Bournemouth are unstoppable when they play with an extra attacker

There is a clear mentality upsurge when Bournemouth start to chase games. The squad is equipped with a heavy-sided balance of attacking players and when Eddie Howe decides to put an extra attacker on the pitch, the team steps up its pursuit of the ball and the extra man is often found when they move the ball quickly.

King and Mousset added pace and drive to the team.

The game is a much different proposition for opposing teams when the Cherries do go on all-out attack. The players that often supply the crosses though are Francis and Daniels when the Cherries are in full-flight. So it does mean that AFCB are risking the quick breakaway when their moves breakdown. Against teams like Spurs they were quickly overrun in such situations, but the gamble against Crystal Palace was fairly well-managed,  expect when Zaha picked out an on-running Patrick van Aanholt in the second half.

Playing for long spells in the game with an attacking tempo has not been so easily managed. Against Crystal Palace, Bournemouth had spells when defenders could not pick out any forward runners there were a few glances of annoyance. Bournemouth are starting to get perhaps a bit too reliant on finding their way into games when they are behind and have to change things. The good news is that they are very good at making the change and going three at the back because the players that come on play with real passion and energy to try and stretch the game.

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The way Eddie Howe wants to play just adds to the drama of these matches. He wants the crowd to get involved in the game and to push the players to expend more effort. It's that creation of the special atmosphere and the fact that the players know how they must chase the game when they push more men forward that is making the team so difficult to play against in the last 20 minutes of games. Howe has found a way of playing that is attractive to watch and hard for the opposition to resist when it's being pinned back with a high-tempo game and I only hope the manager can source a few more exciting attackers to bring to the club with similar qualities to players like Ibe, Stanislas, Mousset and King.