News Articles > 5 Conclusions from the defeat at Bournemouth

5 Conclusions from the defeat at Bournemouth

23/10/21

What is going on with Rolando Aarons?

He has been the 19th man a few times this season and then named as a sub another few, but he hasn't been given any game time in the first team this season. He was signed in unfortunate circumstances and by the time he had signed, he wasn't really needed, but I think he is a different player from what we have. An out and out tricky winger which we haven't had since Rajiiv Van La Parra is definitely a plan B and today would have been a good time to give him a chance.
It seems that Carlos doesn't rate him or doesn't think he is up to pace. He played for the B team last week as a right wing back and it seems that Carlos is planning to use him in that position if he is going to at all.
It is a shame really as he hasn't been given a proper chance to prove himself, which is partly down to him missing part of pre season, but if Town are not going to use him, then possibly they need to cut ties with Aarons, the same with Reece Brown.

Town have three key games coming up

Town need to respond as they have Milwall, Peterborough and managerless Cardiff coming up in the next 3 games. Town can get 9 points out of those and are key if they have any ambition if they want to get a top-half finish. They have lacked the cutting edge in their past 2 games, but they were looking tired as a result of the travelling to Bournemouth and having played 3 games this week.
Town need to not let this result affect them, 2 wins out of their next three and they will certainly be able to forget this result.

That is the best team in the division that Town are going to play this season

Considering Town spent around £2.5 million on their whole squad that played today, compared with Bournemouth who spent that just on Ryan Christie this summer should show the immediate difference in quality between the two sides. Bournemouth went a goal up from the spot and then doubled their lead minutes later, but they didn't look like they got out of second gear all afternoon and they could have easily put 5/6 past Town today. Town were in the play-offs at the start of the day and Bournemouth made the win look so easy, shows the gulf in class between Bournemouth and Town, and the rest of the division for that matter.
Bournemouth have a squad full of Premier League players along with the best manager in the division, so getting anything out of the game would have been the result of the season to date.

There seems to be an underlying fear when Town are playing the top teams

Town have only conceded 17 goals in 14 games, but considering that 8 of those have come against the 2 teams who are the favourites for promotion, there seems to be an underlying fear before kick off. Similar to the way Town seem to fold when going behind first in games, Town seems to also just fold even before the match starts against the top teams. I still think it is a mentality that Town are starting to slowly shift. Mistakes and their weakness against playing sides that are 'perceived to be better' are their biggest pitfalls at the moment.

Naby Sarr isn't good enough to play against the top sides

I am a big fan of Naby, he is a threat for us in both boxes and adds much needed height to the team. He is a solid option and is a good backup at this level - for the most part. It was a continuation of last year's performance on the South Coast with multiple mistakes. The standout being when he kicked the ball out for a corner under no pressure whatsoever. Sarr is a good player at this level, but his concentration creates a ceiling for him, while he doesn't seem comfortable playing against the top sides. As alluded to before, Bournemouth are playing like a Premier League side and this is proof of why Sarr has never played at a higher level as he can't cope with that quality of player.