What is it with AFCB and defending free kicks?

While Eddie Howe was probably more than a little frustrated at the team's inability to keep out Ipswich's second goal last weekend, defending from free kicks is something that AFCB still struggle with. We have seen it a number of times and last Saturday's game was no different. The team had been doing well, got the lead twice and yet could not defend a set piece.

May be we can turn on the sprinklers next time there is a free kick against AFCB.

I have to concede that Ipswich's players all pretty much looked like giants on the field and AFCB is not blessed with the tallest of squads. Still marking up and making a challenge has to be a prerequisite to good defending. I am not sure if Bournemouth were trying to mark zonally, but no one got anywhere near Daryl Murphy for his goal.

Earlier in the match there had been signs that Bournemouth could be up against it from corners and set pieces. Murphy himself hit the bar with an early header in front of the Steve Fletcher stand and Christophe Bera was unlucky to see Artur Boruc tip his header back over the bar at the end of the first half. It is not clear what the answer is apart from more practise, but Eddie Howe appears to be keen on trying not to give away so many opportunities to the opposition in the first place.

Eddie summed it up:"For the main we defended them very well, we just switched off for the second goal which is a bit of a frustration because we talked about their threat, we knew it but we couldn’t deal with it."

It may be that until the team acquires some taller players they will always be a bit weak in this area.