Wednesday 9 May 2018

Getting over the line was a struggle

It has been hard to be a Bournemouth fan this last month. The team has been on the edge of safety without really looking like it would ever get over the 40 point mark and while it perhaps wouldn't matter greatly if the Cherries had been stuck on 38 points, the team was losing its way and had started to find everything becoming difficult.
Will Bournemouth be b ack to their free-flowing selves at Burnley?
I don't know what the turning point was in mid-week, but the attitude for the Swansea City game was much better and it showed. Why it should make a big difference knowing that you are nearly safe, without being mathematically safe, is a strange human trait. Pressure can either be stifling or find welcome relief. For Bournemouth it was the latter against Swansea and while we can ponder why it was that AFCB found their rhythm again, the fact that it was the last home match of the season and a carnival atmosphere must have had an impact on morale.

There is no doubt that the players had felt the pressure up at Southampton and they didn't mange to respond to it then. Playing in front of the home crowd though was easier and it was like getting back to doing the basics well. Ryan Fraser has commented that against Southampton the team didn't know whether it was a passing team or a pressing team and it did neither very well. But Swansea City were doing all the work against Bournemouth, having to chase runners and stop the movement of the front players who were not getting starved of possession.
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I'm just glad that AFCB have now got over the line. They have had a bit of a scare in recent weeks and that might not be a bad thing for next season.



In other news, the Bournemouth Echo reports that AFCB are tracking Porto teenage defender Diogo Queiros.

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