Joint-Chairman David Sullivan was left disappointed by the nature of Saturday’s defeat at AFC Bournemouth...
Hello everyone,
Like you all, I was very disappointed and frustrated with the manner of our defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday.
We went down there determined to bounce back from the Chelsea game, but we didn’t play as well as we know we can at Vitality Stadium.
Slaven, the players and the staff all know we have to do better.
Bournemouth had been on a difficult run of results and hadn’t won a game this year, but they were at home and their crowd were right behind them. You could see from the kick-off that they really wanted that game and it showed on the pitch throughout the 90 minutes.
They missed a penalty and we went straight up the other end and scored through Michail Antonio, which I expected to settle us down.
However, the game remained really open and they got an equaliser, then missed another penalty before going ahead from a set piece just after half-time.
We have conceded too many goals early in halves in recent games and, while we’ve managed to get ourselves back into games like the ones at Southampton and Watford and at home to West Bromwich Albion, there will be matches where we cannot equalise. That situation cannot go on.
We managed to level this time around, with another goal from Andre Ayew, so I was really disappointed when we let them score a third so late in the game.
I am sure that Slaven, his backroom staff and the team were not happy with what happened and they will think about it a lot over the next few days.
We have a week to prepare for our next game at home to Leicester City and I really urge you to give everything you can to support the team at London Stadium, as it is a massive game for us.
Before then, we have a special Iron Men DVD signing event with our Final Game goalscorers Diafra Sakho, Michail Antonio and Winston Reid at the Stadium Store on Thursday between 4-6pm. Please head along, meet the players and grab a copy of a piece of our history.
Thank you again for your loyal support – particularly the 1,340 of you who travelled to Bournemouth and did not once stop singing.
Come on you Irons!
David Sullivan
Joint-Chairman