Jason Tindall blames international break for Bournemouth’s bore draw

Posted Sunday, October 18, 2020 by PA

Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall blamed the international break for his side’s sluggish 0-0 draw at home to QPR.

Despite extending their unbeaten start to the Sky Bet Championship season, the Cherries failed to conjure a single shot on target in the 90 minutes.

Tindall, whose side beat Coventry 3-1 before the two-week recess, said: “We were well below the standard that we set against Coventry.

“We didn’t create too many chances today which was disappointing. We take the positives. We kept the clean sheet, we’re still unbeaten and we’re third in the league.

“I think we had a few tired bodies after the international break and only got the group back together for the first time yesterday.

“We had some good moments today without the right decision at the right time. When you’re not at your attacking best then it’s important that you don’t concede goals.”

Tindall left striker Josh King out of his squad following the Norway striker’s failed attempt to force a move to West Ham.

The Cherries boss said: “For the football club we’re delighted that Josh King is still a Bournemouth player.

“To have someone of his quality to call upon is a magnificent thing moving forward. He’s in the same position as the rest of the squad. You’ve got to earn the right to play.”

Bournemouth had goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to thank for avoiding their first league defeat of the season.

Begovic made two excellent first-half saves to deny Bright Osayi-Samuel and Macauley Bonne.

It took until 11 minutes before half-time for Bournemouth to create a meaningful chance when Dominic Solanke flashed a half-volley wide.

Rangers continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock in the early stages of the second half and the lively Osayi-Samuel drilled a right-footed effort into the side-netting.

Solanke should have done better 11 minutes from time after latching onto Lewis Cook’s lofted free-kick but buried a tame shot into the side-netting.

Rangers manager Mark Warburton was delighted with his side’s performance against one of the pre-season promotion favourites.

Warburton said: “I thought first half especially we were really good. We should have gone in 1-0 up at half-time.

“Defensively we stood up, showed some very good character. They’ve got a lot of players with extensive Premier League experience. I thought we bit into the tackle and won the ball.

“We did a lot of work on the shape to narrow things up and negate their strengths and it worked well.

“We have one of the bottom six budgets, that’s the nature of it, but the players who have come in have done well for us.”