A lucky escape from the Bet365 stadium

When we look back a league results in 2021, it will simply register a 0-1 away win for Bournemouth at the start of the year at the Bet365 stadium. NIt's not a bad place to win 0-1 away. But it wasn't the kind of victory that gave any kind of indication that Bournemouth are heading back to the Premier League. This was a poor performance. Don't be mislead that it was simply a patient way to three points. Bournemouth were more than rattled by Stoke City and they came away with three points, because Stoke didn't have their best striker available and Bournemouth did have Lewis Cook and Junior Stanislas to dig them out of a hole.

AFCB just scrape a win at Stoke.

I suppose I should be more congratulatory that Bournemouth added yet another clean sheet to their total. To be honest, Begovic had little to do all match. It wasn't that he sat comfortably all evening though, as he will have seen his backline make numerous errors during the game, and was no doubt thankful that none of them led to a goal.

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While most of the social media annoyance was aimed at Jack Simpson, it is clear to me that the Cherries are missing the energy and forward mobility of Jack Stacey to takes pressure off of the defence. With Jack on the pitch, opposition wingers are pushed back more. When Bournemouth had the ball they found it hard to make the 5-2-3 system work. The wing-backs were not getting into midfield and Bournemouth were outnumbered in this area of the pitch. That didn't stop Lerma from chasing everything, and it didn't prevent Lewis Cook from playing wonder balls when he did get a moment of possession. But it wasn't the flowing controlled and attacking football that we saw against Brentford.

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The end result might have been three points, but the way the team played against Brentford and lost was far more pleasing to watch. You wonder how that can happen in just a couple of days?Stoke certainly exacted their high press well and nullified Bournemouth as best as they could. Had it not been for one moment of calm finishing from Stanislas, the Cherries would have just come away with a draw. The team is hanging on to Norwuch, Brentford and Swansea by the smallest thread. They will need to build some confidence before taking on Luton and have an FA Cup third-round tie against Oldham to negotiate first.

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How the team needs a spark and some new energy. I suspect the answers will be sought n the return of Arnaut Danjuma and the signing of Jack Wilshere, but will it be enough to secure promotion? Bournemouth have to make the right decisions in January over players to put themselves in with the best chance of going up. Currently, they are not looking like certain bankers for promotion on recent performances. 

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