AFC Bournemouth
Manager Eddie Howe had mixed feelings after watching AFC Bournemouth battle out a 0-0 draw with Premier League rivals Norwich City today.
The stalemate saw the Cherries keep their first clean sheet of the season, something Howe highlighted as one of the positives to take from the game.
But he admitted his team had become “quite desperate to score” and felt they had not “overly worked” Canaries goalkeeper Tim Krul.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Howe said: “We started the game well and I was pleased with the first 15 to 20 minutes.
“I thought we played some really good football and looked like we had a good mentality to the game but it didn’t really get any better than that.
“We sort of faded away and stopped doing the things that had brought us that early dominance and then became quite desperate to score.
“In our desperation to score, we put a lot of aerial crosses into the box which never really suits us.
We’re much better when we’re a little more intricate and a little more patient so our desperation to score worked against us.”
Howe added: “Norwich were always going to come into the game. They are a good counter-attacking team and have very good technical players so they were always going to have their moments.
“The most disappointing thing from our perspective was the second half. We didn’t really grab the game and pen them in.
“We had our moments, a lot of set-plays and a lot of balls in their box that we didn’t make count so it was frustrating.
“There were positives to take, a clean sheet and the fact it’s another point in the right direction. But it wasn’t the three we wanted and certainly we’ll have to look at the performance and try to learn from it.”
A share of the spoils saw the Cherries climb a place to ninth in the Premier League, joining Tottenham, Burnley and West Ham on 12 points.
“Sometimes, you have to have the bigger picture in the back of your mind,” said Howe. “It wasn’t the three points we wanted but it wasn’t a defeat.
“People will see we’re playing Norwich at home and the expectations are for it to be a home win. I understand that and that’s certainly our expectations as well.
“But these games are never that easy and we fully respect Norwich, their manager, their players and the way they play. They are a tough nut to crack and they were for us today.”
Howe added: “For me, the past two games defensively have been a big improvement. We were relatively okay from the defensive side at Arsenal and today we were strong again.
“Aaron Ramsdale made one big save and, apart from that, he didn’t have too much to do. The disappointing thing is that their goalkeeper wasn’t overly worked and, with the quality we had on the pitch, that was the disappointment.”
