Brazilian wonderkid Rayan (£5.5m) scored again as Bournemouth stormed back to beat 10-man Everton on Tuesday.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
RAYAN SCORES AGAIN
Rayan is only three matches into his Bournemouth career, but it’s fair to say he’s made quite the impression.
The Brazilian equalised for the Cherries on Tuesday, heading home Adrien Truffert’s (£4.5m) excellent delivery.
It was Rayan’s third attacking return in as many Gameweeks, after his assist at Wolverhampton Wanderers and goal against Aston Villa.
The only blemish on Tuesday’s performance was the penalty he gave away after he lost control of the ball while attempting to dribble out of his own penalty box.
“I think that it’s a mistake from Rayan, but we have to accept these kinds of mistakes with him and young players. He’s coming to a new league, he’s 19, he knows he cannot do this in his own box and it’s a penalty. But he showed character because I don’t think he gets too affected by it and he continues being a threat and in the second half I thought it was another pen on the other side but he continued and scored the goal and I finished happy.
“Even with the mistake, I think it’s a good learning experience for him and it hasn’t cost us points in the end. It’s one of the things we were looking for in the winter market because this season we have lost Antoine Semenyo and Dango Ouattara, two of the most physical wingers in the league. We needed someone with some physicality and with set plays given that we’re quite short, so I think he’s added these things to the team.” – Andoni Iraola on Rayan
Pushing high up the right flank, Rayan racked up three shots and two chances created.
Andoni Iraola made two alterations for Bournemouth from Gameweek 25, with Ryan Christie (£4.9m) and new arrival Alex Toth (£5.0m) coming in for the benched Lewis Cook (£4.9m) and Eli Jr Kroupi (£4.7m).
£4.0M HILL SUPERB
A few minutes after Rayan’s equaliser, Bournemouth went ahead, when James Hill (£4.0m) headed across for Amine Adli (£5.4m) to nod into an empty net.
Both Hill and Adli have enjoyed superb runs in the first team recently.
Hill has now started eight matches in a row, a period during which he has delivered three assists and 106 defensive contributions (DefCon), 22 more than teammate Marcos Senesi (£4.8m).
Additionally, Bournemouth have suffered only one defeat in that time, to Arsenal.
“He knows he has to be at his best level because otherwise we have Bafo [Diakite], Veljko [Milosavljevic] pushing to get his minutes. But he’s very good for the team. He has adapted to playing as a right-back, playing as a number six, playing as a centre-back. And he’s playing very well.” – Andoni Iraola on James Hill
“I don’t think we’ve scored a lot of headers this season, but James Hill has been key with set-pieces both offensively and defensively for us, because Everton are massive, they have four or five super-tall players and he has been dealing with first contacts and first aerial duels in both boxes very, very well.” – Andoni Iraola on James Hill
As for Adli, it’s now four attacking returns in five matches.
NDIAYE PEN, O’BRIEN BAN
Everton went one up through Iliman Ndiaye’s (£6.2m) first-half penalty.
The Senegal winger previously had a goal ruled out for offside and hit the post, as well as creating a really good opportunity for Thierno Barry (£5.7m), who was wasteful throughout.
Ndiaye claimed a share of the bonus to total nine points, but it could have been more, having ended the match with 11 DefCons.
But Everton imploded after the break, as they threw away a 1-0 lead at the hour mark to lose 2-1.
Shortly after Bournemouth’s quickfire double, Jake O’Brien (£4.9m) was sent off for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity, as Adli raced clear through on goal. He’ll miss Gameweek 27 as a result.
As for Michael Keane (£4.7m), he made way for Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.3m) in David Moyes’ starting XI and only appeared as a very late substitute, when he was pushed up front with Everton searching for an equaliser.
For his owners, uncertainty will remain in Gameweek 27, with Nathan Patterson (£4.4m) perhaps the most likely to replace the suspended O’Brien at right-back.
The Toffees have now taken just two points from their last five home matches, conceding nine goals, with Manchester United up next at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
“Away from home we can defend our goal brilliantly and keep clean sheets, but for some reason at home we can’t do that as well. We conceded two from pretty much nothing. Very disappointing. It feels a bit rubbish.” – James Tarkowski
