Tuesday 5 January 2016

Defensive qualities are nothing to be ashamed of

It may have been all hands to the pump at Leicester, but if you can escape with a point when the odds are against you then it has not been a bad day's work. AFCB had to virtually give up any desires they had on winning the game and 'park the bus'. There should be no shame in that though with only 10 men and up against one of the best attacks in the Premier League.

When you consider that Man City could not do any better than the result that the Cherries got at the King Power Stadium it does underline the kind of progress that has been made by Eddie Howe's side in recent weeks. The team looked shaky against Arsenal on corners and yet they were man mountains against Vardy, Mahrez and Kante. It was the same kind of fight that we have seen away at Chelsea and the defensive prowess of the team is starting to earn points.
AFCB kept a strong line of defence against Leicester. 
There is not a lot between the sides at the top of the division and those near the bottom, but the top teams don't concede soft goals. There is still work to do at defending set pieces but it was good to see AFCB stand strong against the onslaught that came from the Foxes in the last half hour.

It may have been a different outcome if the game had continued with 11 v 11. AFCB may have pushed forward more and could have left themselves more open at the back, but in a strange way it may have played into their hands that they had to be more solid in defence with Francis going off. The pleasing aspect though was that they organised themselves and only once looked like they may concede when Vardy ran in front of Dan Gosling and went down. That apart, there were not too many heart stopping moments after Boruc's penalty save.

Defending in numbers is not what Eddie Howe's teams set out to do. But if they want to stay in the league they are going to tough out games like this from time to time.  

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