Tuesday 18 October 2016

Goals all over the pitch for AFCB

I was kind of chuckling to myself the other day after a friend of mine had said he feared for the Cherries as he did not see where the goals were coming from this season. True, at the time the Cherries were averaging less that a goal a game. But all that changed with the result against Hull City, and you might have your work cut out to find a clear pick for the club's top goalscorer come next May.
Shooting practise is going well.
At the moment Junior Stanislas and Callum Wilson head the AFCB chart with three goals each in the Premier League. With some 12 goals scored there are only a handful of teams now that have scored more than 12 and they are all teams in the top 10. Goals get you the points in this league and Eddie Howe has set his side out to be particularly attacking. While you need good defenders as well, it's the goal power that I think Howe is looking at in playing the game in a positive way to get the points rather than setting up road blocks against the best teams. Most fans appreciate that and it's something that does mean the side can get hit with a sucker punch at times, but AFCB fans want to see good football and AFCB are serving that up on a regular basis.

It's the depth of goalscorers in the squad though that is impressive. When you have Dan Gosling coming on to games late on and adding a goal threat you can start to see where Eddie Howe wants to take this team. It's not just the new signings that have to push for places, but all of those on the fringe of the starting line up that have to keep asking questions of Eddie Howe to be given their chance. Dan Gosling does that and if called upon I'd expect the same from others who have not been getting enough game time.

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Against Hull City it was the defenders that led the goalscoring and it tells me that Eddie wants to see everyone on the pitch, perhaps with the exception of Artur Boruc, have the confidence to get into goalscoring positions. It is this kind of thinking that takes pressures off of the forwards and enables them to create and enjoy their football knowing that other players in the team can finish equally well if they are put in on goal at any time.

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