Sunday 20 August 2017

"Something needs to change quickly," says Steve Cook

"Awful. Our worst Premier league performance," said Steve Cook to BBC Radio Solent's Kris Temple. A lack of spark and individual errors are a major cause of the problems Cook feels, but the team is finding it hard to drag themselves out of the whole they have been digging for themselves.
Steve Cook walks off after warming up for the Watford game.
The words of Steve Cook were blunt, but probably need saying in the dressing room as well as in public. The players know that they are under performing and they are not happy about it. Acknowledging that is at least a start, AFCB's players need to believe they are making it tougher on themselves than they could be and if they can cut out the short passes, the lapses of concentration and complacency when they are not in possession they just might be able to start building something. That's the real shame of this season so far – Bournemouth have not looked like scoring.
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I looked on with some dismay that Callum Wilson was still looking down on proceedings from the hospitality suites at Dean Court. Along with Junior Stanislas, Eddie Howe could do with having such firepower options available to him. Instead he has; Jermain Defoe who is not considered to be ready to play 90 minutes, Josh King who is not yet charging at defences, Benik Afobe who needs a goal to get him going and Lys Mousset who is lucky to get 10 minutes.

It's not an attack that is worrying defences. Bournemouth need to get these forward players on the ball more often and get their number of touches going up. It's only when they start seeing that they are troubling defences that they will start believing that they can score. 

Most of the match against Watford saw plenty of Bournemouth possession, but how much of it was in Watford's box? And even when it was there, how often did Huerhelo Gomes have to make a save? Well, it was just two shots on target from the Cherries – the same as in the WBA match.

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