Bournemouth Misses Out On Trip To Wembley As City Advances 2-1 To FA Cup Semifinals
Going into the match, the question was whether or not Manchester City could handle Bournemouth’s high, intense pressure. In the first half, no, but in the second half, yes. Bournemouth were the dominant team, disrupting how City wanted to play in the first half. It was the Nico O’Reilly show in the second half, which saw him get two assists to help City reach the FA Cup semifinals for a seventh consecutive season.
Bournemouth’s Press and City’s Chances
The opening minutes of the match were all Bournemouth. Bournemouth used their intense out-of-possession play to set the tone of the first half. Closing down players quickly caused City to turn the ball over, winning the first and second balls and imposing their physicality on the City players. City had no answers.
But football is a strange game, where the team that hasn’t been the dominant one has the first big chance of the game; in this case, it was City with three. It fell to the man who City would want those chances to fall to: Erling Haaland. The first chance came from a Matheus Nunes cross that found a poorly marked Haaland in the box. He put his header wide of the goal and should have done better, knowing his goal-scoring capabilities.
The second chance was from the penalty spot. The penalty came from an attempted flick pass from Bernardo Silva that popped up in the air and inadvertently struck Tyler Adams’ hand. Haaland saw his penalty saved by Kepa as he guessed the right way and dove to his left to stop the attempt from Haaland. Haaland’s third chance of the game came from a one-on-one with Kepa as he tried lifting the ball over the Bournemouth keeper and just put it over the bar, but give credit to Kepa as he did well to close down his angles quickly.
Bournemouth’s Goal and Attack
Bournemouth’s goal came from an aggressive press that resulted in a loose square pass by Nunes in the middle of City’s defensive half. Lewis Cook pounced on it and played the ball out wide to David Brooks on the right. Brooks crossed the ball to the back post to Kluivert, whose attempt went back across Ederson’s goal, finding Evanilson, who beat Khusanov to the ball and put it in from point-blank range.
The only threat Bournemouth imposed on City was their aggressive press, while on the ball, they struggled. In possession, Bournemouth looked to break quickly, trying to go direct, whether that was finding Kluivert or Semenyo, relying on them to use their pace to get in behind City’s back line and to either take a player one-on-one or try to combine with someone quickly.
City Ending the Half
City started growing into the game in the first half's later stages. The likes of De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Gündogan, and Foden started to connect some nice intricate passes, breaking the lines through Bournemouth's press, and City's off-ball movement and overall speed of play improved. Bournemouth would regret not creating more chances in the first half to have a firmer grip on the game before going into the half.
City turn things around
Guardiola made a tactical change at half-time, putting on Nico O’Reilly for Khusanov, moving Gvardiol to center-back, and playing O’Reilly at left-back. This switch proved vital, as he was an outlet for the switch of play. O’Reilly was the willing runner to push forward into the acres of space he had in front of him, and he found himself on the end of through balls, putting him in dangerous areas.
The first warning sign for Bournemouth came from DeBruyne being able to turn in midfield and switch play out wide to O’Reilly with tons of time and space to pick his head up and put a cross in. Only Bernardo Silva was in the box with five Bournemouth defenders. That was the first encouraging attacking move from City.
City’s first goal came from Gündogan winning the second ball, who found DeBruyne immediately in the center circle, and he was able to turn to see the onrushing O’Reilly in acres of space, who picked Haaland out from a low cross, who then was able to put it in.
Later in the match, Marmoush had to come on for an injured Haaland, but it was the substitute who put City ahead. City’s second goal was a bit scrappier, as Gündogan tried to continue the switch a play towards O’Reilly; Semenyo was able to get something on it but not enough as O’Reilly picked the ball up around the top of the eighteen to play an overlapping Marmoush who did the rest, as he was able to dig out a shot from underneath him and went under the arms of Kepa. At this point in the match, City created some more chances, one being an attempt from a Gündogan shot hitting the post. City did well to kill the game off by keeping possession and sucking the air out of the game.
What’s Next
The Premier League returns on Tuesday, and Bournemouth will face Ipswich on Wednesday and will now focus on fighting to get a place in next season’s Champions League. As for City, they will play Leicester City on Wednesday and have a date with Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semifinals on April 26.
