Gary O’Neil
With injury woes easing, Cherries’ squad has been bolstered in recent weeks, with O’Neil blessed with a bench of nine full internationals at the weekend. After a poor first-half display, in which the hosts led 1-0 through Douglas Luiz, O’Neil opted against turning to his bench at the break. Asked if he was tempted to make any substitutions at half-time,
Gary O’Neil said: “We threw a couple on early, 55 minutes or something. Obviously they didn’t have the impact that we’d have hoped. It didn’t make us any better at that point. At 1-0, I felt that we were right in the game. But we needed to take one of our situations and we didn’t. I felt there was a game there that if we’d have grabbed it more by the scruff of the neck and we’d have shown some quality in the final third, we could’ve hurt Aston Villa.”
With Adam Smith withdrawn as the game approached its final 10 minutes, Cherries fell apart defensively. Jacob Ramsey and Emi Buendia both scored, while Tyrone Mings also went close and Villa had a goal ruled out. Discussing the final 10 minutes of the fixture,
Gary O’Neil said: “I’m really disappointed. There is a risk of that, of course, when you try and get as many attacking players on as we did. But I was disappointed it changed the way the game is now seen. Because it wasn’t like that for a very long spell. We need to make sure that in that situation it doesn’t turn that way.”
