Like a few AFCB fans I am starting to think that Adam Smith is becoming something of a bit of a legend. He just seems to dig the tam out of a hole when they need an extra gear and he has done it on more than one occasion now. The strike against Everton was special and his goal against WBA was gutsy considering the battering he had been getting.
The only difficulty Eddie Howe may have is when Tommy Elphick is deemed fit how does he keep Adam Smith in the team? That may be one that he has to deal with in January, but for the moment it is Adam Smith's time to shine and boy is he doing that. We've always known that Adam likes to drift forward and to take on players, but the accuracy of his shooting is a new facet of his game that is certainly making him a popular player these days. The way he cut in and shot past Boaz Myhill at the near post was superb technique, and he is becoming a bit of a specialist at plucking out goals from nowhere at the moment.
There's a definite pattern emerging that some of the players like Adam, Junior Stanislas and Dan Gosling who did not get the chance to play that many games last season are now more than taking their chance in the Premier League. I don't believe that is by chance either. Yes, these players want to play more games, but it shows to me that Eddie Howe and his coaching staff are training up the whole squad to be better players not just the first 11 and that is really paying dividends with the amount of injuries that the squad has had to cope with.
Adam Smith himself could have been facing at a long spell on the sidelines as well after the challenge that James McClean put in against him in the WBA match. Tony Pulis should really have a word with the Irishman as he was just as poor in the Spurs game with his terrible challenges. I had the feeling that Tony Pulis' team would try and rough up the Cherries but even he must agree that such challenges as we saw yesterday are simply not warranted on the football pitch. Adam was lucky not to be badly injured and I am pleased that his football came out the winner with his great strike.
I know Tony Pulis also had the excuse that some of his players had stomach sickness but take nothing away from the Cherries who took all that the Baggies threw at them. Smudge just played better and better the more he was booed - well done Adam Smith. Certainly my man of the match.
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| Adam Smith fought his corner well against WBA and came up with a goal. |
There's a definite pattern emerging that some of the players like Adam, Junior Stanislas and Dan Gosling who did not get the chance to play that many games last season are now more than taking their chance in the Premier League. I don't believe that is by chance either. Yes, these players want to play more games, but it shows to me that Eddie Howe and his coaching staff are training up the whole squad to be better players not just the first 11 and that is really paying dividends with the amount of injuries that the squad has had to cope with.
Adam Smith himself could have been facing at a long spell on the sidelines as well after the challenge that James McClean put in against him in the WBA match. Tony Pulis should really have a word with the Irishman as he was just as poor in the Spurs game with his terrible challenges. I had the feeling that Tony Pulis' team would try and rough up the Cherries but even he must agree that such challenges as we saw yesterday are simply not warranted on the football pitch. Adam was lucky not to be badly injured and I am pleased that his football came out the winner with his great strike.
I know Tony Pulis also had the excuse that some of his players had stomach sickness but take nothing away from the Cherries who took all that the Baggies threw at them. Smudge just played better and better the more he was booed - well done Adam Smith. Certainly my man of the match.
Dan Gosling has admitted to having started last season overweight and unfit, hell - it was only the Championship and he was a Premiership player. He learned his lesson and would probably have done well this season even if we had stayed down.
ReplyDeleteAdam Smith: The first time I really saw what he could do - since he came back - was against Brighton where he came on as a sub in midfield. He won that game for us. He was booked though and was rather combative.
Pulis' public comment on the McClean sending off was that Adam Smith had just fouled McClean and it was retaliation, something he (Pulis) did not condone. No idea what he said in private but I'm not feeling charitable towards our ex-manager.