Saturday 25 April 2020

Is Howe right to play Adam Smith on the left ahead of Rico?

Eddie Howe's player selections some times raise eyebrows, but we are getting used to some of them. One I always wonder about is the choice of selecting Adam Smith in the left-back slot, when his preferred position is right-back. I am sure any player would rather play out of position than not at all, but does it really give AFCB a boost to do this?

Ready to go on the left, but Adam really that good at left-back?
Adam Smith has been one of he injury victims and it is possible that Eddie has just been trying to get his appearances back up after such a long time off. Smith has accumulated 18 appearances and has four wins under his belt. His crossing is higher than one a game at 21 and his passes average out at 36 a game. Where he does score highly is in duels won at 109 and a tackle success of 70 per cent.

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When Adam is switched to the left it has been Diego Rico that has missed out. Still Rico has played in 21 games and has been involved in six of AFCB's seven wins. You might have considered him a good omen then, but Howe has not always picked Rico to start when he has been available. What I like about Rico is he gets forward and he has a staggering count of a 122 crosses from his 21 games and averages 40.81 passes per game. Rico has also made 62 interceptions compared to Smith's 19.

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At this point it already looks that Rico is ahead of Adam Smith. But where Smith out does Rico is on the tackling front. Rico has 92 duels won and a tackle success rate of 62 per cent. I find it hard on these stats though to see why Adam Smith should get the left-back spot over Rico, unless Howe is looking to be more defensive in games. By trying to make the team more solid at the back, it has lost something going forward and of course the best balance for AFCB has been Charlie Daniels. Without Daniels it has been perhaps too much trial and error at left-back and maybe Rico should have been given a few more games.

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4 comments:

  1. Gbwoody25 April 2020 at 06:25

    The obvious answer to your question is that playing Adam smith at left back allows Eddie to play Simon francis at right back.

    Whilst Franno has been a good servant to the club, shuffling to team around to accommodate him is not good for team balance. Eddie has to consider the post Franno era.

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    1. Cherry Chimes26 April 2020 at 06:58

      Jack Stacey too played well on the right and perhaps Eddie wanted to keep him or Francis in the team at times. But the choice has often been to drop Rico to fit Smith in.

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  2. Anonymous25 April 2020 at 18:24

    I dont really like wrong-footed full backs as they are vulnerable when turning their body to pass square infield. A perfect example was Adam Smith being caught out at Arsenal last season. It could be argued that they have an advantage in dealing with modern wrong footed wingers constantly looking to cut-in towards goal - eg Salah - but this doesn't seem to have that much effect in practice.
    Rico is a key player for AFCB and should only get better with confidence and also start getting on the scoresheet.

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    1. Cherry Chimes26 April 2020 at 07:00

      I think Smith got caught out this season at the Burnley away game as well, for the handball call just before Bournemouth went and scored, and had it ruled out for the hand ball. A left sided player might have judged the cross Smith had to defend better coming from the right to the left.

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