The Watford match was a big disappointment. Eddie Howe thought he had picked a well-balanced side, but for me there were a few problems with the team selection from the start and what was shouting loudest for me was how many players are playing in their respected positions?
What I couldn't work out was even with the players Eddie picked, Nathan Aké was playing at left-back which isn't his strongest position. Okay, we had Adam Smith in the right back role which was fine. But Simon Francis was the preferred centre-back with Steve Cook, rather than Aké. Howe could have played Francis at right back or better still left him on the bench. He had a perfectly good left-back in Diego Rico, who could have started, freeing up Aké to play in his best position.
I still don't believe that Eddie Howe is sure of his best two central midfielders. He played most of the season with Lerma and Billing filling the roles. Then Billing gets a couple of goals in the FA Cup and is rewarded with a spot on the bench. What does that do to Billings' confidence? Gosling had needed a rest perhaps for the FA Cup game and Howe felt he could bring him back in. Then I have to ask was Lerma doing so badly that he needed to be subbed and also Gosling on the hour? Could Eddie not decide between Gosling and Lerma who should stay on so he subbed them both? Looking at the bench though Howe only had Surridge and central midfielders to be offensive with.
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I know injuries are the main problem but Bournemouth will keep losing games if they can't get more of their players playing in their respected positions. Then perhaps Eddie can expect some of the players to perform better. Who he can rely on at the moment to do a job in an unusual position for them though is probably none. Somethings might look good in training for 10 or 15 minutes, but the solutions have to work over 90 minutes and they just aren't lasting at the moment.
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The last sub was also intriguing. Harry Wilson is usually the player that is pulled just like Ibe used to be. But did having Solanke, Callum Wilson and Sam Surridge playing at the game time do Bournemouth any favours? The game was pretty much up then at 0-2 down, but Harry Wilson is more used to playing out wide than any of Solanke, Callum or Surridge. It was shoe-horning players out of their natural positions, not replacing like with like.
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Agree on defense and dropping Simon F. Simpson is ahead of him as centre half.
ReplyDeleteWhy can we only have 2 midfielders. Sometimes as a manager you adapt the formation for the squad. Take a look at Pep, he found a way to make 3-4-3 work (and it wasn't 5-4-1 in disguise) at Barca because that was best way to get something from that group of talent.
Mix it up, 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 etc. Sometimes rather than play out of position as such create the right positions. With a fragile defense the key must be a formation that protects them while also have other central players who can win the ball further up field i.e. A more compact formation.
Just have to hope Eddie stays away from 3 centre halves, which drags us deeper.
I think he can rely on them all, to try their hardest.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, for all of their qualities, Simon Francis and Steve Cook are not going to get any quicker. Check out their stats for pace and sprint speed (say on Fifa or similar) and the facts and eyes don't lie. I bet Callum and Solanke suffer because things are too easy in training, Eddie thinks they look great and then you come up against faster opponents and they have not worked on the skills needed to be ready. Without a good defense you simply cannot start to train effectively.
Often i get the feeling that Eddie makes the decision on his substitution strategy before the game and then is reluctant to change it as the game evolves. I don’t think Lerma or Gosling deserved to get subbed off at the weekend as both were working hard. I think are getting overrun in central midfield so adding a third player here at the expense of Solanke may be the way ahead for the Norwich game
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