Bournemouth vs Arsenal: Notebook

My notes from the match and the rewatch, with video clips.

I love misery, so I watched the game again and picked out some clips to go along with my notes of the game.

The clips here are not going to be as good as normal; I had to rewatch this on Peacock and the bottom section on the video selector is slow to go away. It shouldn’t make a difference; it just annoys me.

Let’s get into it.

First Half:

So it is looking like Merino right midfield, Rice left midfield. Out of possession it is Havertz and Merino the front two. It is fluid but this seems like the base formation.

5 - This is a nice bit of ball winning here from Partey, it doesn’t really lead to much with Merino going backwards when it does come to him.

6 - White gives away a freekick that I am not sure he needed to, a little bit of a needless push in the back when he can just ride with him. Daivd Raya looks unsure on trying to claim the ball and it is just over hit enough to not give Bournemouth a shot.

10 - Arsenal have a chance to break from a Bournemouth corner but Trossard just doesn’t have the speed to get clear. This is a bit of a bummer with Trossard wide. He has things to offer but being able to break away into space isn’t one of them. Maybe Sterling could do better to play it more in front of him but it doesn’t really make a difference.

16 - Raya gets away with one here, there is just not nearly enough speed on the ball and it is easily picked off. Thankfully the way that the Bournemouth player is facing takes them away from being able to shoot quickly.

19 - I wish Partey had been a bit braver trying to find the Havertz run here. You can hear Arteta also wanting him to play that ball.

21 - Arsenal have a decent little attacking move but Trossard doesn’t finish his run for some reason. Sterling put in a nice pass here that would have been potentially dangerous if he doesn’t pull up.

25 - Arsenal got fortunate on this break. Partey was left for dead here but it runs into his own player to save from real danger.

27 - Arsenal are pressing and they win the ball, it falls to Trossard and he plays it blind backwards. Saliba pulls back Evanilson and is shown a yellow.

It goes to VAR and it is upgraded to a red card.

I said at the time and still agree now, I think that this is can be a red card, maybe even more often than not is a red card, I would rate it like 65% for when I do the rating of the call tracking. I don’t think that it is a clear wrong decision to call it a yellow card, the referee seemed to take his time on that call too.

I am sure we will get some justification for why it was correct to call this a clear error that rose to the bar of being worthy of review.

35 - Partey plays an excellent ball to set Trossard free with a chance to attack in transition. His speed makes it so he can’t break free but smartly finds Sterling out wide to keep the attack moving. The ball eventually falls to Merino and he has a very good look at goal that he pulls wide.

37 - Kiwior comes on for Sterling. I don’t love this move, I think with the three defenders left on the field Arsenal have enough to play. At least until halftime and see how things look. Losing the only real speed threat hurts.

41 - David Raya spills one here, that is not good. He is normally so sure handed there. The defending was a bit off too, it doesn’t seem like Kiwior and Partey on the same page for covering this one.

End of the half

Second Half

47 - Bournemouth have a massive chance here. Calafiori has to cover central and Trossard is caught sleeping not giving support and Semenyo has a great look at goal. Arsenal looking very disjointed all around here.

51 - Arsenal get a shot from a corner through Havertz, because of the outswinger there is no way to generate any power at all.

57 - Raya does just enough on this one to get a finger to it but that is not the typical type of stuff I expect from him and it feels more unsettled than I would expect. Maybe too harsh on it.

After an initial phase where it seems like Bournemouth were applying a lot of pressure, Arsenal have come back into the game here. Not necessarily on top but closer to 50/50.

64 - It doesn’t come to anything but Raya continuing to not have a good day here with a miss on his kick here.

Martinelli comes on for Trossard.

66 - Martinelli puts in a really good cross and it just misses Havertz to put it in. If Havertz makes contact there, that is a very tough one to save.

68 - White is given a yellow for time wasting on a throw in.

69 - Martinelli with a huge chance. Kepa makes a mistake playing out, Merino pounces and plays in Martinelli who takes it first time and has it just blocked by the shoulder of Kepa.

With hindsight maybe he should have tried to go to the left side, but he loves that finish out the right-hand side and nearly executes it perfectly. The fine margins.

70 - And just like that you miss one and then give one up.

A nice little routine for Bournemouth there to take advantage of using the extra man to their advantage.

76 - This is a bad moment from Partey, he kind of gets away with one here where he making a lot of contact on the play without really looking at the ball. He also then fails to clear it and it leads to a big chance from Semenyo that he blasts over.

77 - Penalty to Bournemouth. Kiwior makes a mistake here where he underhits the pass back to Raya and that puts Evanilson one on one with Raya. He pushes it wide and then they have contact, it isn’t the best attacking move but it is a clear penalty.

It is converted and 2-0 now.

81 - Jesus and Nwaneri on for Merino and Kiwior

Arsenal having more of the ball here but still can’t really get anything really of note that is dangerous.

And that is it. the game goes out with a whimper but it was really over at 1-0 and never really seemed likely after that, the second goal put it on ice and for sure out of reach.

Final Thoughts

I don’t think my opinion on the match changes too much from the instant reaction. I think I would up Partey and downgrade Rice a bit. Maybe give Merino a bit more credit.

Overall, this was Arsenal at some of their worst this season. A pretty limp and disjointed day where the cutting edge wasn’t there.

I can understand why this wasn’t perfect, just coming back from an international break, a bunch of injuries, a midfield that lacks creative spark, another red card. It makes sense but it still hurts.

Next weekend becomes a very big game.