More fluency required for the Cherries

Eddie Howe was sure that the area where Bournemouth didn't do enough was in making the game more fluent. The build up play in the match against Sheffield United was often ponderous and slow, and while the conditions were not great, Howe is keen that the team becomes better in possession.

AFCB will look to be sharper against Aston Villa.

Some of that onus will fall on the central midfielders who have to link play. I thought that Billing and Lerma had some of the best games though for Bournemouth. The two players are just getting to know each others game, and until they start working as more of a pair, there could be some difficult games for Bournemouth. I thought the two players broke up play well, but going forward the whole team looked a bit narrow despite playing wing-backs.

The fluid movement needs to come from the front players and while there should have been options with three players up front, it did seem like the ball took too long to travel up to the front players and was getting intercepted too often. Doing the basics right is essential and on a blustery day we saw a few of the players hit some aimless passes.

Advertisement

Coastal Garden Buildings

The conditions might be better at Villa Park. But Bournemouth will need to find their groove. There has to be a steely determination not to concede first, but if Eddie can find a way of strengthening the midfield we could see a better outcome. He is likely to persist with Billing and Lerma but the two players have to start dominating games to give the team a better base to launch attacks and they have to find the passes to break the lines which they couldn't do with any regularity against Sheffield United.