Monday 23 September 2013

I didn't think AFCB knew how to draw

There is always probably one team that goes longer at most at managing not to pick up a draw and this season it is definitely the Cherries that take that honour, if it is in fact an honour. I say that because I felt in the Blackpool home game we should have got a point and ended up losing while in the Barnsley home game we could have drawn or even lost the game, even though we ended up winning it. But come the Middlesbrough game and AFCB's ability to evade the draw ran out or perhaps it was more of a bonus not to end up with a defeat.

I think the fact that the team had had no draws up until that point is a sign that AFCB do go out to win every match no matter who it is against and no matter if the team is home or away. It could also mean that we perhaps play a little more attacking and are open to the counter attack more than most. We have had our heavy defeats when faced with ruthless strikers and that does get me worried when we have Jordan Rhodes and Blackburn Rovers up next, but in the main Bournemouth has gone about its work on the pitch well.

Maintaining possession has certainly been a mainstay of AFCB's success. Gianfranco Zola and Owen Coyle remarked that the Cherries keep the ball well and in Zola's opinion much better than he and his players expected. It is hard for teams to hurt you when you have the ball, but it does not guarantee you the points. Defending from set plays better could have given Bournemouth a draw in games like we had against Blackpool, but getting that first goal also probably helped us avoid draws against Wigan, Charlton and Doncaster.

While we have tended to either win or lose the table looks pretty good for AFCB, because most other teams are finding any wins hard to come by and draw and defeats all too frequent. So I am not despondent about the odd defeat as long as we are picking up those wins even more frequently. After all, one win in three games is better than drawing two and losing one. 


Having managed a draw in our last away game, AFCB now need to extend their home run and find the elusive back-to-back home result again.  UTCIAD!

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