The jury might be out on whether Jason Tindall has a gift for getting more out of Bournemouth's players than Eddie Howe, but there is no denying that the Cherries are playing with newfound confidence. The last few seasons have not seen the Cherries central midfield players chip in with many goals, but we have already seen Jefferson Lerma and Dan Gosling net a couple of goals each this season. The system that is being used with three at the back is certainly contributing to the newfound freedom of some players who are being allowed to express themselves more.
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That was just the start for Gosling. His second goal and Bournemouth's third was something special. I am still taken aback by how quickly he turned away from his man and ran at goal. He was sure that he could hit the back of the net, and yet he was some 30 yards out. It was not the audacity of taking the shot on that got me though, it was the grace and smoothness of the strike and just the effortlessness of how it looked. The ball was still rising as it hit the back of the net with the power generated from a short backlift. The keeper had no chance and Gosling must have known as soon as he struck the shot that it was going to be a goal.
With Jefferson Lerma also making the edge of the box strike his staple goal signature, there is much to like about the way Jason Tindall has encouraged his central midfielders to shoot when they feel they have a clear shot at goal. It's just something that didn't happen in the Premier League and it may be that the players feel that they can experiment more in this league and have the time to go for the more outlandish type of goals. If Bournemouth keep playing like this they will be hard to stop. Even though they won the Coventry game 1-3, it could have been five or six goals had they been more clinical. The finishing is still something that has not been perfectly polished yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if JT got the players to be less wasteful. He was already commenting that more goals could have been scored in that first 45 minutes against Coventry.
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I've never understood why Gosling gets labelled as just an "honest journeyman" type player - he has a lot of skill as well as great vision. In the past he has tended to break down after good spells, but the previous system of just two central midfielders puts terrific strain on the players.
ReplyDeleteI agree much underrated in past but always looks to score when brought in and work ethic is huge. More of gozza please this season
ReplyDeleteMight be the biggest difference in the team this year is the number of goals from outside the box. I have it as 6 of the 8 are from outside the box. Do not remember 6 goals from outside the box all of last year.
ReplyDeleteHarry and Ritchie used to do it maybe we are getting back to a relaxed approach with more time on the ball helping in this league
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