INTERIM boss Gary O’Neil hailed the response from Cherries during the second half of their 2-0 defeat at West Ham and insisted: “I felt we were in total control.” The Dorset club lost star striker Dominic Solanke and keeper Neto due to injury during the first half at London Stadium – as well as going behind to Kurt Zouma’s controversial opener after Thilo Kehrer handled in the build-up. And despite Said Benrahma’s second-half strike from the penalty spot after Cherries full-back Jordan Zemura was judged to have handled, O’Neil had praise for his charges’ display.
Gary O Neil said: “Let’s assess us, we can’t control what’s going on with VAR and the referee decisions. We have no control about it whatsoever, so let’s talk about us. Let’s talk about what we did first half – we needed to be better. Big pat on the back from me in the second half to show huge courage with big players missing and suffering a setback that they felt aggrieved about. To produce that against a team that has been in Europe for two seasons and will be up around there challenging again – you see the depth of what they’ve got. To have them camped in their half, I would say, I don’t know if I’m overselling that – that’s how it felt. I felt we were in total control second half and we were pushing and pushing. We had some really good moments where the ball goes flashing across the goal. Jefferson Lerma heads one that is given as a foul on (Lukasz) Fabianski, which I don’t think is a foul. There’s a lot for the boys. Of course, they are going to be frustrated, so losing 2-0 to West Ham doesn’t do anyone any good. But as in having a team that is fully committed and believes in the game plan – a team that the supporters can be proud of again.”
Cherries will be looking to bounce back from two straight defeats when they host West Ham on Saturday (3pm).
