Gary-ONeil-Manager

Everton’s defeat to Manchester City on Sunday means there are now three teams in the Premier League unable to overhaul Cherries’ current points tally of 39. Leeds United can now only finish on 37, Everton’s potential maximum 38, whilst New Forest neighbours Southampton have already been relegated. That means Cherries can finish no lower than 17th, thus are safe from the threat of relegation. Promoted from the Championship last term following a two-year absence from the top-flight, many tipped Cherries to go straight back down. Despite an opening day win over Aston Villa, heavy defeats to the biggest hitters in the league culminated in Scott Parker’s final game in charge, a record-equalling 9-0 defeat at Liverpool. Shortly after O’Neil was installed on a temporary basis, the head coach doing enough as interim to earn the job on a full-time basis. Victory over Leeds United at the end of April ultimately proved enough for Cherries to stay up with four games spare. “It's a big achievement, no doubt,” O’Neil mused. “You saw (against Crystal Palace), if we wouldn't have been at full tilt all season and the players hadn't been given absolutely everything, that is how the Premier League can treat you, ruthless. “Crystal Palace made us look like a team that was struggling. So the boys have given everything for the whole season, suffered some real tough blows, managed to pick themselves up and go again. “A lot of hard work gone in, from players and staff and, yeah, that's how we achieved it, really. “That's how we achieved it. We got everything out of absolutely everybody that we could. “Every last drop of quality, energy, determination, managed to get it out of everyone.” However, despite his delight at staying up against the odds, O’Neil shared his “huge disappointment” at his side’s performance at Selhurst Park. Eberechi Eze was on hand to score in either half and give Crystal Palace a 2-0 win over a Cherries side that failed to muster a shot on target. He continued: “But I don’t want it to finish like (the performance against Palace). At this moment, where we are with 39 points and the fact that we're safe doesn't make me feel any better about what I saw. “Just huge disappointment, really. “At the end of the season when I’ve sat down and we’ve stayed up, and I can obviously reflect on it from a clearer point of view, but (against Palace) what I saw from a team that was put out by me, I didn't like.”  

The two sides were level at half-time, after Matias Vina’s impressive strike cancelled out Conor Gallagher’s early opener. Chelsea had lots of possession after the restart, without working Neto, while down the other end Vina was denied a second goal by a fine Kepa Arrizabalaga stop. Dango Ouattara then missed a big chance to put the hosts in front, heading over from close range, before Chelsea got ahead when Benoit Badiashile scored from a Hakim Ziyech free-kick. Substitute Joao Felix then wrapped up victory with four minutes to play. Reflecting on the two sides’ contrasting fortunes in front of goal, O’Neil said: “I thought that was the only difference. I thought it was an even contest. “There were lots of bits in it that I liked. “When we were on top, sort of midway through the second half, we had a flurry of corners. Mati Vina has a one-on-one with Kepa, who makes a good save. “Kepa makes a great block from Dango as well, from four or five yards out and then obviously the massive chance with Dango's free header, four yards out from goal. “I think if we get our noses in front, the game will probably finish very differently. But disappointed that we weren't clinical enough and Chelsea make a couple of mistakes to give us a chance and we don't take it. “Then we get punished at the other end as soon as we make one. “I don't think Neto had a lot to do and then we make a mistake and they managed to punish us and it goes 2-1, and then obviously it's in their favour then. “But we were well in the game. Just really disappointed that we don't take anything.” O’Neil added: “We thought there was not much more performance-wise we could have done, apart from be better in front of their goal at key moments and then maybe not make quite so many errors. “Two errors at the end there for their two goals. “I thought the fans were excellent. I thought that the lads felt the energy in the place. “If there was any concern around the players not being at the same level as they have been because we're on 39 points, I thought there was no danger of that. “They were absolutely bang on again, gave absolutely everything. “But in football matches, especially against teams of world-class players, there is a chance that no matter how well you do, if you don't take your chances, they're going to take theirs. “We got stung with that.”

Having lost 4-0 at home to West Ham United last Sunday, Cherries went to Southampton on Thursday night, coming away 1-0 victors. Cherries’ head coach then held a press conference a few hours later, on Friday morning, to preview the visit of Leeds United. Following a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Whites, O’Neil revealed he had also spent Saturday night in hospital, with his six-year-old daughter Mila Bleu. Asked how he would be celebrating the win over Leeds, which he feels secures Cherries’ place in the Premier League next season on 39 points from 34 matches, O’Neil said: “I was in A&E last night with my youngest daughter. “She had an accident, nothing too serious. So I’ll get home, see how she is. “I’ll probably just spend the evening in the lounge. Maybe a beer, maybe a tea and some chocolate. There’s some Easter eggs left. I’m just going to enjoy it with them. “I just want to spend some time with the people that have supported me. “They’ve seen some dark evenings in the O’Neil house! Let’s enjoy this one with them.” Asked how he feels himself about the job he has done as boss at Cherries, O’Neil said: “The main thing is relief first. “Even when you’re on 36 points and Leeds are coming and Leicester and Everton play each other tomorrow, you still think because of our goal difference, we don’t want to go to Everton three points in front on the last day. It could still have easily gone the other way. “So today is relief that we put in a big performance and we achieve what I think will be Premier League safety. “I’m just going to enjoy this evening with the family. There’s been a lot of late ones this week – a few 11 o’clockers in there. I haven’t seen much of them. “So looking forward to this evening, celebrating with them and looking forward to getting onto Chelsea.”

Cherries moved up to that mark with a 1-0 win at Southampton on Thursday night, a fifth win in eight matches, which has seen them leap from bottom of the Premier League up to 14th. With five games to go, Cherries are seven points clear of the relegation zone. But boss O’Neil is not convinced the job is yet done, urging his side to be ready to “turn up right from the start” when they host relegation-threatened Leeds United on Sunday (2pm). Put to him that finishing higher up the table would earn the club more prize money at the end of the year, O’Neil said: “At this moment, it’s not about each place, it’s still about avoiding the bottom three for me. “I still believe 36 points could be relegated. “I think maybe the world felt when we left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (after winning 3-2 on April 15) that we were fine. “And then you get a performance against West Ham (4-0 loss) where we let ourselves down. “I think that’s a real good lesson for the boys around achieving a good result that everyone thinks means that you’re okay and you’re good and everything’s rosy and then you get a real kick up the backside a few days later. “We learnt that lesson last week and hopefully that prepares us for what will be a tough ask against Leeds, to go off the back of such a huge effort on Thursday night, two days’ less recovery (than Leeds) against a very intense team will be a big test for the boys come Sunday.” He added: “I felt everyone in the world felt more comfortable after Tottenham and you see what can happen, you lose a game 4-0 to West Ham. “Nottingham Forest beat Brighton and all of a sudden it’s lose at Southampton and we’re right back in it. Things can change very quickly. We’ve been on a good run, so other teams definitely can as well. “I still think 36 points can be relegated, so a real clear focus from me. Thursday night is done. “We enjoyed the fact that we managed to execute a gameplan against a team that could’ve been dangerous on the evening, fantastic that the fans got to enjoy another away victory, but nothing done yet. We need three points on Sunday.” Discussing the challenge posed by Leeds, O’Neil added: “For us, it’s just making sure we start the game well, because we have conceded some early goals recently. “And we were out of our last home game before it started. So making sure that we’re ready. “There needs to be a lot of work done in a short space of time to make sure that we turn up right from the start of Leeds. “We don’t have time to ease ourselves into this one. They play in an intense way. “They’ll have seen the start against West Ham I’m sure and they’ll be keen to come and impose themselves in front of our crowd, to try and make it an awkward afternoon for us. “Real focus from me on trying to get the boys ready to start off all guns blazing at two o’clock on Sunday.” Asked if his team selection will be influenced by having got some vital points on the board on Thursday, O’Neil said: “I don’t think so. I don’t feel any more comfortable at all. “I still feel like at this moment in time we could be relegated, so let’s approach the game exactly in that way, try and get the best team out there for energy, also for quality. “There will be no rotation that wouldn’t have taken place in any other scenario. It will be business as usual from team selection wise.”

Cherries took the lead early on through the first-half from a deflected Marcus Tavernier strike, the effort enough to separate the two sides at the final whistle 1-0. Che Adams thought he had rescued a precious point for the division’s bottom outfit late on, only for the equaliser to be chalked off by VAR for offside. Whilst overall he was pleased with his side’s performance, O’Neil did reiterate that his side need to be more clinical to finish contests off sooner. He began: “Big win for us. Performance was pleasing as well. “Sort of had everything we asked, apart from being clinical enough to put the game to bed. “Because I thought we were by far the better side today. “We spoke a lot this afternoon about showing a calmness in what would be probably a frantic football match, where obviously the other side are in a tough situation and there may be some desperation attached. “So, firstly, can we show a calmness in what is a big pressure situation? And then beneath that, can we show a real grit and steel, and a refusal to leave here without what we came for? “And I thought the performance showed both. “Credit to the players, I thought they were excellent.” Cherries recorded 16 shots and enjoyed consistent spells with the ball, but were unable to truly test Alex McCarthy beyond Tavernier’s winner. “Away from home, I thought it was impressive with the ball,” continued O’Neil. “I thought we played through our shape, lovely. “The things that we thought would be on were on. “It's been a bit of a story recently where we haven't quite been clinical enough, so I think back to Brighton at home where we missed some big chances. “So, yeah, it was a good performance, but the good news is that there is still room for improvement. Definitely.”

The resounding score-line marked Cherries’ heaviest home loss since defeat by the same score to Liverpool in the Premier League in December 2018. Early headed goals from Michail Antonio and Lucas Paqueta set the tone, before Declan Rose slammed in a third before half-time. O’Neil tried to change momentum with his substitutions, but Cherries could not pull a goal back, eventually conceding again through an acrobatic Pablo Fornals strike. Asked how he would sum up the loss, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “Not good enough in both penalty areas. “West Ham have a couple of real strengths and we weren’t able to cope with them, basically. “Whatever happened in between becomes irrelevant if you’re not able to deal with one of their key strengths. “David (Moyes) said to me afterwards obviously it was a never a 4-0 game. “We obviously dominated the ball. But West Ham have real strengths in that they attack set plays well, they’re physical, they’re good in the air and they can counter-attack. “If you don’t match their physicality in our penalty area for the first goal and even for the second goal, 12 minutes in, 2-0 down, you’ve not been able to cope with one of their key strengths and then you’ve set the game up perfectly for them to sit in as they wanted to and try and catch you on the counter. “And then on the flip side of that, we arrive in the final third, create a lot of chances and aren’t good enough to stick any away at the moment.” O’Neil added: “If you want to look at the real reason West Ham beat us today, it’s because their strengths, we couldn’t cope with.” Cherries slip to 15th with this defeat, five points clear of the relegation zone with six games to play.

Cherries picked up a first ever away win against Spurs, thanks to a brilliant last-gasp winner from substitute Dango Ouattara. Having trailed early on to a Son Heung-min strike, Cherries turned the contest on its head with goals from Matias Vina and Dominic Solanke. Former Cherries star Arnaut Danjuma then popped up with an equaliser for the hosts in the 88th minute, only for Ouattara to score in the fifth minute of stoppage time to secure a stunning 3-2 victory. Asked how his heart is after a crazy finale in north London, boss O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “A rollercoaster of last 10 minutes, which was obviously very up and down. “But I’m okay. I’ve settled down now. I’ll enjoy this evening, but have already switched focus to how I get the group ready for the next one. I’m fine.” The win lifts Cherries up to 14th in the Premier League table, now six points clear of the relegation zone with seven games to play. O’Neil’s men have now won four of their last seven matches, and face three other clubs battling relegation in their next three in West Ham, Southampton and Leeds United. Asked how Cherries have strung together their recent run, O’Neil added: “Fine margins on results. I think even today, real fine margins. “I thought the second goal they scored should’ve been given offside and then obviously we score a very late winner. “So fine margins, but the key from our point of view is we’ve kept performances at a real good level you give yourself a chance then, if you keep sticking to what you believe in and you keep performing, hopefully you pick up enough results to make sure that we achieve the goal that we set out to in August.”

Having played a bit-part role for much of last season, Mepham was a key figure for Cherries during the early months of this campaign. He missed just eight minutes of the club’s first 14 Premier League matches of this campaign, also penning a new contract in September, tying him to the club until 2025. However, following the World Cup break, during which time Mepham competed with Wales in Qatar, he has found himself in and out of the side. That culminated in a four-game run across March and April where the centre-back played no minutes, not even making the bench for games against Fulham and Brighton. Jack Stephens and Marcos Senesi have been the preferred defensive pair, with January signing Illia Zabarnyi the cover on the bench. But following an injury to Senesi, Mepham was brought out of the cold and straight back into action, impressing in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Leicester City, with a couple of vital defensive interventions. Discussing the 25-year-old’s performance at King Power Stadium, after his spell watching from the stands, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “It is because of his reaction to being left out really. “We had everyone fit, pretty much, and we’re going to have to leave two big players out from squads at that moment. “It happened to be Meps for a number of reasons – tactical, what the opposition might bring, some of the other balance that we needed. “He reacted excellently from that moment. “He trained incredibly well last week and the way he approached it sort of made my decision for me (on Saturday), with who we put in to replace Marcos. “You only get a performance (on Saturday) like that if you’ve done the work. “Meps has kept himself ready and when his opportunity has come, he’s able to show what a good player he is.” Cherries climbed out of the relegation zone with victory at Leicester, the fourth time they have collected maximum points in their last eight fixtures. Asked what the mood was like in the dressing room at full-time on Saturday, O’Neil said: “They’re happy in there, they’re enjoying themselves. “A few cups a tea, a bit of music on. They’re having a good time!” “The lads have won four of the last eight games in the Premier League, so they’re in a good spot.” Cherries return to action on Saturday, with a trip to Tottenham Hotspur (3pm).

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