What Lincoln City Can Take From A Heavy Bournemouth Defeat

It’s been more than four years since Lincoln City lost by four clear goals, and while last night feels like a bit of a gut punch, there will be lots of value to take away.

The first thing I came away from Bournemouth thinking was that I had underestimated them. I don’t think Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw did, but I certainly did. I had looked at the fixture and thought there might be an opportunity because Bournemouth have bigger priorities this season, and because a Premier League side making wholesale changes doesn’t always mean you are suddenly facing their strongest possible team.

I had this image of Bournemouth as a club with fewer resources than the real heavyweights, so perhaps their second string would be a little more vulnerable than the equivalent side at Manchester City, Chelsea or Liverpool. That was completely wrong. Their depth was ridiculous, their fringe players were outstanding, and the players they were able to introduce later in the game only underlined it. These weren’t disaffected youngsters getting a night out in the League Cup. These were players desperate to force their way into a Premier League side, and they played like it.

That also makes the team selection from City worth looking at in the right context. It was bold, but I didn’t think it was especially reckless. There were plenty of changes, certainly, but this is a squad built to have depth, and there were players out there who need minutes. Daniel Oyegoke got his first start and, despite the scoreline, I thought there was plenty to like. Mikkel Ladefoged led the line, Chiedozie Ogbene got a proper opportunity, Yunus Konak had a good chunk of the game, and Josh Honohan and Dom Jefferies were asked to operate in the wide areas. This wasn’t throwing the competition. It was using the squad, and against a side of Bournemouth’s quality, there was always going to be an element of finding out where some of these players are.

For about five minutes, I thought we might actually have them. We started quickly, looked aggressive and settled into the game far better than Bournemouth did. There was energy about us; we were prepared to put them under pressure, and it briefly looked as though we might be the side able to take advantage of all the rotation. It was one of those little spells where you begin convincing yourself that if you can nick a goal, perhaps you can make the evening uncomfortable. Get the home crowd edgy, make Bournemouth realise they have a proper cup tie on their hands and see what happens. Instead, seven minutes in, Ryan Christie scored, and from that point onwards the entire contest changed.

The first goal is disappointing because it is avoidable. Ben Gannon-Doak gets the ball across, Christie arrives, and Tom Bayliss has completely lost him. That doesn’t mean Bayliss isn’t good enough, and it certainly isn’t an attempt to pin a 4-0 defeat on one player, but if we’re analysing the game, then that moment has to be called for what it was. Christie is free, the ball finds him, and suddenly Bournemouth are ahead.

After that, they woke up. The tempo changed, their confidence lifted, and we barely got a sniff for 90 minutes. We couldn’t get our set pieces going, couldn’t build sustained pressure and couldn’t force them into the sort of game we wanted to play. Even the long throws, usually something we use to make opponents uncomfortable, became something Bournemouth looked more threatening from than we did.

There was also an incident involving Bayliss later in the first half that I thought was nasty. Justin Kluivert went straight into his back with an elbow raised and was booked for it. I’ve seen plenty of challenges where you can shrug and say there wasn’t much in it, but I didn’t like that one at all. Bayliss had no way of protecting himself from it, and Kluivert knew exactly where he was going. Whether you think yellow was enough or not, it was certainly more than a routine little coming together, and it was one of those moments that looked worse the more you saw of it. I note with interest he didn’t try it on Andrei Coubis, Daniel Oyegoke or any of the other utter monsters. Tom isn’t small, but he was probably the easier target.

Still, what became clear very quickly was just how good Bournemouth are without the ball. That’s probably what surprised me more than anything. We barely won an aerial duel, and whenever we tried to make something stick, they were on us immediately. It felt like trying to run into a gale-force wind in wellies. A pass slightly underhit, a touch that ran away from one of our players, or a fraction too long spent deciding what to do, and Bournemouth were there. What really stood out was their recovery speed: even when one of their players made what, for them, counted as a poor touch, they were so quick and so athletic that the mistake barely mattered. One moment in the first half summed it up perfectly. One of their players miscontrolled the ball with two City players closing him down, and for a split second you think we’re going to nick it. Before you know it, he’s recovered, moved the ball and taken both of our players out of the game. That’s the level.