After the best transfer window in living history I was really looking forward to us welcoming the league leaders
I was in favour of a 4-4-2 with the newbie Kermorgant partnering Grabban despite Rantie scoring mid-week but I figured Howe would not be as brave
To my surprise, despite not playing them both, he did opt for Grabban and Rantie playing which to me was positive although I was disappointed that all wingers bar Fraser were on the bench or just rested completely because it seemed to narrow the attacking options as Grabban is no winger
Why would you put our top goalscorer out of position? Made no sense to me - time would tell
Bournemouth actually started the brighter but all we had to show for a very promising opening 15 minutes was a Surman long range shot that just managed to stay in the stadium
It was the same old story - plenty of pretty play but a horrible first touch when it mattered and poor final passes - Arter was particularly guilty of the latter although his work rate was top notch
Leicester were strong, physical and skilful and the one thing that stood out head and shoulders above Bournemouth was the amount of second balls they got. It was almost as if they were all capable of performing Dynamo like tricks of getting every ricochet to fall their way - I guess that you call that positioning and experience
They put this increasing dominance in the middle to good effect on 17 minutes as Vardy was slipped though and only a combination Ward slide and Camp dive prevented him scoring
Just 2 minutes later Bournemouth were again sliced open through the middle and Vardy was one on one
Hitting the ball early and low Camp dived to his left and the ball struck him a glancing blow on the chest and the ball bounced down and back over the bar - a real let off
The pattern of play was set for the rest of the first half as Bournemouth undoubtedly had the majority of possession but just never looked like scoring whereas Leicester had less of the ball, but did more with it
We seem to have decided that the way to incorporate Rantie into the side is to thump balls into the corner and let him run after it. This very untypical Bournemouth tactic was further exacerbated by no-one supporting him
This, however, could have been because 99% of the time he was either subtly nudged off the ball or he shinned the ball clumsily away. I guess if you don't think he can hold it up, the keenness to chase must be lessened
Vardy has his 3rd and Leicester's best chance of the half as the defence was again breached
As Camp dived at his feet Vardy dinked the ball over him and the slightest touch that Camp managed to get on it slowed it down enough for a defender to run round and clear it away
Half time : 0-0
Second half started and Kermorgant and Ritchie was on for Fraser and ball-repeller Rantie
Who are you and what have you done to Eddie Howe? We weren't even losing yet ? :-)
For me the change in fortunes was immediate. Not only does Yann win the ball in the air but balls played up to him were actually held up, then, wait for it, passed to a Bournemouth player - who'd have thought that could work?
The game was now much more even and so the ref stepped in to try to influence matters.
First step was to book Ward for a shoulder to shoulder challenge, just outside our box. Thank God the shot went over
This encouraged Leicester and for 5 minutes pounded the Bournemouth defence with quick attacks but the back 4 held resolute
On 58 a minutes a Bournemouth attack had Kermorgant holding the ball up (I really will never get fed up of saying that) and laying it off to Grabban
His shot had Schmeichel beaten all ends up but clipped the post as it went just wide
Two minutes later a Ritchie low swinging cross had Grabban galloping on to it but from only 6 yards out a last ditch challenge stopped him from putting it away
From here though, Leicester broke quickly down the left and a cross was met, point blank, by a thunderous Leicester header.
With the reactions of an electrified cat somehow Camp dived up and left and punched the ball out. How the bloody hell did he do that - quite simply the best save I have ever seen at DC
On 62 minutes it was stage 2 of the ref's master plan - kill Arter.
This was a 2 stage plan. First was to hurt him, so he gave the signal (scratched his arse with his whistle) and Knockaert, woken from his hypnotic slumber by this, scythed Arter down with an over the ball challenge. His punishment, a throw in to Leicester
Arter is made of sterner stuff though and managed to get the magic sponge treatment and come back on, so it was on to part 2 of the master plan - send Arter off
Arter's next challenge won the ball and the ref went for his card but not even he thought he could get away with a red, so just issued a yellow. To be fair the only thing that should have been red was the ref's face - it was an embarrassingly biased second half
As the clock ran down Leicester grew in strength and the pressure became more and more obvious as Leicester sought their 9th straight win
In the 80th minute the deadlock was finally broken. A quick break down the right had the ball chipped to the far post. Sat there waiting in his wheelchair was 107 year old Phillips who struggled up and headed the ball back across the goal
Camp got his hand to it (of course he did) but it still rolled over the line despite Ward clearing it away, well,at least that's what the linesman said and quite frankly I was in no position to argue
I've never seen a goal celebration that needed a defibrillator so that was new......
Camp deserved a clean sheet, but it wasn't to be
The final 10 minutes had Pitman on for Surman and Ward up front to try to connect with as many long hail marys up field than I have seen at DC for the past 3 seasons
While I've wanted a big man up front for a while to meet our million crosses per game I hope that this isn't going to be the plan b
It was 10 minutes plus 5 minutes of extra time - no need to panic although if Leicester had made more of their swift counter attacks the score could have been very flattering indeed
Final Score 0-1
Summary - On the whole a good performance by Bournemouth but although not helped by the ref, they were beaten by the better side
One shot on target tells the tale in a nutshell
I do, however, have 2 training tips for the coming week
1 Get O'Kane to give passing lessons as far too many of our balls especially in the final third were just rubbish
2 Get Kermorgant to give trapping lessons as too many first touches were heavy and gave the opposition too easy a chance to clear the ball
Remember though, this was just 0-1 against the best team in the league, with players missing and a newbie signed just yesterday. The fact we are disappointed shows how far we have come and what potential we have for the rest of the season
Star Man : Camp - A string of outstanding saves and a dominant performance all round
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