Bournemouth (A) 01/03/25 - FA Cup (5th Round) - Build Up & Match Thread

[Jinky]

Here we go then. Huge game for us. Will Vitor prioritise the league? Will he go for it? Will Bournemouth get their revenge for last weekend? Can we possibly do it again?

I think he'll make a few changes given he's hinted the players were/are knackered, but if we want a genuine hope of getting anything from this, he can't go mad with them. Tricky one. It's also a real shame we didn't get a win v Fulham the other night, because we'd be sitting on an 8 point - essentially 9 point gap with goal difference, from the bottom three - and we could have gone into this with real confidence, knowing survival in the league was almost done & dusted. As it is, he'll have one eye on that - and it becomes a distraction.

For what it's worth, I think we'll get beaten comfortably here. I'll go with a prediction of a comfortable 2-0 win for them, and if we manage to somehow get through - that will be a lovely surprise.

My guess at what he'll pick (assuming the likes of Rodrigo etc are still injured and I doubt they'd come straight back in anyway) -

Johnstone
Semedo Doc Santi Toti RAN
Andre Gomes
Bellegarde Cunha
JSL​

 

[Tony Towner]

For me Djiga absolutely has to play. It's not a free hit as I'm sure we'd like to win, but would be silly to not give him this opportunity to get his feet wet. If you aren't playing him in this then when are you?

 

[Loki]

It probably won`t be a popular view on here but, I`m not bothered about this game. League is my only concern, given our position.

 

[sycophantia]

Tricky one this, I'd love to see Djiga to get a proper look but I thought even Semedo looked knackered on Tuesday. It would be nice to give Cunha a rest too but we're so light in that dept.

....................Johnstone
Lima.....Djiga...Santi...Toti....RAN
............Traore.......Andre
...Sarabia.......JSL....Cunha

 

[Lupo]

It probably won`t be a popular view on here but, I`m not bothered about this game. League is my only concern, given our position.

I hope we win tomorrow and progress but if I had to choose out of winning the game last Saturday and the one tomorrow, it would absolutely be the game last week. League all the way

 

[Lycan]

It doesn't have to be either or but given Vítor's comments about being fatigued on Tuesday night and the injuries we currently have I wouldn't be surprised to see a few changes.

 

[Del Woppio]

What's the TV sitch for this one?

 

[Tony Towner]

What's the TV sitch for this one?

7 games are live on tele, we are the 8th

 

[Mel Evo]

My inclination is that VP will want to play to win rather than deprioritise, but might think the best chance of doing that would be to make some more changes throughout the team. Energy levels seemed so low. We’ll see, I could easily imagine a similar lineup as much as a heavily changed one.

 

[Tony Towner]

My inclination is that VP will want to play to win rather than deprioritise, but might think the best chance of doing that would be to make some more changes throughout the team. Energy levels seemed so low. We’ll see, I could easily imagine a similar lineup as much as a heavily changed one.

Complete captain hindsight but if we'd made changes on Tuesday we'd probably have a had a better chance to win both games.

 

[Mel Evo]

Complete captain hindsight but if we'd made changes on Tuesday we'd probably have a had a better chance to win both games.

Yep. Got a feeling I posted something similar - not least that I was absolutely putting my Captain hindsight cap on while doing so. ‘Just one of those things’ rather than an obvious mistake I think. As said before, despite everything, we could have won that game Tuesday without two lapses that were genuinely hard to account for and a bunch of poor performances that weren’t obviously in the post. Then we’d be perfectly happy with affairs.

 

[Jinky]

Yep. And in fairness I think that played a large part in why Fulham held on so comfortably in the end. They rested and had the likes of Raul/Iwobi/Robinson on the bench where as we had no real game changers to call on.

By the way, I'd also start Djiga - I just don't know if Vitor will.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

With Rodrigo injured there aren’t many obvious changes apart from Djiga. A full week’s rest should see us ok for Everton so I think the only other changes could be Lima and Johnstone.

 

[prawnking]

I've held off from this particular criticism till now, but agree Djiga needs some minutes tomorrow if he isn't going to start looking like the wrong signing.

And with the jury still out (putting it mildly) on Marshall, and Agba's unfortunate injury, the January personnel boost we needed is looking a bit shabby

 

[NicholasG1973]

I don’t care what team we play, as long as Cunha stays at home, wrapped in cotton wool and resting up in an oxygen chamber.

 

[Lycan]

If Djiga isn't playing there will be a reason. I can't believe that Vítor is happy with what he's seen from Santi Bueno so far.

It's not unusual for a manager to want to take time with a player before throwing him in, some players just need more coaching than others. Especially centre halves. Especially young centre halves.

Maybe he's not up to scratch in terms of fitness? The demands of playing Premier League football will be a world away from the Serbian SuperLiga.

Or maybe he's just shite?

Whatever the reason I'm more inclined to place the blame at Jeff Shi's door than Vítor Pereira's. It's a ridiculous position he's put us in.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

I hope we go strong for this one. A bit or excitement from a cup run will improve this dismal season slightly.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I don’t care what team we play, as long as Cunha stays at home, wrapped in cotton wool and resting up in an oxygen chamber.

Na, I want him playing.

 

[Mel Evo]

Whatever the reason I'm more inclined to place the blame at Jeff Shi's door than Vítor Pereira's. It's a ridiculous position he's put us in.

Or Hobbs. I think that’s what people are getting at. We needed a CB to start and improve us immediately and VP made that clear. If for whatever reason we’ve spent good money on one who can’t it’s a very poor decision, regardless of the reasons. If he needs more time to work with him it’s the wrong purchase.

No start tomorrow and that’s 5 games he’s not been judged better than Doc or Santi, by a good judge. 5 out of 16 available!!

 

[Mel Evo]

Anyway, some good news as one of our injured players is available again.

It’s Hwang.