Bournemouth beat Sturm Graz 3-0 at home to maintain their perfect start in the Europa League.
The Cherries may be one of just three teams that have yet to win a game in the Premier League, alongside Tottenham and Fulham. But it’s the exact opposite situation in Europe.
They have now made it two wins from two by defeating Austrian side Sturm Graz thanks to goals from Brazilian duo Evanilson and Rayan plus Alvaro Rodriguez’s first for the club.
Despite taking them 43 minutes to finally break the deadlock at Vitality Stadium, it was the insistence in Marco Rose‘s game plan that got them ahead.
How did Bournemouth break Sturm Graz down?
Exploiting the right flank
The German manager had clear ideas as to how he wanted to create advantages. We constantly saw Bournemouth attack Sturm Graz by using the right flank, whether it was with Adam Smith crossing from deeper positions or looking for Ben Gannon-Doak in behind.
In fact, their first dangerous moment of the game came in the 12th minute with Marcus Tavernier arriving at the back-post following a Smith cross. Though the 27-year-old couldn’t hit the target in what was deemed a big chance.
But that wasn’t just a one-off. In fact, Evanilson’s goal came from a very similar cross path – just over the top rather than on the ground.
Benefits of double width
But there was one other aspect to Bournemouth’s opener that helped them not only in the goal but in other of their preferred plays during the first half.
Looking at the Cherries’ passing network map, we can notice Adam Smith and Ben Gannon-Doak occupying basically the same space.
While that can, in many cases, make it easier for opponents to defend, it can also have the opposite effect. Especially in fast breaks or artificial transitions, since Sturm Graz pressed in man-oriented fashion.
Having multiple players out wide also means attracting multiple defenders from the other team. Tonight, this was particularly valuable for Bournemouth, who started a game with two strikers for the first time in nearly four years across all competitions. The last one had been in January 2023 against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
Rodriguez is a pure, out-and-out target man who won five of his six aerial duels in the game. Evanilson isn’t known as an aerial threat, but can certainly head the ball – and did so to score his goal.
So Marco Rose ended up having two different players capable of launching the ball into the box looking for the strikers. As well as dragging defenders away from the box and emptying the space near the goal. One of those combinations is actually what broke the deadlock in the first place. And there was plenty of room at the back post had the cross gone that far.
Gannon-Doak didn’t have a particularly stand-out performance. Though it was him who played the ball back to Smith who found Evanilson with a cross. The veteran right-back, however, was one of the best players during his 62 minutes on the pitch – if not the best.
Bournemouth did change the focus to the left flank in the second half. They also endured a worrying 10-minute stretch in which Sturm Graz nearly equalised, hitting the post and forcing a great save from Djordje Petrovic in the same sequence.
But the Cherries built the win and showed their plan A during the first half, with plenty of right-sided combinations that made a lot of sense given the starting XI Marco Rose chose for tonight.
It may not mean much for them going forward, though. Despite the goal, Rodriguez looked a step slower than his teammates and may not be ready for Premier League intensity just yet. They also lack other fit strikers to try and recreate tonight’s formation in league football.
But it was an interesting and worthy test that paid off.