AFCB's creativity needs shaprening up

The game against Watford did see Bournemouth create 13 shots at goal which may not seem too bad for an away game but the chances were few, when you consider how often Karnezis had to make a save which was six times. The Cherries toiled at Vicarage Road and found the Watford midfield hard to get to grips with, but if Bournemouth are to dominate games more they need to get players like Ibe, Fraser and Stanislas on the ball more often if they are to hurt teams.

Bournemouth will be without Junior Stanislas when they take on Crystal Palace.

Stanislas is now injured and it remains to be seen how badly his injury is, but it didn't look great from the way he hobbled off at half time. He never seems lucky in avoiding injuries for long and I wonder if his stature and frame that just makes him more susceptible to coming off worse in some of these challenges. Stanislas is of course one of Bournemouth's best creative players and missing him will be a big loss, especially as Adam Smith is also out for the moment. But Bournemouth need to find away of creating more in the final third, as Watford didn't find it so hard to shut AFCB out for large portions of the game.

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I found it interesting to see that Ryan Fraser was putting in crosses well when he was released up field. He is likely to move on to the wing from the start in the next game if Simon Francis returns and this should give the Cherries a better balance. I didn't see as much from Lewis Cook in making those penetrative passes though that we like to see in games, and I guess he had had a pretty stressful and busy week away with England and he is starting to play a lot of games which he has to get used to.

The player who did go a little missing was Jordan Ibe who is also still getting used to being asked to perform more consistently. We are going to see games where he just isn't as on his game as he has been and it is managing that inconsistency that Howe has to look out for without denting his confidence. We can only hope for more creativity though against Crystal Palace who will at least come to Dean Court with the attention to attack.