Antoine Semenyo appears in his final days as a Bournemouth player, departing a club with problems. Andoni Iraola’s status as a hot property is cooling amid difficult winter months. Bournemouth are the latest team to struggle after selling players to offset harsh financial winds. Of the Premier League’s set of “well-run”, smaller clubs, perhaps Brentford, who climbed to eighth, are now the best example of how to flourish after losing key personnel.
“Don’t be down on yourself” was Keith Andrews’ recipe for his team’s successes after last summer’s defection of the manager, Thomas Frank, the captain, Christian Nørgaard, and leading scorers Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa. “I think it’s easy in this industry to look at what you haven’t got. Look at what you didn’t get rather than focus on what you have got.”
Andrews inherited real talent on succeeding Frank. Igor Thiago and hat-trick hero Kevin Schade, both electric, positively ravaged Bournemouth’s defenders, suggesting if the Semenyo money can be reinvested the place to spend it is at the back. Semenyo, said to be Manchester-bound, got on the scoresheet but by then his team were three down. There would be no comeback. “We arrived 45 minutes late for a Premier League game,” said Iraola. “If we lose like we did in the second half, no problem but it was too late.”
A year that began with high promise ebbs into dust and a desperate recent run of form. Bournemouth’s last Premier League victory was on 26 October. Losing Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi and Milos Kerkez is taking a heavy toll; their replacements are struggling. Just as problematic is a lack of goals; Bournemouth kicked off seventh in the Premier League on chance creation but with a negative goal difference, and 15th in the real table.
Brentford’s pre-Christmas win at Wolves had lifted them 10 points clear of the bottom three. That cushion clearly lent confidence. “We grow from game to game,” said Schade. Yehor Yarmolyuk had fired wide even before the German speedster was sent away by Thiago to score his first. Bafodé Diakité’s clumsiness made the task easy.
From the start, Semenyo found Michael Kayode’s physical prowess difficult to shake and was often asked to do more defending than attacking. Brentford staged the type of early blitz trademarked in the Frank era. Andrews has his own ideas on the game, including repurposing the excellent Keane Lewis-Potter to raid off the right, but his team retain the same qualities of being flinty, ornery opponents.
Diakité’s partner at the back, Marcos Senesi, had his own struggles when chased down by Andrews’ pack of hunting dogs. Both were on the crime scene for Brentford’s second, high farce following Thiago springing the offside trap. The ball ended in the net via both hapless central defenders and a flap from Djordje Petrovic. “The first half, we were sensational,” said Andrews. “We were not ourselves,” said Iraola.
He made three changes at the break, including the removal of the unfortunate Diakité, with Lewis Cook repurposed at centre-back, in a desperate search for vital signs. On came David Brooks, Evanilson and Justin Kluivert but that did not close the aching midfield gaps Brentford continued to exploit. Schade’s second came via another breakneck counter. Thiago, who meted out the same treatment to Cook as he had Diakité, supplied Yarmolyuk’s cutback before Schade’s drilled finish.
“If you give players opportunities in the right type of environment, if their attitude is right and they want to achieve things, then they can do that,” said Andrews, delighted by his team’s overall display, not just his goalscorers.
Bournemouth at last rallied, Kluivert incredibly hitting the post from mere inches out. Semenyo did at least manage to score from the same distance with a neat back heel. A farewell goal, with reports that Manchester City want him on 1 January? “Obviously I don’t want to lose him,” said Iraola. “The more games he can play for us, the better for us.”
A Bournemouth second might have come but Kayode twice thwarted Semenyo’s incursions. Instead, in microcosm of their year, falling short of objectives there for the taking, Bournemouth gassed out, their hopes extinguished by Schade joyously nodding in his third with virtually the last action of the game.
