Tuesday 24 November 2015

All out attack is the way forward for the Cherries

I love listening to the BBC pundits on Match of the Day. They have it all sorted for Eddie Howe. Martin Keown responded to a question from Gary Lineker about what Eddie Howe should do going forward and Martin, who obviously has not been listening to Eddie Howe over the last six months, said he'll have to adapt his style of play because they are leaking too many goals. Well Martin, it may surprise you that AFCB are not going to change their philosophy. If anything, I think they are going to be even more expansive and attacking in their play as the best way for the Cherries to defend is simply to attack.
Junior's touch and vision is making him fabulous player to
watch and his attacking play will surely be rewarded with a goal soon.
We have seen it in the games against West Ham and Swansea that while these open matches carry a risk in the Cherries flying forward it does give them the best chance of keeping the ball away from their own box. The high pressing game is very effective when you don't let a team out of their own half. The closing down and high pressing game is something that the Cherries are getting better at. In away games it is perhaps harder to do and yet AFCB have been doing much better at playing high up the pitch and it is surely the way forward.

Sorry Mr Keown but that does mean you will see Charlie Daniels and Simon Francis peddling their way up the wings rather than sticking on the half way line, and if you look back at the footage it was Charlie Daniels' run in the game against Swansea that started things off for Dan Gosling's goal. In essence AFCB's defenders are better when attacking. Eddie Howe's philosophy is to make the other team defend. It is when AFCB lose the ball that they have to be more organised though. The breakdown is the part of the game that I hope Eddie and his players work hard at this week as Everton will play to try and hit the Cherries fast when they suddenly turnover possession. We have seen Everton do it at Southampton already this season and there has to be some plan to cope with Lukaku, Bartley and Kone when Everton try and break out.

What you won't find is AFCB inviting Everton on to them and letting Everton have lots of possession. As Eddie Howe has said, "defending is not the strong part of our game."

PremierTalk On PremierTalk I ask, are AFCB so dissimilar to Leicester City who sit top of the league?

Finally, it is also fantastic news that Marc Pugh has signed a new deal at the club to keep him at AFCB until summer 2018. I can't think of a more deserving player. Congratulations to Sylvain Distin who made his 450th Premier League appearance on Saturday.

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