OH YE OF LITTLE FAITH! How often have I posted on this site that Yoshida is a much under-rated player! Even if you were to overlook the goal (of which more later) he had a standout game, strong in defence, pushing forward into the midfield and avoiding the trap of "fouling" the diving champion Jack Grealish when invited to do so. As to the goal, yes he really can strike home with his left foot from outside the box, and that followed some crisp interplay in the lead up. In an otherwise fairly dull game he was the standout player for me, so no more carping at his expense. And gentlemen, its not funny to sing "How shit must you be, Yoshida just scored" (it is really but we are going to pretend otherwise).

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Credit to Koeman he gave non regulars a chance and they all did their bit but nothing really outstanding. I prefer Yoshida down the middle, not on the wing not pacy enough and crosses bar one where off great one two with Ramirez was right in line with the move and the goal..l practice makes perfect dont you just love a goal from the unexpected from the back.. Not forgetting Pelle's movement and goal (best player over the season) which was good throughout the game. VVD is my player for October who grows better each game and Toby is a far off dream.. Very much a tale of two halves and I do like the movement and Head of Rudy Gestede but villa have no real fire power and will be struggling like a block of cheese with the wrong wine. We had a few glimpses of Ramirez and what he can do but he still needs to up a level. Tadic and Davies came on and that level rose a good value night.. thanks Saints

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My earlier premonition proved to be eerily true. Taken apart in the second half, by Arsenal, after a pretty even first 45 minutes. Gomis' lack of confidence clearly on show when he should have buried a couple of clear-cut chances. Allied to his inability to stay on side, I feel that his current form is having a detrimental effect on the whole team. Every time that he gets caught in an offside position not only does it disrupt the flow of the game, but it passes control of the ball back to the opposition. This in turn is permeating through to the defence which puts doubts as to whether our attack will ever score, and so puts more pressure on them. Have to say, though, that I thought that the mid-field of Ki, Shelvey, Sigurssen & Ayew played better than they have recently. It's just a good job that there are three or four teams at the bottom of the division who are giving us some breathing space, at the moment.

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Good in the first half. Poor in the second - I don't think we managed to string together more than 3 passes. Fair play to Bournemouth, they were decent in the second half but we let them back into it. Midfield was nonexistent and Wanyama was a red card waiting to happen. No pressing and Bournemouth walked through us time and again.

Pluses: Clasie improved again, VvD great again, and we won!

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Yep Clasie improved and now rates one or ttwo points for his first half display and a minus one point for his second half performance. He is not alone because in the second half most of the team were rubbish. Tadiic and Mane disappeared. Wanyama literally disappeared, We played without Fonte, No midfield players.

Good news was that we bossed the first half and scored two goals from open play. How come we were so poor in the second half, it really took the gloss off the victory. Well done Bournemouth you probably deserved a point.

A repeat of the Leicester game, just what are they drinking at half time and RK give them a firework up their backsides

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You cannot have 66% possession in a match and not trouble the goalkeeper. We have too many people off form and we seem to be shoehorning certain players into the team just to give them game time. We need one of Cork or Britton in midfield at all times to create a better balance to the side and I am not sure that Ayew is a right winger. There is no point in blaming one individual on the pitch for the run of form that we are on but the sheer fact that we have failed to score in 6 of the last 9 games tells you much about where it is all going wrong.

If I look back to thoughts at the start of the season, the midfield would have been

1 of Cork or Britton
Ki
Shelvey or Sigurdsson

Now three months on it would be

1 of Cork or Britton
1 of Ki or Shelvey
1 of Sigurdsson or Ayew

Routledge/Barrow/Montero to provide the width (would have added Dyer to that if he was still here)

Gomis or Eder up front (or possibly Ayew I still think is worth a shot)

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Confidence ebbing away from all the team, at the moment. No-one seems to be able to reproduce the form that they displayed at the start of the season. Very dissapointing result this afternoon.
At the beginning of his tenure as manager I commented on Monk's use of substitutes & he seems to be slipping back in to his old habits here. Why Britton should replace Sigursson I cannot really understand as Gylfi is always likely to score, whether from a free kick or not, whereas Leon is a holding midfield player who will never improve our attacking chances. Also, the limited time that he is giving Eder is never going to be long enough for him to get up to speed in a match. I think that it's about time that he is given a full run out, and Gomis dropped to the bech for a couple of games.

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the two players who have come under the most stick, Henry and Hoilett, were my star players, with Hoilett just shading it. Faurlin was excellent, particiarly in the first half. The ones I've marked 5, sadly played like they wanted to be elsewhere

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How Routledge has ended up with such a low score I don't know.
I know he wasn't on very long, but he was one of the most dynamic and attacking players on the field.
He moved well and moved the ball well.

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What a shocker- the only bright point was the keeper!! Why are so many of our players one footed - a lot of opportunities missed in second half because none of our so called strikers can use their other foot.

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