Not pretty but effective. Moving Cedric to the left tightened things up nicely and I'd forgotten how good he is in the attacking third. Commendable performances from Maya, Jan, Oriel, Pierre, Che and Soufianne. According to the statistics United had 17 attempts off target which is the price we pay when they break the press. Having said that, Moussa's goal came from the press. I think he still needs to fully integrate - he was getting frustrated in the first half when making runs but the ball didn't arrive.
A long journey home made pleasant by the result.

1

Poor team selection, we needed better than a makeshift defence. All the good attacking work will come to nothing if we just squander every chance without hitting the target. JWP particularly guilty of this last night. Adams needs to break his duck really quickly or we are going to drift off the pace again.

9

How disappointing was that performance. Defensively we were all over the place again, partly down to Ralph's selection. You get the jitters whenever Vestergaard gets near the ball.
Having been very critical of Cedric in the past last night he was excellent.
WTF does JWP bring to the team? As an attacking midfielder does he know what a telling pass is. He's now playing like he did pre Ralph, dire. I feel sorry for Adams up front, he got no service all night.

11

A disallowed goal because of a few inches offside, a penalty not given for a clear foul,.this could have been a five-nil thrashing. What the heck is going on in RH's mind that he thinks it clever to play his team in strange positions? We will have Che Adams in goal next!
All credit to Boufal and Romeu who are both playing well.
Others in the team are not and several whose names are automatically placed on the team sheet need reassessing.
I'm afraid the honeymoon period for RH has finally ended.

6

We drew the 2nd half and probably would have drawn the game if we'd started it with the same formation that we finished with and if Bertrand had come on for Vestergaard instead of Danso, we probably would have won it. Beat Pompey and all is forgiven.

But, there are recurring flaws in team selection. Vestergaard has 1 solid game to every 5 poor ones. We cannot persist with him any more.

A back four of Bertrand, Danso/Yoshida, Bednarek, Cedric is the best we currently have available. The only hard choice is between Danso and Yoshida. It's difficult to judge how good a central defender Danso is yet as he has been played out of position. But, it has to be 2 out of Bednarek, Danso and Yoshida in the centre of defence because Vestergaard is a weak link.

Another weak link is Ward-Prowse in midfield. He just doesn't offer enough at this level, which stretches the players around him, which was the same thing that happened when Clasie played. As for JWP's corners and free-kicks, they nearly all go straight to opposition players or miss the goal. I'd like to see Boufal or Djenepo take them instead. A midfield of Romeu, Højbjerg, Djenepo & Boufal would be best, with Redmond and Adams/Ings in front of them.

We need one of our strikers to start scoring regularly. Hopefully, Adams and/or Ings will start doing that at Fratton Park on Tuesday. And, of course, Obafemi is another option.

10

A big fan of Ralph, but this defeat is squarely laid at his door. If we had started with second half team and formation I feel we would have won.

10

Why did he not start Bertrand when he came on we looked a lot better. Why does he keep playing Ward-Prowse he offers us nothing most of his passes are backwards. Last night if he was half a decent player he should have had a hat trick. He must be dropped.

11

That was a most worrying performance. Credit to Bournemouth though. We might now treat them with a bit more respect rather than pretend they don't exist. VAR kept us in the game! Can't say that I ever thought we would score even in the second half. Bournemouth always looking the more threatening. They are not mistake free but they do have a defence that will throw everything at last ditch defending and we do not. A bit of a shock if I am honest.

4

I agree with most of what has been wirtten about last night, truly awfull displays by JWP, Danso and Vestagaard. BUT when is the myth of PEH going to be discussed, waving your arms about at the crowd and running a lot do not make you a great midfielder. He is being carried week after week by Romeu (only seen home games so far). Last night and against Utd he tackled like a little girl, his passing is pathetic and he is so slow in thought and deed. A bloke near me said at half time, Stephen Davis could play 5 passes in the time PEH takes to make his mind up what to do. And when he does it is invariably side ways or backwards. I thnk one of PEH or JWP has to be left out. Sorry to be negative but i fear this will happen to us time after time again to us this season.

11

Very strange outcome. Shows clearly that possession means nothing. Hutch was clueless from beginning g to end poor team selection, too many players out of position and we end up 2-0 down at HT. No way back from there with ten men back and packed together like sardines. We huffed and we puffed but we could not blow their house down.

HOWE 5 v HUTCH 0

Lovely tribute to Leon Crouch.

5