Wolves manager fumes at players for ignoring his instructions in Bournemouth defeat

Wolves head coach Vitor Pereira accused his players of failing to stick to his gameplan and being too timid after they slipped to a 1-0 Premier League defeat at Bournemouth.

Pereira advised his team to exploit the flanks on the south coast but they fell behind to Marcus Tavernier’s deflected fourth-minute strike after losing possession while attempting to play through the middle.

Wanderers began the second half brightly at Vitality Stadium before captain Toti Gomes was sent off in the 49th minute for pushing Cherries striker Evanilson in the back as he raced through on goal.

Full debutant Jhon Arias flashed narrowly wide for the visitors just before the red card after Marshall Munetsi had wasted a golden early chance before match-winner Tavernier benefited from a hefty touch off Emmanuel Agbadou.

“The plan was very clear for us: to not build our play in the middle, to build the play from the sides,” said Pereira.

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“ Football is like this. You can prepare everything but after four minutes we make a pass in the middle, we build in the middle, we lost the ball and they scored. Before (the goal) we had a big chance to score and we missed it.

“I think this goal creates a negative impact in our team because when I watch the game I was feeling that the team was shy on the pitch and with some difficulties to go out of this pressure.”

Wolves struggled to create after going a man down and suffered a second successive defeat this term following a 4-0 hammering at home to Manchester City.

Tavernier’s low, left-footed shot struck Agbadou’s left calf and flew into the net via the underside of the crossbar after Jean-Ricner Bellegarde was dispossessed deep inside his own half.

Pereira, who revealed striker Jorgen Strand Larsen was withdrawn 12 minutes from time due to a minor Achilles injury, said: “At half-time, we tried to change something in the positions of the players in attack.

“We started the second half creating a big chance to score (for Arias). After the red card, with one less player against these kind of teams, it is not easy.”

Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola savoured an important victory following a transitional summer on the south coast. The Cherries have sold defenders Illia Zabarnyi, Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez and forward Dango Ouattara during the transfer window, while recruiting goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, left-back Adrien Truffert, centre-back Bafode Diakite and wingers Amine Adli and Ben Gannon-Doak.

Iraola, whose side were beaten 4-2 by champions Liverpool on the opening weekend, said: “I’m very happy. I wouldn’t say it was a must-win for us because it is the first home game of the season.

“But it was important for us to win the first game. We have difficult games (coming up), so it gives us some confidence, also the clean sheet.”

Antoine Semenyo rattled the bar from close range minutes after assisting Tavernier’s winner and also threatened in the second period before the Cherries held on during six minutes of added time.

“We’ve had a lot of changes (to the squad); I think we need more time together,” said Iraola, who gave Morocco international Adli a second-half debut following his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen but kept Gannon-Doak on the bench. The more time we play together, the better we will be.”

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