Bournemouth (H) player ratings: Bruno Guimarães leads the way again, but what has happened to Sven Botman?

 · February 17 2024, 20:26
Bournemouth (H) player ratings: Bruno Guimarães leads the way again, but what has happened to Sven Botman?
Owen Humphreys/PA
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Strikerless Newcastle United fought back to claim a draw for the second successive home game, ending up with a 2-2 against Eddie Howe's former club Bournemouth at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon.

In truth, the Magpies can probably count themselves lucky to have rescued a point in a contest where they were comfortably second best on the quality of chances created.

Martin Dúbravka was having a fantastic day until a costly slip from a routine back-pass allowed Dominic Solanke to score one of the easiest goals of his career to date.

The black and whites were indebted to their stopper for still being at 0-0 up to that point early in the second half and ended up indebted to another unlikely hero at the end.

Matt Ritchie, arriving for his customary stoppage time stint in the 91st minute, grabbed the crucial equaliser from close range, celebrating in customary fashion in 'The Corner'.

Between those moments, there was a gift of a penalty from VAR that Anthony Gordon coolly stroked home, while we conceded yet another goal down our left to Antoine Semenyo.

Here's how we saw the performances of those in black and white, from Dúbravka through to Gordon.

The lads deserve credit for fighting back, but this was a poor display

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With no Isak or Wilson, it was left to Gordon to step up from 12 yards to beat Neto

Martin Dúbravka – 7

He was playing superbly until the slip for the opening goal, denying Solanke on a couple of occasions with great close-range saves and making a total of four stops in the game. His distribution was very strong, too, and there were no issues with his starting position either.

Kieran Trippier (c) – 7

While this wasn't Trippier's finest hour and a half or so, there wasn't much wrong with his display. He made a good chance for Gordon early on with a very technical volleyed cross and defended sturdily overall, winning 6/8 duels up against a tricky opponent in Tavernier.

Fabian Schär – 8

It feels strange awarding a defender who conceded twice an '8', but Schär's long-range passing was even more of a feature of our play than usual today. He also won the penalty for the first equaliser and dealt with Solanke much better than his central defensive partner.

Sven Botman – 3

The left side of our defence is giving us nightmares at the moment. Both Botman and Burn are so pedestrian, and their dallying on the ball was as much to blame for Bournemouth's opener as the slip. This was another poor afternoon for Sven, who's struggled since his inury.

Dan Burn – 3

We can't recall the big man stopping a cross or a shot all afternoon and he was eventually punished by Semenyo for Bournemouth's second. It's now reached a point where his substitution is being cheered by a section of the home crowd, which is a crying shame.

Sean Longstaff – 6

Longstaff got through his usual 'power of running' and his passing was more incisive than it has been in a while, but there still wasn't that much substance to his overall display. He was much less involved in the contest than Bruno and Miley, both in attack and defence.

Lewis Miley – 8

It was obvious without even looking at the statistics than Miley did a good job of breaking things up today, winning six tackles in total (double the amount of anyone else in black and white) and 12/16 duels. His passing was largely tidy, too, if a little too safe at times.

Bruno Guimarães – 8 ⭐️

Playing in even more advanced role than against Forest, he was expected to be the hub for the team again and stepped up well in the second period after a patchy first. He deserved to be on a winning side with his contribution, but the lack of quality around him was evident.

Miguel Almirón – 3

We're not sure how much more of Miggy we can take at this point. While we fully appreciate that he creates a lot of openings for himself with his endeavour, we just can't forgive him for constantly failing to pick the right option and failing to execute the option he does select.

Anthony Gordon – 7

It's becoming a bit of a trope for us to write that he was the most dangerous of the front three, but it was true again here today. He showed good courage to step up and score the penalty, and while he'll be annoyed at the other chances he spurned this was a decent shift.

Harvey Barnes – 6

Barnes was on the cusp of a really good showing today, but just couldn't close the deal when he got into the critical position. There was no lack of industry from him and there were some signs of his quality, but he's going to need a bit more time to get up to full speed.

We looked back down to the bare bones on the bench again

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Ritchie's late equaliser could prove to be massive come the end of the campaign

Jacob Murphy – 4

Well, he's definitely no striker, but you probably knew that already. We needed more from him today in his 30+ minutes, but like Barnes he's not clearly not at maximum sharpness.

Tino Livramento – 7

We wouldn't be at all surprised to see him starting at Arsenal, possibly in a back five, but this was another cameo that showed he should be starting already. He's a lovely footballer.

Joe White – 6

Making his professional debut for his boyhood club, White can be proud of his contribution in the limited time he had on the pitch. Completed 4/4 passes and was involved in the goal.

Matt Ritchie – 7

We've missed seeing him level a corner flag after scoring a crucial goal and it was fitting that he grabbed the equaliser against his former club. He's been a brilliant servant to the club.

Next up for the Magpies is Arsenal away

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Let's hope we can rattle them as much as we did at the Emirates Stadium last season

If you offered us a repeat of last season's 0-0 draw we'd snap your hand off, but we're finding it hard to envisage any clean sheet at the moment, not least against the Gunners.

Kick-off is at 8 p.m. on Saturday 24th February, with the game being shown live on TNT Sports. If you're of a religious persuasion, send up a prayer or two for us, will you?

Howay the lads!

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