English Premier League - Game 21 - Bournemouth (Home)
Dragowski comes straight into the starting lineup today. He’s our long term number one, he might as well start today, as Stekelenburg is only on loan and hasn’t been all that impressive anyway. Returning faces include Martina, and Van Dijk on the bench.
Gardos opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a volley after some penalty box pinball was sparked by a corner.
Dragowski introduced himself to the St Mary’s faithful two minutes later by denying Callum Wilson 1v1 when the defence was caught out by a long ball.
Sadio Mane curled a shot just around the post just a minute later after cutting in from the right.
Jay Rodriguez doubled the lead in the 22nd with an emphatic finish from Juanmi’s pass.
A minute later Tadic slipped Rodriguez through, and he was fouled before he could shoot, and a penalty was awarded. Tadic kept his composure to make it 3.
We were running riot, and made it 4 in just the 26th minute, as Mane’s cross to Juanmi was intercepted but fell to Rodriguez in the 6 yard box, and the striker had his second!
Tadic got in on the act with his second in stoppage time. Mane’s cross wasn’t cleared properly and Wanyama’s blocked header fell to the Serbian, who roofed it to make it 5!
Callum Wilson scored an outstanding individual effort in the 67th to put Bournemouth on the board, dribbling through four Saints players before sliding the ball coolly into the bottom corner.
Two minutes later Rodriguez hit the bar with a cracking effort from outside the area - inches from sealing a hat trick!
In the 72nd minute Martina, Mane and Wanyama were replaced by Ward-Prowse, Ramirez and Slattery.
And within a minute both Ward-Prowse and Slattery played key roles in the build up to Juanmi slipping Rodriguez the ball for his well-deserved hat trick goal!
Ramirez gave Tadic the ball on a plate to seal his own hat trick a minute later, but his shot was tame and easily held.
In the 79th minute Wilson scored an equally ridiculous individual, this time going the other way and finding the other bottom corner.
A minute later a long ball found King for an easy header past Dragowski to make it 6-3!
And another minute further on it was 6-4, King with his second, a tap in from 6 yards. Three goals in 3 minutes for Bournemouth!
We tightened up further, and the goals finally stopped - for all of 7 minutes. Fortunately this time the scorer was Juanmi, who got on the end of Ward-Prowse’s free kick to volley in our 7th.
An absolutely epic game, I truly can’t remember having experienced one like it before. Our attack was outstanding, in particular Rodriguez, Tadic and Juanmi, who have been my go-to men all season. Unfortunately a look at the player ratings indicates that other than those three, every player’s rating dropped after half time. There was little that could have been done about either of Wilson’s goals, both of which were amongst the best I’ve seen, particularly the first. King’s two efforts were both atrocious defending though, and three in three minutes is unacceptable. At 6-1 I was pleased with their efforts and thinking I may not need such an overhaul, but it’s looking more and more like that’s what’s going to be required in the not too distant future. Dragowski could do little about any of the goals, but he’ll still be disappointed at shipping four on debut.
POM: Jay Rodriguez (9.6, 3G, 1A)
Let's hope he does though