Is Distin the best route to a clean sheet?

The Cherries are letting in a fair number of goals - nine now in five league games. The back four has only seen Adam Smith replace Charlie Daniels and we've had a short view of Tyrone Mings, but no other changes at the back. Whether Eddie Howe looks on this area no as him having to make a change to stem the flow of goals is a key decision. 

Sylvain is the obvious choice but would it be better to see how
he goes in the Preston game first before bringing him in to start against Stoke if
Elphick and Cook have a difficult game against Sunderland?

Tommy Elphick and Steve Cook are the young and energetic centre back pairing that he has favoured. They have played well in the back four and have held the line well to catch many players offside in games. There have been mistakes and the team is now being closely scrutinised in its defensive strengths and weaknesses like never before. Whether that means a change is necessary is really only Eddie's call of course.

AFCB have a top rate centre back ready to play his part. Sylvain Distin could come in and no doubt do a good job, but would it be more damaging to drop one of the current centre backs than helpful in the long term? Distin would bring some calm and perhaps some better decision making and if the Cherries continue to let in two or three goals a match I think we will see Sylvain come in, but at the moment I'd argue that it is too soon and that Cook and Elphick should be given the chance to put in a performance and to get that first clean sheet. Distin would gain match sharpness in the Capital One Cup match against Preston and would be ideal to play up against Peter Crouch at Stoke City. 

Just like Chelsea though, the midfield players in our team have to do their defensive duties better than they did against Norwich. Once the midfield had been bypassed there was often a big gap that the Canaries could exploit. I'd argue that a more settled team is what the Cherries need with the understanding between the players working better. Sadly injuries are not making that easily to achieve at the moment.