WEST BROM 2 v 1 AFC BOURNEMOUTH: Time to be optimistic and time to be realistic

By Tales From The South End - February, 28th 2017

Should we be optimistic, pessimistic or realistic? Another loss in 2017, this time away to West Brom, doesn’t find us seeking solice in our AFC Bournemouth Championship winning DVD.

Not that there is ever a reason needed to watch Champions, apart from the fact we want too. And, we still want to watch AFC Bournemouth and we still believe that there is every reason to be heading towards optimistic on the AFC Bournemouth Premier League barometer.

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WEST BROM: HARD TO BEAT

Losing away to West Brom, is not like losing away to Millwall in the FA Cup. Tony Pulis has built a strong side at the Hawthorns and they are hard to beat whoever you might be. They haven’t lost at home in 2017 and only lost three times at home all season, against Man U, Man City and Everton.

Now we have some perspective on the game, we think there is much to take away from the game. The performance while not stunning, was workman-like and AFC Bournemouth deserved more.

Both goals had a touch of fortune (or misfortune for us) about them. The first was deflected and the second was a horrendous flap from Artur ‘Looks like I don’t give a f**k’ Boruc. This is typically what happens when points are being hard to find.

COOK & MINGS: LOOKING GOOD

So, what was good about AFC Bournemouth? The defence is still considered our weak point, but I thought Steve Cook was excellent once again and Tyrone Mings is getting more and more assured with every Premier League game he plays. If anyone looked a little out of sorts I would say Adam Smith looked like he had a late night. Arter wasn’t at his scintillating best, but that is probably due to a few late (and maybe sleepless nights).

Fraser was once again a threat and as much as I like Marc Pugh he didn’t have a great game (might be something to do with a lack of game time). I would to see Ibe out there or Stanislas at his best. Unfortunately, it looks like Ibe is going to be out for a few weeks. Up front Wilshire was Wilshire and Josh King once again did his duty well.

So, answering our own question Should we be optimistic, pessimistic or realistic? We reckon there is every reason to optimistic.