Bournemouth hosted Middlesbrough in hopes of picking up the 3 points they needed to guarantee their Premier League survival. Middlesbrough, on the other hand, hoped to pick up their first win of 2017.
The game started off horribly for Boro, however. Lazy defending from Boro meant Pugh was able to pick out King who opened the scoring inside two minutes. Not long after Middlesbrough failed to clear a loose ball which fell to Afobe who extended Bournemouth’s lead in the 16th minute.
Middlesbrough’s afternoon then went from bad to worse as Ramirez was shown a second yellow in the 20th minute. This allowed Bournemouth to dominate the remainder of the game. They also extended their lead to 4-0 with goals coming from Pugh and Daniels.
Middlesbrough’s awful defensive display
Under Aitor Karanka, Middlesbrough held one of the best defensive records in the league. However, since Agnew took over, Boro’s defence has become shambolic. Middlesbrough looked lazy in defence today, they were sloppy in position and they failed to mark players properly. This led to Bournemouth putting four past Agnew’s men. This is the second time Boro have conceded four under Agnew in his short time in charge. The first coming against Hull.
Agnew took over Karanka primarily to try and get Middlesbrough scoring more. But, not only are Boro still not scoring enough, they are now leaking goals for fun and look like they should be playing in league one.
It’s safe to say this was Boro’s worst defensive display all season and with Boro still yet to play Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool their season could get even more embarrassing if Agnew remains in charge.
Ramirez’s red card
Ramirez was sent off after just 20 minutes today after picking up two yellow cards for two embarrassing incidents.
The midfielder picked up the first in the 14th minute for a ridiculous dive. Ramirez went past a Bournemouth defender but the ball got away from him. This led to Ramirez attempting one of the worst delayed dives ever.
He then picked up his second in the 20th for committing a rash stupid challenge in which he got none of the ball. The challenge was also unnecessary because it was in the corner of the Bournemouth end meaning there was no immediate danger if the Bournemouth player broke with the ball.
Both of Ramirez’s yellow cards were stupid and unnecessary. It is not what you expect from a player whose team desperately needed to win this game and he should be ashamed of himself.
Bournemouth look set to be staying up
After picking up the win today Bournemouth are now 12th in the table. They are on 38 points with four games reaming and look to have secured survival once again. This was Bournemouth’s second ever season in the Premier League after being promoted in 2015 and unless something catastrophic happens they should now be in the Premier League next year.
Now Bournemouth should be safe they will now hope to beat their points total from last season. The Cherries finished in 16th place with 42 points. With four games left they would love to go on and earn their highest-ever finish in the Premier League with the most points, they could earn this season now at 50.
