30 September 2024
Bournemouth 3 Southampton 1
It was a south coast derby as Bournemouth welcomed Southampton to the Vitality Stadium. The Saints had looked out of their depth so far, with the exception of their opening day defeat at St James’ Park. Their defence struggle to deal with the attacking talent in the top-flight, while you start to wonder where their goals are going to come from.
They made a good start as Ugochukwu got down the left flank. He got to the byline and managed to pick out Cornet on the edge of the box. He only had one thing on his mind as he hit a first-time shot at goal. The attacker was left frustrated as it struck a Bournemouth defender and went wide of the goal. Positive start by Russell Martin’s side.
Creating chances and putting them away are what separate the good from the bad in the Premier League. You can dominate games but if you do not convert your chances, more often than not, you will be punished with a sucker punch as this is the most unforgiving league in the world. This is the evolution The Saints need to make, sooner rather than later.
Against the run of play, the ball was lifted over the defence and Evanilson volleyed it into the bottom corner for his first Cherries’ goal. The Brazilian record-signing had finally got that monkey off his back. Iraola will be hoping this spurs a purple patch for his new striker. It was a fantastic finish as the ball came over his shoulder.
Semenyo started to create real problems down the right. He twisted and turned, making defenders look ridiculous in his wake. He cut inside, dummied a shot and then laid the ball off to Cook. His first-time shot ended up in the bottom corner but as the replay showed it took an important deflection off Ouattara to beat Ramsdale in the Southampton goal. Suddenly after thinking he had scored Bournemouth’s second, it would just go down as an assist.
Southampton just did not know how to cope with Semenyo. He continued to make them look ridiculous. Feigning shots before darting in behind defenders, he shot from just inside the box and found the far corner. There were about three Saints’ players with their back to him as they turned away to try and block the phantom shot.
At this point the visitors were sinking without a trace. Heading in at the break three-nil up, the home fans were hoping to give their south coast rivals a hammering, live on Sky Sports. Iraola would have no negatives to point out in the dressing room, the message would have simply been, carry on doing what you did in the first half.
Into the second half and The Saints seemed to buck their ideas up a bit. As a free kick was swung into the box, Dibling met it with a strong header but Kepa managed to claw it out of the bottom corner of the goal. The Southampton youngster had his head in his hands, knowing that an early goal was their only chance of getting something from this game.
The visitors recycled the ball well and Fernandes swung another cross into the penalty area. It took a slight flick off a Bournemouth player and Harwood-Bellis steered it into the far corner. With just under forty minutes remaining, Southampton felt they were back in this game. The Vitality Stadium fell silent apart from the travelling fans in the away end.
Bournemouth felt at this stage another goal would put this game to bed. They kept on knocking on the door but Southampton looked more switched on defensively, getting some important blocks in by putting their bodies on the line. Christie struck a superb half-volley from outside the box which had Ramsdale scrambling across his goal but it was just the wrong side of the post.
The Cherries held on for the win and the all-important three points. Their second win of the season moved them up to eleventh in the table, above Man Utd and Brentford. Andoni Iraola will be pleased with the start they have made to the season. Bedding in a new striker after the departure of Solanke is never going to be easy but after breaking his duck this evening, Evanilson may now thrive.
Russell Martin was not a happy manager in his post-match interview. He said that he was hurt by his side’s first-half performance. While their display after the interval was much-improved, they had put themselves in a position that there was no way back from. Not even the greatest teams can afford to give anyone a three-goal head start.
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