The crowd’s reaction on the final whistle after Wanderers had surrendered two points at home once again told you everything – the Reebok is not a happy place to be.
Dougie Freedman bore the brunt of the fans’ ire, and the Whites boss had no complaints when he looked back at another afternoon of ‘what might have beens’.
As Lukas Jutkiewicz made it 2-0 on Saturday afternoon, you just wondered whether the manager’s luck was going to change. Sixty seconds later when Lewis Grabban halved the deficit for Bournemouth the nerves set in, and everyone knew what was coming.
In the end, the jeers and chants that appeared at the end of the game came as no surprise to Freedman.
“The fans are entitled to their views and I’ve always said that. I do share their frustrations right now,” he reflected. “They’ve seen me pick an attacking team, seen us go 2-0 up but seen us get pegged back, so I share those frustrations.
“You can see there are problems in the team when we got two up – and I thought a deserved 2-0 up. We attacked well and it was working, but the slightest hiccup and we revert to type.
“It doesn’t matter how many drills or things you work on the training ground, that’s the way it is going right now and that’s the frustration for me.”
While the performances of keeper Adam Bogdan and loan striker Lukas Jutkiewicz were positives for the beleaguered boss to take from the game – it was the all-too-familiar sight of his players losing belief to secure a result that most concerned the manager’s thoughts after the final whistle.
“Confidence is fragile but our approach to this game was right,” he said. “We played some good stuff and I thought Lukas Jutkiewicz was fantastic – he led by example and I wish people would follow.
“One small decision affects us hugely and that’s the kind of thing I need to change.
“I need to make sure if we do go a goal down that we have the right character to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”
Freedman defended the decision to bring off an attacking midfielder in Mark Davies for a defensive one in Medo Kamara midway through the second half, with the score at 2-1.
“He made one run and then his recovery run wasn’t that great so we decided to bring him off,” he said. “I’m very cautious with Mark Davies and his fitness problems.”
Dougie Freedman bore the brunt of the fans’ ire, and the Whites boss had no complaints when he looked back at another afternoon of ‘what might have beens’.
As Lukas Jutkiewicz made it 2-0 on Saturday afternoon, you just wondered whether the manager’s luck was going to change. Sixty seconds later when Lewis Grabban halved the deficit for Bournemouth the nerves set in, and everyone knew what was coming.
In the end, the jeers and chants that appeared at the end of the game came as no surprise to Freedman.
“The fans are entitled to their views and I’ve always said that. I do share their frustrations right now,” he reflected. “They’ve seen me pick an attacking team, seen us go 2-0 up but seen us get pegged back, so I share those frustrations.
“You can see there are problems in the team when we got two up – and I thought a deserved 2-0 up. We attacked well and it was working, but the slightest hiccup and we revert to type.
“It doesn’t matter how many drills or things you work on the training ground, that’s the way it is going right now and that’s the frustration for me.”
While the performances of keeper Adam Bogdan and loan striker Lukas Jutkiewicz were positives for the beleaguered boss to take from the game – it was the all-too-familiar sight of his players losing belief to secure a result that most concerned the manager’s thoughts after the final whistle.
“Confidence is fragile but our approach to this game was right,” he said. “We played some good stuff and I thought Lukas Jutkiewicz was fantastic – he led by example and I wish people would follow.
“One small decision affects us hugely and that’s the kind of thing I need to change.
“I need to make sure if we do go a goal down that we have the right character to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”
Freedman defended the decision to bring off an attacking midfielder in Mark Davies for a defensive one in Medo Kamara midway through the second half, with the score at 2-1.
“He made one run and then his recovery run wasn’t that great so we decided to bring him off,” he said. “I’m very cautious with Mark Davies and his fitness problems.”
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