Bournemouth had a difficult task at home on Saturday, when they welcomed the only unbeaten team in the league, Tottenham Hotspur. And they did a brilliant job against a team, who were much better compared to their previous opponent Hull City.
While many predicted an easy win for Spurs, considering the goal scoring form they had started their league campaign with, things looked quite different during the game. It seems that the 6-1 win last weekend had instilled some serious confidence Eddie Howe’s team who were all attack in the first half making it quite difficult for Spurs to defend.
Fortunately for Spurs, the Bournemouth attack could not pose any real threat and the match ended in a draw.
Spurs are dearly missing Harry Kane
Vincent Janssen has been visibly poor this season giving enough hint to Pochetinno about his shortcomings up front. It was just a matter of time before the manager opted to start with his super sub Son Heung- Min. However, this did little help as the forward was reduced to mere spectator in the third half.
He could manage only 1 shot throughout the game. Most of the shots came from the midfield, mostly from Eric Lamela and Christian Eriksen. Son surely showed glimpses of his gaility with few quick turns and movement but to no avail.
Brilliant duo- Arter and Gosling
This central defensive duo were all over the game for Bournemouth. They have become extremely important for the team under Howe and were one of the main reasons for breaking every Spurs attack before it became dangerous.
Between Harry Arter and Dan Gosling, they had 12 crucial tackles that almost broke every linkup play from Delle Ali and Eric Lamela. They also had 7 interceptions in that area keeping enough assurance at the back.
Defensive midfield- the most effective area of the game
Although throughout the game Spurs were largely ineffective with routine movement, two players were the main power machine. They were Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama. It is in games like this that we understand how immensely Pochetinno is dependent on the lungs of the duo. They were simply relentless throughout the game.
Mousa Dembele had 63 successful passes throughout the match, most of them were in the attacking third constantly setting up Ali and Eriksen to pose some kind of threat up front. As for Wanyama, his over involvement led him to be fouled multiple times. He provided 53 successful passes. If not for Howe’s packed defending, Spurs would have easily killed the game with these two.
