‘Bullied’ – Alan Shearer explains Spurs’ biggest problem vs Bournemouth
Alan Shearer has claimed that Tottenham were simply too easy to play against for large parts of their clash against Bournemouth on Saturday.
Spurs were missing some key players for their trip to the Vitality Stadium, with Cristian Romero joining long-term absentees Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison on the sidelines.
In addition, Antonio Conte decided to leave the likes of Eric Dier, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Moura, Matt Doherty and Ivan Perisic on the bench, with a crucial Champions League clash against Marseille coming up on Tuesday.
That meant that Clement Lenglet started in the middle of the back three for the first time, with Davinson Sanchez and Ben Davies on either side of him.
The trio struggled to cope with the physicality of Dominic Solanke and Kieffer Moore, particularly in the first half, with the Bournemouth pair winning most long balls and holding up play impressively.
Shearer opined that the Tottenham backline got bullied for the majority of the encounter by Gary O’Neil’s side.
The Newcastle legend told BBC Match of the Day (29/10/22): “For an hour, Bournemouth bullied Tottenham and they were too easy to play against. The two centre-forward, Solanke and Kieffer Moore, really bullied them.
“Balls like that up back and through the Spurs backline, it was too easy and a really clever finish from Moore. Really well worked.
“Similiar thing again, early on in the second half, it was a beautiful cross in. Kieffer Moore wants it more than anyone else, certainly more than Emerson Royal. What about that for a ball and a fantastic header.”
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There is no doubt that we missed Dier’s leadership and organisation skills at the back in the first half.
I also thought Sanchez and Emerson were too slow in their build-up play when they had the ball, which allowed Bournemouth to get bodies behind back and cover spaces.
Not only did we defend better once Dier came on but we also moved the ball much quicker, which helped us open up the Cherries defence.
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