Appetite whetted for more football

The football is really ramping up now. I'm going to give a quick overview of how the players looked to me on Saturday in the defeat to West Ham, but there's much to be positive about at the moment.

Note that there are some great chances to see AFC Bournemouth players in action this week starting off at Poole Town on Thursday in the regular pre-season fixture. The boys also travel to Working on Saturday before taking on that small Spanish team on Sunday.

After Stephen Purches' testimonial game the appetite for the upcoming season has been well and truly whetted. Having seen the team play at the weekend I thought Pitman looked particularly sharp from training and is already trying to do the spectacular. Lewis Grabban was perhaps not as involved as I thought he could be, but he had some nice touches particularly the pass to Thomas early in the second half which was a missed opportunity for AFCB to get a goal. 

I really liked the way both Donal McDermott and Ryan Fraser played. Donal seemed much more at ease than I have seen him for a while. He was working hard and was willing to have a shot at goal when ever he had a half chance. Marc Pugh could find that his competition comes from Fraser next season. Ryan was sending in some excellent crosses and it is about time our players started to make the most of them. Sam Matthews also did not look out of place on the big stage.

Ryan Fraser looks set for a big season.

I felt Harry Arter was still recovering from his calf injury and was not quite up to his usual hounding best. Next Sunday though he will have even better players to try and keep quiet. MacDonald also worked hard but was not as quick as his opponents on Saturday.

I was fairly impressed with Elliott Ward. I don't think he is overly flamboyant and he did the simple things well. Ian Harte found it a bit more of a struggle against West Ham's wingers, but he'll get up to speed no doubt. I was pleasantly surprised that Miles Addison put on a good performance, although he was not on the field for long and there were a lot of changes in the second half.  

Put it all together though and there was a lot to be pleased about. The result is not so important at this stage, although the first goal was disappointing with no real challenge on Nolan. AFCB are gong to have to deal with aerial threats in the Championship and it was a good reminder of that.