Tuesday 28 February 2017

AFCB have to start holding their leads

While WBA are recognised for their stout defence and being hard to breakdown if they go a goal up, AFCB have a long way to go to get a similar reputation. You can count all too many games where AFCB have had the lead - Arsenal, Hull City, WBA, Southampton - the list goes on, and yet the Cherries have not been coming away with wins and in some cases not even draws.

The first goal is not as important in games for AFCB at the moment simply because they are conceding two or three goals a game. The strike force just can't keep up with such a high rate of goals to get in every match, and until the side starts to find a way of getting clean sheets they will find it hard to keep any of their early leads in games for long.
Fast starters - but AFCB are not going the distance.

While Eddie Howe will never want his side to be boring and ultra defensive there are key moments in games when they have to be more focused on keeping the opposition out. There are individual mistakes that Howe says only come with teams that are in bad runs, and while the team takes these blows week after week as a combined set-back, I wonder if the individuals are really getting the arm round them and a word in their ear about the problems. Building players back up is something that everyone takes for granted, but we have seen individual errors from just about all of the back four and the goalkeeper this season. They need to look at those clips, no matter how hard that may be and work out why they made the wrong decision at the time.
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Putting yourself in the moment again may seem painful and counter-productive at first, but it can be a good medicine for when your out on the pitch and about to do the same thing again. You try something different and at that moment, AFCB need to have a few game plans for when they do get ahead and are not inviting pressure on themselves by over thinking or complicating passes, when all they need to do is play through the phases and get the ball up the pitch. 'Keeping the foot on the gas' is the well-known phrase when you get ahead and we need to see more of that in the next few matches for the Cherries.


In other news, Stephen Purches has been promoted to first team coach.

The Cherry Chimes' Newsletter is out tomorrow.

Cherry Chimes' March Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month, plus there is a special Newsletter article entitled: What does the Spring hold for AFCB?

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2 comments:

  1. With the gap to the bottom three now down to four points and that gap gap going to shrink after next weeks fixtures....we will do well to keep the score to under four against United....the fall into relegation is inevitable and can be identified as follows:-

    Letting a three goal lead slip against Arsenal

    The debacle against Millwall

    The rest I am afraid is rather inevitable and is a repeat of the relegation of 89/90 when we didn't win 17 in a row after the injury to Sean Teale

    The mistakes made by not recruiting and not having a back up plan is bad management and there must have been more than one goalkeeper and one defender available for transfer to buy..but apparently not...or no money.

    Looking post relegation I wonder how many of the current squad will stay..or want to stay..and we may well be down to the bare bones at the start of next season....the only ones who will stay are the ones who we want to go but I can see

    Both Goalkeepers
    Cooks both
    KIng
    Gradel
    Surman
    Daniels

    all going

    expect there will be bids for Arter and Fraser...

    It will be like the Titanic and crowds for sure will fall...Wilson will be a shadow.....and League 1 may be where we find ourselves in short order.....

    As for the manager etc he will be off .......lets hope whoever we bring in ...has NO Bournemouth connection...my choice would be Rowett....for the Championship....

    Doom and Gloom

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  2. It's not so much the back four that's the problem, it's the lack of protection from the midfield, primarily lack of protection from Surman whose stats are nowhere near per match on a par with last season's. We have given away goals in every single match since he came back on with us 3 goals up against Arsenal.

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