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.
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.
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.
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| Adam Federici is already under pressure. |
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.
Speculation that our manager will be next manager of Arsenal...which makes sense...geographically suitable and the next step up...so if we survive another season in Premiership then it maybe adios Eddie....
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain the following...what is happening with the ground and increasing capacity..it seems to have gone incredibly quiet..and will the club be upgrading its youth academy...we are not involved in the EPL competition..and will we be involved in the new Premier 2 competition for Under 23's...to develop young players they must be competing against higher caliber teams than the Plymouths and Cheltenhams can provide.....with so much money sploshing about ,it must make sense to invest for youth academy upgrades...
I have to agree with you about the stadium and youth set up.
DeleteFirstly no news on buying our ground back, nothing on the planning application submitted, thus no prospect of improving the facilities and expanding capacity. We are buying our younger players for millions and millions, so where is the investment in producing our own players? Eddie stated before about making the club sustianable.... when? Everything appears to be very short term in its thinking which is worrying.
Apart from buying only players aged 22 or younger, those are long term buys. Agree with you guys about the youth set up though. I would not be surprised if Baily is the youth player that makes it in the first team for the next decade
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