Bournemouth - 2 Aston Villa - 2 Post-Match

[Exeter 77]

Why would Barcelona recall him? That’s the sort of thing that clubs do for a kid or developing player on loan but Lenglet is neither of those.

Perhaps if somebody wanted him on a permanent deal?

Yep but not because he's not playing enough.

Barcelona's financial issues probably mean recalling him is not an option as they would have to pay all of his wages.

[AV84]

I think the idea is that Barca want him off their books and at the very least thought he'd be in the shop window with us. As it is he's playing a bit part and we're unlikely to want to buy him. But as we discussed before, it felt pretty obvious we only brought him in as a reaction to Mings' injury. Not a panic "buy", but certainly an emergency one, so the way he's being used shouldn't be a surprise.

Before we signed him there were stories that Barca were just going to mutually agree to cancel his contract, or offer him for free transfer, so eager were they to get him off their books. I'm sure they'd rather get something for him though.

[Drummond]

Win the home games, draw the away games ...

Yep. 76 points for a season. Won't win the league, but steady nonetheless.

They'd done well of late too.

[Drummond]

And a world class header from Oliie Watkins to salvage the point. The only real sniff he got of goal all game and he took it.

Perfect cross from Diaby too. Really good goal.

[LeeB]

And a world class header from Oliie Watkins to salvage the point. The only real sniff he got of goal all game and he took it.

Perfect cross from Diaby too. Really good goal.

Yeah kudos to Diaby for not fucking around, control, shift it to make half a yard and whip it in, just what was required at that point.

[The Edge]

I would like to apologise to the world for starting a post-match thread before the final whistle. I now realise that this was a grave error and shows disrespect for women, former slaves, trans and gays, union members, the 35,000 people in the queue for season tickets and balti pies.

The person you should be apologising to Darren is yourself, because that's who you've let down most.

I do believe I was fairly refreshed by the end of the afternoon, which may account for this or that. I chose not to continue posting.  A quick reread shows some lovely comments though. Thanks all!

That's it now though, if we're losing late on you've got to go early on the post match thread in order to invoke a goal.

So a stroke of genius from BE after all.

[VillaTim]

And a world class header from Oliie Watkins to salvage the point. The only real sniff he got of goal all game and he took it.

Perfect cross from Diaby too. Really good goal.

the cross was good but was marginally behind him which made the header so good. It was far from easy

[Brend'Watkins]

And a world class header from Oliie Watkins to salvage the point. The only real sniff he got of goal all game and he took it.

He did, it was an excellent bit of skill and difficult to pull of for someone who is not a great header of the ball, not the worst but not the best.  I look back at that chance he had against Wolves in very similar circumstances, far easier to score from but he misses the target. As he said himself on MOTD in the interview after the game, "it would have been a much better feeling had it been the winner". He's right too, we'd be 3rd now if he'd scored that one against Wolves.

[Drummond]

It was a bit disjointed. But we kept going.

Bournemouth we’re much better than I thought they’d be.

They’re hitting a decent patch of form.

10 points from the last 15 available.

[Risso]

They'd won two before they played us, a good win against Newcastle and an expected one against Sheffield United. Before that though, it was 1 win in 11, against Burnley. So two of their three wins are against bottom three teams. They'd be 17th without Everton's points deduction, so let's not pretend they're better than they are.

[PaulWinch again]

It was a bit disjointed. But we kept going.

Bournemouth we’re much better than I thought they’d be.

They’re hitting a decent patch of form.

10 points from the last 15 available.

Yep in which time they comfortably saw off Newcastle too. We were poor, but it was never going to be easy. A point in the end was a decent result.

[Mister E]

While people keep saying we could have conceded 4 or 5, they don't say that we could have scored 4 or 5. And that they should probably have had a player sent off. It's not like it was some backs to the wall getting battered scenario.

We only had 3 shots on target.

We hit the post. So scored 2, missed a sitter and hit the post. And had one chalked off. Not really a shocker was it.

Agreed, PWS.

[VILLA MOLE]

While people keep saying we could have conceded 4 or 5, they don't say that we could have scored 4 or 5. And that they should probably have had a player sent off. It's not like it was some backs to the wall getting battered scenario.

We only had 3 shots on target.

We hit the post. So scored 2, missed a sitter and hit the post. And had one chalked off. Not really a shocker was it.

Agreed, PWS.

One off the line from a player that shouldnt have been on the pitch

[pablo_picasso]

Poor overall, but churned out a result.

Thats what good squads do.

Semenyo (sp?) should have gone though.

Different game from that point if he wasn't in the pitch.

Officials are so shit...

[Villa Lew]

Not a bad point against a team, who have been in form, as for Ollie's header sheer class, he's in the form of his life,  absolutely invaluable to us.