ANDONI Iraola’s decision to withdraw Luis Sinisterra and Justin Kluivert against Tottenham Hotspur “changed the game negatively,” according to Paul Robinson.
The former England and Spurs stopper was analysing Cherries’ 3-1 loss in his role as a pundit for BBC’s Match of the Day 2.
Trailing 1-0, Iraola replaced Sinisterra and Kluivert with Antoine Semenyo and Philip Billing.
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Prior to those changes, 50 per cent of Cherries’ attacks had come down the left flank, with 29 per cent through the middle and 21 per cent down the right.
And Robinson believes, although Alex Scott’s consolation goal and later disallowed effort came courtesy of crosses from the left, the changes hampered Cherries.
He said: “They worked very hard on it with Sinisterra and Kluivert.
“You see how narrow the Spurs back four is and then what Bournemouth do well, every time they get the ball, they move it to that left-hand side.
“Kluivert played in that 10 role, but when in possession he drifted over to that left-hand side. That’s where Bournemouth had a lot of joy. There was acres of space.
“On 61 minutes, Sinisterra and Kluivert, the two most attacking players, they came off.
“In my opinion, the Bournemouth substitutions, bringing those two players off, changed the game negatively for Bournemouth. It inadvertently helped Spurs.
“Their threat was down that left-hand side, something they’d clearly worked hard on and they were executing it very well.
“It almost looked like a pre-empted substitution from the manager, on the hour mark.
“They were the biggest attacking threat for Bournemouth and after that, no disrespect to the players that came on, the threat down that left-hand side went and Tottenham came back into the game.”
Following a first defeat in eight matches, Cherries sit 12th in the Premier League table.
Focus now switches to the FA Cup, with a trip to Championship Queens Park Rangers on Saturday (3pm).
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