A fine line between success and failure

We've mentioned before how difficult it seems to be to get back-to-back wins in the Championship. A glance at the fixture list still makes me scratch my chin wondering how the Cherries will pick up those vital points as the season progresses. Still, so far Eddie Howe has done a tremendous job of picking the players up after a defeat and not getting too excited when we win. But the more I look at the tightness of the division and the fact that teams are winning one week and losing the next in most cases, it is not going to be easy for any team to prevent mistakes and keep clean sheets in the Championship.

The strikers that we have already seen have been the dividing lines between those picking up several wins against those who are struggling. Bournemouth are lucky that Lewis Grabban has been finding the net, but a second striker who can do the same is what the Cherries really need. If the team has a potent double threat then defences will be under much more pressure from AFCB. Is Tokelo Rantie the man to give the Cherries that bigger threat? Eddie and Jason certainly think so. 

I don't think Grabban will be so keen to give his shirt to Tokelo Rantie.

While Bournemouth have been well beaten in some away games they have always been looking to play in a positive manner and I think this will pay off in the long term. If you go defensive and you still carry on losing, there is little where else to go. The thing is that all teams in the Championship are looking to find the right balance between attack and defence. We saw an excellent way of how to win away from home in Blackpool's visit to Dean Court - not good for us but a professional performance from them. They may have been lucky in surviving with 10 men, but they kept trying to carry a goal threat and they nearly made it 1:3 towards the end of the game.

Bournemouth look like they have at least learnt to keep things tight and stay in games for longer, unlike the first few weeks when we were probably a bit too open to the counter. Now that the team is established in the division, Eddie Howe will still be looking to try and get further success by treading that fine line between all out attack and considered defence.

If you are looking for some time to kill before the Middlesbrough game, click on to Rival Lines where you will learn all about Middlesbrough courtesy of Stevo's Boro Blog.