drawer goalie and a top lad. The players should be disappointed they have let him down,’ said the Everton boss.
‘It’s a frustrating way for the unbeaten run to end because we should have avoided both goals. We gifted them two goals.
‘We didn’t get as much out of the attack-minded players as we could have done and our goalscoring abilities are limited.’
Allardyce will be keen for club officials in Turkey to wrap up a £25million deal for Besiktas striker Cenk Tosun as Everton try to replace the goal threat they lost when Romelu Lukaku was sold in the summer.
It is true Everton did not help themselves. A sloppy pass in midfield by James McCarthy sprung Bournemouth away for their opener, with Wilson feeding a pass to Joshua King. His cross was inviting and Fraser finished acrobatically on the volley.
Rooney, who had missed two games with a virus, came on at the interval and thrashed Everton into some kind of shape.
They equalised when Steve Cook’s loose clearance fell at the feet of Gylfi Sigurdsson, who swiftly moved the ball to Oumar Niasse. His flick picked out Gueye, who fired across Asmir Begovic for a rare goal to give the travelling contingent something to shout about at last.
Allardyce threw on Yannick Bolasie as another signal of intent but Bournemouth continued to show the greater potency.
Ibe bounced a shot off the top of the bar before Fraser settled it.
‘I can sit here every week and say how well we’ve played,’ said Howe. ‘But there are only so many times you can say that before you get tired. You need results.’