There were 62 minutes gone last Saturday week, when Eddie Howe looked at his bench and ushered Junior Stanislas to come on to replace Jordan Ibe. It underlined the faith that Eddie Howe has in Junior to be creative and find passes that other players can't and of course he did just that in getting a ball through to Ryan Fraser for Bournemouth's goal.
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It should be a good battle between Ibe, Adam Smith and Stanislas now to see who does start on the right. All three have their merits and while the left side has been very strong with Ryan Fraser in such good form it will be great to see the right side suddenly have more competition. The seniority of Stanislas might give him the edge, but his problem is that he hasn't been able to play regularly and what Eddie Howe would give for a Junior Stanislas that could play a full season at AFCB.
It will be difficult to suddenly tell Ibe that he should take a breather after he has done so well for the team while Adam Smith has been amazing in playing on both sides of the pitch to cover in the last few weeks. At least with the new 3-4-3 shape Adam Smith is likely to play in midfield, leaving Ibe and Stanislas to slog it out for the advanced position on the right. So does Eddie tell Stanislas that he has to show more in training before he can start? I don't envy Eddie this choice. But the person he decides to start against Chelsea on the right must surely be the player he most favours to do the job best.
Meanwhile, AFCB winger Conner Mahoney has joined Barnsley on loan until May.
Premier Talk - The Baggies have Sturridge and hope
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| Junior Stanislas, Adam Smith and Jodan Ibe will have to battle it out for the right sided attacking position. |
For Stanislas it has been another injury ravished season. He must wonder what he has to do to play four or five games in a row. But did his performance against West Ham do enough to make him a good choice to start against Chelsea in the next game? Eddie Howe will certainly be asking that question in training this week and wondering if Junior is better than others to start on the wing. It's quite something that Junior can just come into the team and turn on the class so quickly having been out for a while.
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It will be difficult to suddenly tell Ibe that he should take a breather after he has done so well for the team while Adam Smith has been amazing in playing on both sides of the pitch to cover in the last few weeks. At least with the new 3-4-3 shape Adam Smith is likely to play in midfield, leaving Ibe and Stanislas to slog it out for the advanced position on the right. So does Eddie tell Stanislas that he has to show more in training before he can start? I don't envy Eddie this choice. But the person he decides to start against Chelsea on the right must surely be the player he most favours to do the job best.
Meanwhile, AFCB winger Conner Mahoney has joined Barnsley on loan until May.
Premier Talk - The Baggies have Sturridge and hope
Personally, I much prefer Junior Stanislas over Jordon Ibe, though others may think otherwise. He seems to be more of a team player and is always a threat on goal.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that Smith has to start in midfield. I would then lean toward Ibe starting in a sort of number 10/wing combined role.
ReplyDelete