Eddie Howe had been asked in his press conference before the Liverpool game if he might be tempted to rest Jefferson Lerma and leave him out for the games against Crystal Palace and Wolves, where Bournemouth might be expected to have a better chance of winning. Howe was adamant that it didn't come into his thinking and that he'd pick his best side, although 10 minutes from the end of the Liverpool game he made a tactical decision to sub Lerma to protect him from getting a card.
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| Lerma is vital to Bournemouth's hopes of staying up. |
A two-game ban will hit Bournemouth pretty hard as Lerma is such an influential midfielder. But I suggest Lerma doesn't concern himself too much about the possibility of picking up a card, as it would impact on his game. Bournemouth need a Lerma that launches into tackles and looks to dominate games. If you take five or 10 per cent of his game away, he just won't have the same impact.
It may be that Lerma avoids a booking anyway. But it's only a silly booking that would annoy Eddie Howe. As long as it is an important challenge to stop a team from scoring, we can't be overly concerned if he is doing his job for the team. If he misses the Wolves and Newcastle games so be it. I am sure Howe would live Lerma to be available for all of the next three games, but he is on a tightrope.
Bournemouth are not so stretched in central midfield and have the likes of Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman to come in if Lerma does pick up his next card. It might not be ideal, but every player will want to do their absolute best to try and keep Bournemouth up and they all may need to play their part.
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Callum Wilson also on 9 bookings after 29 games. 2 match ban for players with 10 booking after 32 games. Not seen any comments on that.
ReplyDeleteCallum Wilson on 9 bookings as well as Jefferson Lerma with 32 games the cutoff point for 10 bookings.
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