Feeling unwell and
drained of energy, there was only a few moments to get a glimpse of
Andrew Surman on Saturday as he tried to do a warm up for the game
against Spurs. Sadly, he did not feel right and made the decision to
pull out of the squad which means he broke his Premier League length of
unbroken starts that stretched back 46 games.
It
was an unusual midfield then for the Cherries with Dan Gosling and
Harry Arter pairing up to hold up the top performers in a Spurs side
that were unbeaten in 2016/17. Surman would have been very keen to
continue his run, but it was better for him that he decided to make the
best decision he could for the team. Having played so many games, it may
in fact be of benefit for AFCB and even Surman to be able to have a
weekend when he has not been involved in playing 90 minutes. He has been
such a great servant for the club and if it gives him more energy for
the coming games it could have been a small blessing. It also gave Dan
Gosling the chance to get some quality minutes on the pitch, which could
come in handy for him if he is to fill in again at some point.
Surman has been described as the metronome of the side and with him sitting out this game I was worried that the tempo might slip. I needn't have been concerned as AFCB went right after Spurs and the high energy displayed would have been asking a lot of Surman if he did not feel 100 per cent. While it may seem that players get a long time to recover from games, there is a high pressure on them to perform week in and week out and the body does need recovery time. The strength on AFCB's squad though is now being seen. Some may criticise that not everyone is getting games, but we have seen that players like Dan Gosling can come in and do a job when a regular like Andrew Surman has to withdraw.
Simon Francis is another player that played every game last season and has played all nine Premier League game this season so he will move ahead of Surman on that stat. Charlie Daniels is also just one game behind Francis having missed one match last season. Some of the secret of AFCB's success has surely been the consistency of the player selection and it seems to be in attack and on the wings that the side has seen the most need to rest players.
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| Andrew Surman will be looking to get back in contention for the trip to Middlesbrough. |
Surman has been described as the metronome of the side and with him sitting out this game I was worried that the tempo might slip. I needn't have been concerned as AFCB went right after Spurs and the high energy displayed would have been asking a lot of Surman if he did not feel 100 per cent. While it may seem that players get a long time to recover from games, there is a high pressure on them to perform week in and week out and the body does need recovery time. The strength on AFCB's squad though is now being seen. Some may criticise that not everyone is getting games, but we have seen that players like Dan Gosling can come in and do a job when a regular like Andrew Surman has to withdraw.
Simon Francis is another player that played every game last season and has played all nine Premier League game this season so he will move ahead of Surman on that stat. Charlie Daniels is also just one game behind Francis having missed one match last season. Some of the secret of AFCB's success has surely been the consistency of the player selection and it seems to be in attack and on the wings that the side has seen the most need to rest players.
It would have been interesting to speculate what eleven would have played Newcastle last night if we had not lost to Preston....
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