Pitman will probably be more selfish in future

I was pleased to see Brett Pitman hold his arms out stretched again yesterday. It would have been even better if he had repeated the celebration exercise in the second half after racing clear alongside Junior Stanislas when AFCB were looking to close out the match against Millwall. That things went rather amiss on this occasion should not deflect from some of the strong play Pitman was involved in during the game and his great finish in the first half.

Pitman netted once, but might have had two on Staurday.

Eddie Howe was quick to dispel thoughts of blame on specific individuals for the mix up in the 85th minute against Millwall. The fact that AFCB need to keep that team spirit strong is an important factor in a long season when things will go for you in some games and against you in others. To be fair, the Cherries got what they deserved in Eddie's book. The bigger problems was that they were considered "masters of their own downfall," Eddie said.

The offside decision against Junior Stanislas merely compounded the fact that the Cherries had had a pretty rotten second half by their own high standards. It is likely that the team will be in a similar position more than once again this season and it is important that they go about things differently next time. I don't want the though of two home draws after being in winning positions to effect the players and it is perhaps good that they have an away game next weekend. In the quick flash of a second it is easy to make the wrong decision and Pitman's error was only one of a number of mistakes that players made in this match. AFCB stopped playing their passing game and it cost them.

AFCB had started to overcome their early season weakness to close out games, but this result against Millwall following the Ipswich draw will have told Eddie Howe that more work is still needed in this regard. Whether Pitman will also be more selfish in front of goal will be something only he can decide as the matches keep coming, but on one side of the thought scenario in his head, he wanted Junior to finish the move off and to get a goal having already got one himself. It didn't work out, but to me it also shows that Pitman is thinking very much as a team member these days and not always as an individual.

Tomorrow I'll be releasing the December Newsletter for Cherry Chimes so if you have not yet subscribed you can do so below. I'll spill my  thoughts about the 18,000 seat stadium idea and special criteria for buying tickets for the Liverpool Capital One game.

Junior Stanislas before the Millwall match.

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