MY ACCOUNT
Bournemouth’s humiliating 9-0 defeat at Liverpool forced the club to sack Scott Parker ahead of the midweek home game against Wolves.
Parker has paid the price for the Premier League record-equalling defeat, but removing the manager will not fix all of the problems within the club.
There was something jarring about Parker’s post-match comments on the quality of his squad — and it was not the first time he had bemoaned it to the media — but whether the Bournemouth players will be relieved to be rid of a man who seemingly did not believe in them or will simply sink further in the absence of a dressing room leader remains to be seen.
What does seem likely is that with confidence low and chaos all around them, few of the Cherries players will be itching to get out on the pitch in front of their own embarrassed, and now possibly angry, supporters.
Wolves will be licking their lips.
Bruno Lage’s men are hungry for their first win of the season and will feel they deserve a change of fortune after four decent performances have returned only two points.
They could easily have won at least a couple of those games but might feel their luck is set to turn when they line up against a shell-shocked Bournemouth team.
Team news
Former first-team coach Gary O’Neil takes on his first managerial role on an interim basis for Bournemouth and is thrown in at the deep end with six first-team players out injured.
Ben Pearson had his leg in a brace after coming off against Liverpool and will miss out and while David Brooks has returned to training following his cancer treatment, the Welshman remains a month or so away from full fitness.
Ryan Fredericks, Joe Rothwell and Junior Stanislas all have minor issues that rule them out this week but all three should return early in September.
Captain Lloyd Kelly will face a late fitness test following an abductor injury but, in better news for O’Neil, Dominic Solanke came through 45 minutes against Liverpool and should be ready to start.
Lage has only long-term absentee Chiquinho unavailable through injury but the Wolves manager will not select Willy Boly after the defender failed to report for duty last weekend as he attempts to force a transfer to Nottingham Forest.
The stats
Bournemouth became only the fourth team in the Premier League era to lose by a nine-goal margin and the records of the previous sides to suffer that fate do not bode well.
Ipswich were thrashed 9-0 by Manchester United in 1994-95 and failed to win any of their following 14 matches, losing the next six 3-0, 3-0, 1-0, 4-0, 1-0 and 4-1 as they went on to finish bottom of the league.
Southampton took a 9-0 battering against Leicester in 2019-20 and lost their next three games, albeit two of those came against Manchester City, who beat them in the league and the EFL Cup.
The Saints finally picked up a win five matches after their 9-0 drubbing and narrowly dodged relegation.
And Southampton again took a 9-0 pummelling in 2020-21, this time to Manchester United.
They lost again to Newcastle in the following match and picked up only one point from the five games following their Red Devils drubbing.
But while history is against them, Bournemouth will be hoping that Wolves’ dismal marksmanship might let them off the hook — Lage’s men have managed just two goals from 52 shots over the course of their first four league games.
Prediction
Bournemouth will be desperate to put Saturday’s horror show behind them but history, the stats and the eye test all say they will not do so against a technically and tactically superior Wolves team.
In huge wins like the one Liverpool inflicted on the Cherries, there is almost always a significant amount of good fortune in a team scoring so many.
That said, Bournemouth really were horrible defensively last weekend and Parker’s tactics were arguably not the biggest problem in the performance.
Not one defender stood up to the test at Anfield and it was striking how often the team was in roughly the right shape but players failed to do the basics, with as many as eight or nine players ball-watching as Liverpool attackers moved into space around them.
It would be an act of genius if O’Neil was to correct all of those individual errors in the space of a couple of days and while Wolves are no Liverpool, they are a tactically astute side who have the quality to exploit Bournemouth’s defensive failings.
A lack of clinical finishing for the visitors may spare the Cherries another embarrassing evening but Wolves have more than enough quality to earn an overdue first league win.
