What has Eddie Howe learned from this season?

Eddie Howe will not have expected the season to have gone the way he had expected. He felt he had his strongest squad ever, and yet they have been the closest squad yet to find relegation trouble. So he will be aware that the players he has are in need of strengthening, and that perhaps some of them are not as good as he thought they were.

A difficult but perhaps a valuable season for Eddie Howe.

Eddie Howe does know that he has one of the best goalkeepers in the land in Aaron Ramsdale. The only problem there is that many other teams also know what a quality player he is. The back four has been chopped and changed far too often, and while Nathan Aké has been the mainstay of that defence with Steve Cook, the goals against have been raising to 47 from the 29 games and without Charlie Daniels, the team has perhaps looked less effective on its left side.

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The quest for Howe could be to try and take more pressure off the defence in the next season. Jack Stacey is new and will be gaining experience all the time, but protecting him and others in the back line will make it easier for the team next time around. Jefferson Lerma has been the rock to protect the back line, but it has been hard for Howe to find another like him for when he is injured or just to alternate. It would be a massive help if he did find that player.

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The other main problem is that the team has seen its goal count drop to a goal a game and that will always cause problems if you are trying to stay in the Premier League. Bournemouth need to find more goals to take the weight off their defence and with Ryan  Fraser expected to move on, the jury is still out on whether Arnaut Danjuma can step in and if Josh King wants to stay. This could be the biggest summer turnover among players that AFCB has seen for sometime with Francis, Surman and Boruc perhaps not being offered new contracts.

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Howe knew his job was under threat in January when he had to wait for the win against Brighton to bring some life back into Bournemouth's campaign. This summer Howe perhaps has an even bigger task of finding a team from the remnants of this awful season.

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Chimes Newsletter - out tomorrow!
Cherry Chimes' April Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month. The newsletter has a special story - What will it be like when play is resumed?

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