Top man - Marc Pugh

I have tried several times to get an interview with Marc Pugh and I am sure I will succeed one day soon. He has always seemed very content at AFCB and his start to the season has been to almost revitalise his touch and goal scoring prowess to new levels. I am sure a stable and happy family life is very beneficial to him as it is for a number of the Bournemouth players and Marc seems to really get what the club means to the fans and he always puts in a shift.

Pugh has started the new season well.

I believe that the intense competition that is now available to Eddie Howe on the wings has made a difference to Marc Pugh in particular. He has responded with performances that suggest that he wants to play and indeed should play while he is in good form. At Huddersfield I did not see so much of the Pugh and Daniels link up on the left as we are perhaps used to when the two play but there certainly is a growing understanding between Ritchie and Pugh. Marc has started to gamble a little more often to get on the end of crosses and get into the box when Ritchie is busy creating.

The slight injury to Ryan Fraser in pre-season gave Marc the chance to make the left wing position his for the moment, but I don't expect Ryan Fraser is going to be long in putting more pressure for that place very soon. You could see that going the wrong way with some players who could get annoyed at being left out, but it is not evident at AFCB. Eddie Howe has said that the idea is to rotate this season especially in the forward positions and I can see that happening on the wings as well. The hard format of the Championship lends itself to having a squad that is equally talented and Eddie Howe wants a squad that is no weaker when anyone member is not available. The players all seem to thrive on this at the moment and it will be very interesting to see how much rotation there is during the season.

Ryan Fraser played most of the game against Exeter and he will be keen to see if he can get back into the line up for more league matches, having started alongside Pugh in the Northampton Capital One match the other night. Even Pugh though was a sub against Blackburn and missed the Forest game, so it will have been good for fans of the Cherries to sing out a familiar name again during the Northampton match - "Puuuugh!"   

AFCB have drawn Cardiff City away in the Third round of the Capital One Cup on either 23 or 24 September 2014. The full draw can be seen on the TalkSport website.