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Monday, 4 November 2013

Are AFCB's flying full backs getting enough help?

Simon Francis is finding the Championship quite a challenge. I am sure that he will be enjoying the task he faces every week. How much he can improve though could have a big bearing on AFCB's season. While Bournemouth are known for their overlapping full backs it is an area where the opposition can see a possible weakness when Francis and Daniels push up.

Up against talented wingers, Francis has his work cut out.
Can Francis start to own the right side of the pitch?
If you look at the first goal in the Bolton game it is Lee who is found in space on the left wing with Simon Francis trying to rush back before the ball is played in to David Ngog, who makes the finish. It is when AFCB lose the ball in midfield and their full backs are out of position that we give opponents a good opportunity to get in behind or to find away to attack our centre backs.

Keeping our shape is so important in the Championship, because the strikers are so good at finding the net that you will be punished at some point if you gamble all the time by leaving too much space at the back. I think that AFCB have also been playing some of the best wingers in the last few weeks that have highlighted the way teams can get at our full backs. At Forest it was Abdourn who gave Daniels problems and at Leicester it was Dyer who was teasing Francis, and last Saturday it was Lee who had the beating of Francis.

Winning your own battle is very important no matter where you are on the pitch, but in these wide areas it is key for Bournemouth to win their battles with the attacking wing play we like to see. When the team is not able to win these battles though I would like to see a  little more cover from midfield. That would mean Pugh and Fraser having a bit more of a defensive mindset when Bournemouth don't have the ball to check the runs of these good opposition wingers and doubling up on them with the full backs.

We often hear Eddie Howe talk about working on the shape of the team and I expect that he will be looking at this part of our game, because with quick turnovers of possession against us we do seem to be offering opportunities from balls that are won in the centre of the pitch and are then fed out wide.
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5 comments:

  1. Afcbpete4 November 2013 at 14:49

    The biggest help our full backs could have, would be for midfield not to give the ball away so cheaply!! Arter as an example, and I'm not just having a pop at him, but I think his was a good example from Saturday. He worked damned hard, but in some great tackles, one in particular that we are all aware of who saw it. But how often would he gift a pass to the opposition? So all that hard work ended up being for nothing!! Mind you, for me, there were question marks over Cook and Elphick for those goals. I'm probably being unfair, but had Cook stayed on his feet, he could of cleared off the line, and I couldn't understand why Tommy allowed Beckford all the room in the world to keep advancing, Francis only able to get back but also not challenge. It was frustrating to watch, too many not performing at their best, and they need too for us to get results in this league, although the home support was pretty awful, the fans did give the team the help they needed!!

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    1. Cherry Chimes5 November 2013 at 20:27

      I just watched Bolton's first goal back again and saw that it was Rantie that lost the ball in the middle of the park on that occasion rather than one of our midfielders. We do seem to be gifting the opposition with poor passes a bit too often at the moment and it's more than just one player.

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  2. Andymann4 November 2013 at 21:56

    Have to say that we seem to have great holes in the midfield. We seem too far forward when attacking especially on a corner when the chances of winning a header are minimal and then we get caught on the break with a long ball. Defensively we are not competing in g far enough up field. That said the lads are doing great and I have to say that Cooke has really come into his own and looks the real deal in this. League. Sill feel we need an extra midfielder like collison and a bigger forward like Terence Boyd to give us options for the crosses from the wing against the monsters of the championship defences. Hey ho who said life was easy, can' t wait to get up to Bur nley on Saturday. UTC

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    1. Cherry Chimes5 November 2013 at 20:31

      Willo was saying on Solent after the game that we have to try and work with the players we have and to improve them. He felt that we should not continually keep dipping into the market for new players. I believe if a good player becomes available with more quality than we have then we should try and pick them up but I do want to see our players improve and that may mean we do have to flirt with a lower league position. Still, I feel we were unlucky against Bolton and our luck will turn.

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  3. Afcbpete5 November 2013 at 14:17

    Boyd sounded ideal when the rumours were flying around in the summer, before he got himself injured. There seem to be a whole host of clubs sniffing around if that's to be believed. IF the objective is to go even higher, then signings of the quality you mention are essential.

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