Wednesday 16 March 2016

Andrew Surman - AFCB's great back seat driver

Andrew Surman is just one of those players who tends to go unnoticed quite often despite him being an integral part of how AFCB play. His touches and quick passes often lead to positive play and yet he is like the back seat driver who has the whole pitch in front of him and is really the man who has the vision to turn an every day ball into a killer pass when he sees an opportunity.
Andrew has been the player that has been clocking up the
miles but he has also been keeping the opposition out.
The other side of Andrew's game sees him breaking up moves and shielding the back four. It is not the glamorous side of the game, but the work has to be done and Andrew gets through more work than just about any other midfielder in the country with his running stats. He is now the first player to clock up 300km this season and he does not look like slowing down any time soon.

While Andrew has found that he has played in most of the games this season he has had some different partners in Gosling, Arter and O'Kane all playing next to him at times. I see as having the best understanding with Harry Arter and it is going to be a challenge for Eddie Howe to find a player or two to bring into this midfield group of players who is able to offer more than the current crop.

Like most of the AFCB players though, competition won't worry Surman who will no doubt work even harder this summer to ensure he keeps his place in the side. Having not missed a Premier League match yet he is very much the unsung hero. Getting on the score sheet might change that and I was pleased to see that he came close to doing that against Swansea City in the last game when he hit the post from a free kick in the first half. So much of Andrew's game though is about more than that and if he adds goals to his predatory tackling and sumptuous passing then it will only make him more essential to AFCB's plans going forward.

No comments:

Post a Comment

tag: