THE BOURNEMOUTH COLLECTIVE TOO HOT FOR VILLA’S ONE-MAN TEAM
IT seems almost unfair and insulting to conclude that Bournemouth’s best two qualities on Saturday were their togetherness and strength of character.
At full-time, after a vindication and demonstration of manager Eddie Howe’s skillset honed in the lower leagues, Bournemouth’s players were called into a huddle by assistant coach Steve Fletcher.
Fletcher was the striker who 11 years ago in April scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over Grimsby to keep Bournemouth in the Football League.
How fitting, then, that it should be the 47-year- old to deliver what captain Simon Francis said was a rousing speech in the minutes that followed what could also prove to be a season-defining victory.
‘I think it was Fletcher’s idea to say a few powerful words within the huddle and we’ve been doing a lot of that together recently,’ said Francis. ‘ Sometimes we have huddles in training the day before a game, just to spread a few big and important words and messages to know how important these next few games are.’
Contrast this to the way Jack Grealish reacted when trudging back to the tunnel. He received a few boos from home supporters for his part in Jefferson Lerma’s two yellow cards, which resulted in the Bournemouth midfielder quite rightly being sent off.
Rather than ignore the noise, Grealish made a gesture towards the home supporters to pipe down. It felt below the level that the 24-year- old believes he is operating at. Even so, his contribution is way above the rest of his team-mates and they would be nowhere without him.
Grealish was on his own when he made his final steps back to the visiting dressing room, while Bournemouth’s players savoured every moment together.
This performance gave a decent reading of Villa’s current temperature. Forget reaching the Carabao Cup final — staying in the top flight is the priority.
And let’s not discount this Bournemouth performance as simply born out of grit. Quality was apparent, too. While Philip Billing’s strike inside the six-yard area seemed routine, Nathan Ake’s poacher- like finish came after quick thinking
and craft from Ryan Fraser. Unfortunately for Villa, Grealish’s impressive record of seven goals and five assists this season — only Kevin de Bruyne has been involved in more goals from midfield — may not be enough unless others start to perform. It was no surprise the move for Villa’s goal, scored by Mbwana Samatta on his league debut, was started by Grealish.
Bournemouth could have crumbled but, with Ake and Francis expertly organising the defence, they kept their shape and performed with discipline.
Howe (above) can reflect on a giant step forward and said: ‘Trying to keep them believing in themselves has been the challenge because you can very quickly lose belief in the team.
‘Hopefully with the back-toback wins in the Premier League, that will go a long way to returning the confidence to the team.’
BOURNEMOUTH (4-3-3): Ramsdale 7; Smith 7, Francis 7.5, AKE 8, Rico 7; Gosling 7, Lerma 6, Billing 7; H Wilson 7.5, C Wilson 7, Fraser 7.5. Subs not used: Boruc, Cook, Surman, Solanke, Cook, Stanislas, Surridge. Booked: Lerma, C Wilson. Sent off: Lerma. Scorers: Billing 37, Ake 44. Manager: Eddie Howe 8.
ASTON VILLA (3-4-3): Reina 6; Hause 6, Mings 6.5, Konsa 6 (Engels 46, 6); Guilbert 6, Luis 6.5, Nakamba 5.5 (Trezeguet 80), Targett 7; Grealish 7, Samatta 6.5, Al Ghazi 6.5 (Davis 59, 6).
Subs not used: Nyland, Lansbury, Hourihane, Elmohamady. Scorer: Samatta 70. Booked: Mings, Luiz, Hause.
Manager: Dean Smith 6. Referee: Anthony Taylor 7.
Attendance: 10,722.