Eddie only wants to be a winner

You could hear the disappointment of Eddie Howe in his post-match interview at Portsmouth. While his team had played well and probably should have won the game, he was less than delighted with the goals that were scored against his side and the last minute equaliser was painful as he would not have wanted any weakness to be shown in the last 10 minutes of a game not matter whether it was a friendly or not.

Eddie  said that all the goals that Portsmouth scored were poor from an AFCB defencive point of view and I have to agree with that. While Gary Roberts is a good player that should he can make powerful runs at the heart of AFCB's defence, there was not enough haste in getting to him and being strong enough in Francis' tackle to put him off. Federici saw the ball go past him in a flash, and it was not the start that would have filled any confidence in the Cherries' defence. 

Adam Federici is already under pressure.

The second goal was more of a personal nightmare for Adam Federici, who should have made a better attempt at a save, but the keeper situation is just something that AFCB find hard to solve. How long will AFCB allow personal clangers to continue is the worry. At some point, the players have to take responsibility and think more clearly about what they are doing, and work out the scenarios or implications of their actions if they are likely to end up costing the team or not. Federici made a couple of wrong decisions and it is more costly when playing in goal than when you make a mistake up field and don't make the pass you should have. All I hope is that Federici does not keep hold of the mistakes in his head and takes each game as a fresh, clean sheet to prove that he can concentrate fully for the 90 minutes. I expect Artur Boruc will get to play against Reading, but Adam will want another chance to show what he can do perhaps against Cardiff City.

Winning is a habit they say. AFCB will feel the need to get a bit of steam up in terms of results with the hard Premier League start they have. So while the Portsmouth game did not have the result Eddie wanted, it is likely to give the team more reason to up their game in the next match to please their manager.

Transfer strategy nearing completion
Welcome Brad Smith - the completion of Brad Smith's signing leaves space for a couple of more players in the 25-man squad and AFCB fans will be looking at a central defender to be signed in the next few days/weeks.