No word from Andoni Iraola … but no matter! Ben Fisher was at Dean Court tonight and his report has landed. Here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM.
A grim-faced Luke Williams speaks to S4C. “It was horrible … a horrible night for us … I apologised to the players because I tried to set the team up to give a problem to the opposition … it was a cup game, we had to find a way to win … but I got the balance wrong, too many players in advanced positions, and in the turnover there weren’t enough bodies to stem the flow … in the second half we had more bodies back … we tried to limit the damage … the scoreline was too heavy …they were very nervous but I don’t want to single anybody out or talk too much about individual errors … we made easy openings by making mistakes, and that was very disappointing … but I needed to help the team quicker and find a way to give them more bodies behind the ball to defend … we have to go to training and try to work out how we’ll set up for the next game … we did learn some things tonight … Leicester is not going to be so much different as they’re an outstanding group as well … we have to come up with a gameplan and try to convince the players … I will take some responsibility to share with them … now I need to try to find the best way for them to be competitive … we would do well to strengthen the squad for sure.”
Bournemouth are the first team into the FA’s velvet sack for the fifth round. They effectively completed the job with less than a quarter of an hour on the clock. David Brooks, Alex Scott and Luis Sinisterra were all magnificent; quite a few of their team-mates were pretty darn good as well. A half-time score of 5-0 didn’t flatter the Cherries at all. That needs to be balanced by the fact that Swansea were an incompetent shambles defensively in the first period. Some much-needed straws for the Swans to grab at: Kyle Naughton hit the post, Liam Cullen drew a marvellous save from Mark Travers, and while they’ve lost their last two first halves to a combined score of 1-8, if they could put the two goalless second halves together, they might be on their way to something.
FULL TIME: Bournemouth 5-0 Swansea City
… and with two seconds of the 90 still to play, the referee blows his whistle to give Swansea merciful release.
89 min: S4C name David Brooks as seren y gem.
88 min: Grimes is down, having taken a whack to the back of his leg. On come the doctors. Grimes gets back up again.
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87 min: Bournemouth want a sixth, but try as they might, the ball refuses to go in. Sinisterra makes space down the left and from the byline tees up Sadi, but his shot is blocked. Then Kerkez has a go, only to slice wide left.
86 min: … but at least this time it’s won Bournemouth a corner, and from that, Moore flicks a header across Fisher towards the top-right corner. Inches wide of the post.
85 min: Now it’s Moore’s turn to chase a Cook pass down the right. He reaches the byline and pulls back for Tavernier, who again sees his shot deflected harmlessly off target.
84 min: Cook releases Tavernier down the right. Tavernier has options in the middle but elects to shoot himself. His effort is blocked. So is Sadi’s.
82 min: Scott, who was sensational in the first half, albeit against non-existent opposition, is replaced by Sadi.
80 min: The free kick deflects to Paterson, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. His shot-cum-cross is snaffled by Travers, who hasn’t had much to do this evening, but what he’s done, he’s done well.
79 min: Scott is booked for shoving Paterson to the ground. A free kick 25 yards from the Bournemouth goal, just left of centre.
78 min: Nothing much is going on. If both managers could declare now, they surely would. In fact, that was almost certainly the case the best part of an hour ago.
77 min: Cullen and Ashby make way for Paterson and Lissah.
76 min: Fulton is booked for a late hit on Cook.
75 min: Tavernier and Cook combine down the right and tee up Moore on the penalty spot. Moore looks to sweep home, only for his low drive to be deflected wide right of goal. Nothing comes of the quickly-taken corner.
73 min: Cook nearly releases Kerkez down the left flank with a long speculative pass. Not quite. Fisher takes his sweet time over the restart, and you can’t really blame him.
71 min: Brooks makes way for Tavernier.
69 min: … so perhaps with this in mind, Allen, recently booked, is hooked for Cooper.
68 min: Nothing comes of the corner, though as Scott probes gracefully down the left, Naughton gives him a frustrated shove. Swansea are collectively running a little hot. No great surprise, given what’s gone down.
67 min: Scott strokes a pass down the right for Brooks, who would have been clear through on goal had he not slipped. Bournemouth come again, though, Moore grafting his way along the left to win another corner for the hosts.
66 min: Scott is fairly crudely checked by Allen, who becomes the third Swan to go into the book.
64 min: Moore whips the resulting free kick straight into Fisher’s arms. “In 1995/96 I saw my beloved Fulham beat Swansea 7-0 at Craven Cottage in the first round of the FA Cup,” begins Philip Rebbeck’s could-be-worse news. “We set a record that day that will likely never be beaten-the largest victory against a team in a higher division (fourth v third).”
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63 min: Brooks releases Sinisterra down the left. Sinisterra drops a shoulder to go past Ashby, who arrives ten minutes later to scythe him down. Ashby goes into the book.
61 min: Christie sends a Bournemouth corner long from the left. It drops to Zabarnyi on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. He miscontrols out for a goal kick, and at 5-0 can afford to crack a wry smile. Big chance gone, though.
59 min: Brooks attempts to release Moore down the inside-right channel. Cullen intercepts. Cullen is a one-man resistance right now.
57 min: Hill can’t continue. He trudges around the perimeter of the pitch shaking his head sadly, Bournemouth’s full-back curse striking again. He’s replaced by Kilkenny. Meanwhile for Swansea, Patino makes way for Bolasie.
56 min: Cullen crosses deep from the left, causing Travers some concern. Back-pedalling, the keeper is forced to tip over his bar. Senesi heads Allen’s corner clear. But maybe their manager’s trenchant half-time advice is sinking into the Swansea noggins after all.
55 min: Hill gets back up and hobbles gingerly to the touchline. But it looks like he plans to continue.
54 min: “We’re gonna win 6-5,” trill the Swansea fans, winning full marks for gallows humour.
53 min: Hill and Cullen tussle down the Swansea left. Hill slips over and twists his knee. He’s in some discomfort and so on comes the physio.
51 min: Weird thing is, Swansea could easily have had two goals in the first half, Naughton hitting a post, Travers making a world-class save from Cullen. They don’t look half as bad going forward. Cullen makes his way down the left, a promising chase that doesn’t quite take him into the box, but small acorns and all that.
49 min: Scott wins a corner down the left. It’s sent into the mixer. Senesi aims for the top-left corner from 12 yards but his effort is blocked. If Luke Williams gave his team the what-for during the break, they’ve not listened to a word of it.
48 min: Humphreys briefly thinks about flying in with two feet on Brooks, before wisely thinking twice about it and pulling out last minute.
46 min: Moore is almost immediately on the scoresheet. Brooks swings a cross in from the right. Moore prepares to sweep home, six yards out, but Wood manages to get a boot to the ball first and blocks. That’s not exactly going to settle Swansea, is it.
Swansea get the second half of their nightmare underway. The same 11 players have been told to get back out there and go again. Bournemouth have made two changes, though, replacing Solanke and Kelly with Moore and Kerkez.
A couple of records are potentially on the line here tonight. The one most likely to be wiped from the book is Swansea’s record FA Cup defeat, an 8-0 thumping by Liverpool in a third-round replay in 1990. That scoreline’s also their joint all-time defeat, the Swans having lost 8-0 in Monaco a year later, playing as the reigning Welsh Cup winners in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. So four more for Bournemouth, and there’s one new page to be written.
Another could be penned should Bournemouth really go to town in the second half. Their all-time record win was in an FA Cup match: the famous 11-0 thrashing of Margate in 1971, in which their striker Ted MacDougall scored nine goals. “I was disappointed as I thought I should have got 11,” was the striker’s arch response.
Half-time correspondence. “My dog’s called Smygu. It means smoking a cigarette in Welsh. I reckon after this, the Swans are gonna need to smoke something a little stronger to get over it. What I really can’t get my head around is why, when facing clearly superior opponents, do teams insist on playing out from the back? There’s nothing wrong with shelving your ethos for one game, playing hoofball, and kicking your opponents at every opportunity? It might be anti football or whatever, but surely the point is to win?” – Michael Carrick Matt Dunnill
HALF TIME: Bournemouth 5-0 Swansea City
It’s fair to say Swansea are developing a reputation as slow starters. They shipped three in the first half against Southampton at the weekend; they’ve let in five in the first half today. Bournemouth have been magic going forward, mind, with Scott, Sinisterra and Brooks all sizzling.
45 min +4: … though it was nearly one for Swansea! A long free kick is half cleared and drops to Cullen, who shapes like Zinedine Zidane in the 2002 Champions League final and sends a rising volley towards the top-left corner. Travers spectacularly tips over! For all Bournemouth’s dominance, and Swansea’s sheer ineptitude, the visitors could easily have a couple of goals themselves!
45 min +3: Looks like it’ll just be the five for Bournemouth in this first half.
45 min +1: Nothing comes of the corner. The first of four added minutes passes.
45 min: This is getting old. Ashby goes into a 50-50 with Kelly so weakly. Kelly finds Sinisterra, who releases Christie down the left. Christie crosses for Solanke, forcing Wood to head behind for a corner.
GOAL! Bournemouth 5-0 Swansea (Solanke 44)
Brooks plays a simple pass down the inside-left channel to release Sinisterra into acres. He rolls across to Solanke who slams home. Simple as it all sounds. Swansea are a complete rabble.
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43 min: This is a fiasco. Fulton, under no pressure whatsoever, rolls a pass back towards Fisher, and very nearly allows Solanke in. The keeper’s last-ditch sliding tackle saves the day. But why has he bothered? Because seconds later …
41 min: Cullen clips the back of the in-flight Scott’s heel, and is fortunate not to go into the book. Some sympathy from the referee for a team who are getting their shorts handed to them, freshly laundered and pressed.
39 min: Allen rolls left for Cullen, who wins a corner off Hill. Nothing comes of it. On the touchline, Luke Williams shrugs theatrically. You’d pay good money to hear his half-time teamtalk.
37 min: This could get seriously embarrassing for Swansea. Apart from that one penalty-box rumble – and to be fair, they were extremely unfortunate not to score – they’ve done nothing in attack, and look like conceding every time Bournemouth pile forward.
GOAL! Bournemouth 4-0 Swansea (Brooks 35)
So much for Swansea succour. So much for Swansea soccer. Solanke, in the centre circle, slips a pass down the inside-right channel to release Brooks into acres. He’s got Sinisterra in the middle, but he doesn’t need him, opening his body and steering confidently across Fisher and into the bottom left.
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34 min: Out comes a training-ground play. Scott shapes to shoot but rolls the ball back for Brooks, who chips down the inside-right channel. The ball drops to Solanke, but not quickly enough to get a powerful shot away. He high-kicks wide right.
Apologies to any Buffalo Bills fans for those last two words.
33 min: Fulton carelessly swings a leg across Brooks and concedes a free kick 25 yards out, in a fairly central position. Both Scott and Brooks look well up for this.
31 min: After the stramash, a corner, then another, then Bournemouth eventually clear. But that was much, much better from Swansea. To be fair, it would have been hard for them to get any worse. They’ll surely take succour from that.
29 min: A free kick for Swansea out on the left. The visitors load the box. Grimes swings it in. Then bedlam! Bournemouth only half clear the ball. Fulton takes a shot. Blocked. Naughton tries again. His low curler hits the left-hand post! A scramble. Then Wood has a whack from close range. Travers parries. How did Swansea not get one back there?!
27 min: Christie drops deep before shovelling a pass down the inside-left channel in the hope of releasing Kelly. On the edge of his box again, Fisher manages to claim this one just in time.
25 min: Cook, out on the right touchline, sends a raking cross towards Solanke. Fisher comes to claim, but the ball curves across the face of the box without entering it. Under severe pressure from the striker, the Swansea keeper belts clear just in time. A fourth goal seems inevitable.
23 min: Sinisterra and Scott combine smoothly down the left. The latter looks for Solanke in the middle. Just as the striker prepares to slam home from close range, Naughton comes across to blast behind for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but Swansea are being seriously run ragged here.
21 min: Scott is causing absolute mayhem. Now his pass down the right sends Brooks away. Brooks fizzes a low cross towards Solanke, but Ashby is on point to blooter clear. Another goal looks merely a matter of time. Swansea need to settle or this could get super-embarrassing, super-quickly.
20 min: Swansea can’t deal with Bournemouth’s press at all. Scott nearly robs Fisher, then Solanke is found in the box with a low left-wing cross. The striker can’t quite sort his feet out, and is crowded out on the spot by Humphreys and Naughton. For a nanosecond, a fourth goal looked on the cards.
18 min: Fisher’s couple of early confident touches suddenly feel like an awfully long time ago. Swansea making problems for themselves when playing out from the back, and suffering from an unwelcome bout of Middlesbrough-at-Chelsea-itis.
16 min: On the touchline, Luke Williams frowns quite a lot. In the stand, so does David Moyes, whose West Ham team welcome Bournemouth next weekend.
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GOAL! Bournemouth 3-0 Swansea (Sinisterra 14)
This is sensational stuff from Bournemouth, who have been relentless from the get-go! Scott takes up possession, snaffling Fisher’s poor pass out. He thinks about shooting from the edge of the D, but instead rolls to Sinisterra to his left. Sinisterra takes a touch back inside, opens his body to see off Wood, and steers a precise curler into the bottom right. Wow!
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12 min: Nope, all’s fine. It’s fairly clearly on, though the VAR operative takes their bloody time about it, much to the home fans’ everyone’s irritation. The goal stands.
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11 min: … but it’s going to be checked for offside. Was Brooks a yard off as he started his run down the wing? VAR gets the old rulers out.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-0 Swansea (Scott 10)
Brooks romps off down the right wing. He gets the better of Humphreys and reaches the byline, before cutting back for Solanke. The striker can’t connect, but never mind, because romping in behind comes Scott, who roofs from close range. Another fine goal!
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9 min: That all started with Sinisterra, not for the first time causing all sorts of bother down the left. Swansea behind, and Hill on a yellow already. And to further add to Swansea’s woes …
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Swansea (Kelly 7)
The free kick is hit long by Brooks. Kelly races in from the right, and on the edge of the six-yard box sweeps a glorious volley across Fisher and into the net. Lovely finish! And what a start by the Cherries.
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6 min: Sinisterra gets the better of Wood down the left, and is hauled back for his trouble. Wood goes into the book, and from the resulting free kick …
5 min: Bournemouth are warming up quickly. First Solanke tries to make space in the box for a shot, only for his effort to be blocked, then Scott’s presence forces the first corner of the game. Swansea deal with it, and their fans sing their songs and arias.
4 min: Now Fisher comes out of his box to clear. The Swansea keeper giving it plenty of swash and buckle early doors.
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3 min: A long pass down the Bournemouth left. Sinisterra chases after it. Wood does enough to shepherd the ball back to Fisher, who elegantly wedges over the still-going Sinisterra to clear.
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1 min: Swansea stroke it around the back patiently, then suddenly spring forward through Grimes down the left. Grimes looks to release Yates but his pass forward is intercepted by Zabarnyi. Lovely move, though, it’s like Brendan Rodgers never went away.
Bournemouth get the ball rolling … and the fourth round of the FA Cup is underway.
The teams are out. The hosts wear their AC-Milan-inspired red and black, the visitors their Swansea-RFC-inspired white. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola talks to S4C. “It is difficult always to choose the starting XI but we have chosen a strong team … we are struggling with injuries but it’s a team we can be competitive with today … for the last month we have not had a proper left-back … we have done pretty well with players there … now with Max [Aarons] injured we have no specific right-back … today [James] Hill is the one who will play there … he can do the job … we don’t know how [Swansea] are going to play … they have a lot of technically gifted players … they will want to keep the ball … they have players with high quality … we will have to be quick and aggressive … we lost 4-0 the other day so we need to improve … the most important thing is to get to the next round but also we want to play better.”
The new Swansea boss Luke Williams speaks to S4C. “We have experience in there and youth in around them as well … we have a squad of players that I’m still trying to get eyes on … a few have been sidelined with injuries and are trying to get minutes so they can be at full tilt for the rest of the campaign … I’m happy we get to see these guys on the pitch … there were some really encouraging signs [in the second half against Southampton] against a really fantastic team that I’m pretty sure will be playing in the league against Bournemouth next season, so if we can carry on from there it will be brilliant … we will have to play at our top level and probably hope they are under par … it’s the glory of the cup that it can happen.”
Bournemouth make five changes to their starting XI in the wake of the 0-4 home defeat to Liverpool. Mark Travers, Lloyd Kelly, David Brooks, Alex Scott and Marcos Senesi replace Chris Mepham, Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier, who drop to the bench, and Neto and Max Aarons, who miss out altogether.
Swansea City also make five changes in the wake of a big loss at home, last weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Southampton. Andy Fisher, Joe Allen, Jerry Yates, Charlie Patino and Kyle Naughton take the places of Carl Rushworth, Harry Darling and Jamie Paterson, who are named as subs, and Josh Tymon and Jamal Lowe, both of whom have the evening off. Lowe, on loan from Bournemouth, is both ineligible to face his parent club and currently injured.
The teams
Bournemouth: Travers, Hill, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Kelly, Cook, Christie, Brooks, Scott, Sinisterra, Solanke.
Subs: Kerkez, Mepham, Tavernier, Kluivert, Andrei Radu, Moore, Semenyo, Kilkenny, Sadi.
Swansea City: Fisher, Ashby, Wood-Gordon, Naughton, Humphreys, Grimes, Allen, Fulton, Cullen, Yates, Patino.
Subs: Pedersen, Darling, Paterson, Ogbeta, Bolasie, Kukharevych, Rushworth, Cooper, Lissah.
Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire).
Our FA Cup Cherries ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3XXO7jIj95
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) January 25, 2024
⚠️ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗫𝗜 ⚠️
— Swansea City AFC (@SwansOfficial) January 25, 2024
Here's how the #Swans line up for this evening's @EmiratesFACup tie 🆚 @afcbournemouth 🏆
Brought to you in partnership with @the_lcvgroup. pic.twitter.com/pUgz2BeNey
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Preamble
The fourth round of the FA Cup begins on the south coast. Bournemouth – best finish the quarter finals in 1957 and 2021 – welcome Swansea, who made the semis in 1926 and 1964. As mid-table Premier League takes on mid-table Championship, can the Swans pull off a mid-level shock? Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
