This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and fanbase websites. Life as an AFCB fan is never dull. As a life-long supporter of the Cherries, it is the friendliness of the staff, fans and my enthusiasm for the club that inspired me to write this blog.
Some may feel that it is a good time to play Reniera's team having seen them lose to Liverpool over Christmas and just drop a shade from their very high standards. Personally, I don't believe there is a good time to play the Foxes when they are at home and even if they have not been winning of late, it just makes them more determined to play well. Claudio Reniera is perhaps getting fed up of being asked what the target is after they get to 40 points as it is becoming a bit of a hurdle at present to reach that landmark. Of course, I hope Leicester City still fall short of that magic number after Saturday's game against the Cherries but the joint table toppers are an awkward side to play. The big stat that stands out for me though is that the Foxes have only been beaten once at home this season against Arsenal and that was in September.
Leicester City at Dean Court last August.
Winning away at Everton was a big result for the Foxes and against Liverpool at Anfield they were a shade unlucky with limiting the Reds to basically one chance which Benteke took. It is not just Vardy and Mahrez that are catching the eye now. In midfield the intelligence of N'Golo Kante is becoming more evident and in Danny Drinkwater they have a player who will run through walls for Reniera. There are also calls for Marc Albrighton to get another chance for England, while Kasper Schmiechel has been great for them in goal. The Cherries did well to get a point from Leicester when they came down to the Vitality earlier in the season, but holding out against them away from home would be one of the best results of the season. Leicester play with high intensity and it is perhaps the game Eddie Howe would least like to play after facing two other top six sides, but you can't choose the fixture order and AFCB will just have to match the Foxes' energy levels and work rate. Of course, a win against Leicester would be a tremendous boost for AFCB and it is that mentality that they need going into these January games.
It may not be a great time to play Leicester City, but it may not be as bad as after the January window when they have strengthened yet again. Leicester City Home Form WWDWD AFCB Away Form LDWWL
You can now read my return interview about to day's match with Leicester Till I Die. Also see Rival Lines for my questions to the Leicester blog.
We've all heard Claudio Reniera reiterate that it is 40 points that Leicester City are aiming for and that he'll reassesses what the team is capable after that. For those slightly lower down the table like AFCB, the sound of 40 points sounds like heaven indeed and it will be Eddie Howe's target to get to that kind of points total as soon as possible, no matter how great it may feel inside to know the team have just beaten Chelsea and Man Utd, as those wins will mean nothing if the Cherries don't get enough points to stay up. So far the Cherries have five wins and if they can get another five as quickly as they can that will be most of the points they need to stay up. Considering that we are not quite at half way through the season, the Cherries are keeping up with the challenge of a point a game and could soon close the gap on some of the mid-table teams that are starting to look more vulnerable. West Brom and Southampton have to be the next sides that the Cherries look to get ahead.
The Cherries are only look up the table.
It is important that AFCB put their foot down now and try and keep this winning run going for as long as they can. There are many hard games coming up and every win against one of the top six is going to put more and more pressure on those teams beneath the Cherries. Setting a realistic goal over the next three games is going to be difficult as they are all massive games, even with just one win in the next three games before taking on Birmingham in the FA Cup would keep AFCB above the point a game schedule. Whether the fact that the team has won some really big matches begins to catch up with them is something that Eddie will also have to watch out for. There are a few more injuries now and it may mean that there has to be some freshening up and that could mean a more active transfer window for the Cherries than we had thought a few weeks ago. The improvement in the side's league position makes the a more attractive club for players to now think about joining, and I have my fingers crossed for some quality signings to help AFCB reach a much higher points total than most of us could have dreamt about back in August. Financial Fair Play sanction The Football League has announced that initial analysis reveals that AFC Bournemouth will face a financial sanction following its 2014/15 season in the Championship for exceeding the Financial Fair Play tolerance. AFCB states that it is engaged in positive dialogue with the Football league to reach a satisfactory outcome.
The second Premier League game - AFCB v Leicester City.
AFCB must be wondering what the Premier League is all about after they almost had it sussed in this match. One-nil up and just five minutes to go and having seen three left sided players have to be replaced through injury, it had already been a hard afternoon, but one slip in midfield by Eunan O'Kane and a race against the pace of Jamie Vardy and matters would soon see Vardy lining up a penalty as Steve Cook mistimed his challenge in the box. Artur Boruc did his best by getting fingertips to the penalty shot, but the ball was blasted into his top left corner and Leicester had earned a draw having fought back from a first half strike from in form Callum Wilson, who had burst the back of the net in the 24th minute with a spectacular overhead kick that had given the Cherries the lead. So honours were even but the injury count was less even with Charlie Daniels, Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel likely to be sidelined for some time now.
A big Eddie Howe flag in the North Stand.
Leicester were second in the league and confident before kick off.
The captains sort out which end to kick towards for their teams.
There are more pictures on the Match Day Gallery tab. The team selection was a shock in that Lee Tomlin won his first start in the Premier League while Josh King did not even make the squad line up. Marc Pugh had to be content with the sub's bench again despite having scored in the previous match against West Ham.
Jason Tindall gives the team news.
Leicester were paying AFCB a bit of respect by playing just Vardy up front with Albrighton and Mahrez on the wings when it might have been expected that they would have started with a more attacking strike partnership up top.
Megan and James give a preview interview of what we might expect from Leicester City.
Lee Tomlin wins his first Premier league start.
This match was certainly keenly contested and as early as the first 20 seconds Max Gradel found himself in the book having displeased referee Neil Swarbrick with his challenge on Riyad Mahrez. Leicester had started well with Schlupp getting crosses in and AFCB's back four looking a bit jittery, even if Kante was not able to capitalise on it when he was in the box.
Lee Tomlin was receiving the ball well and was always aware of where Wilson was making his runs. But Leicester looked just as promising going forward with Vardy up front and Albrighton on the wing. Leicester won the first corner, but Gradel soon levelled the count up with one up the other end.Mahrez latched onto a cross from the left from Albrighton and thought he had scored but was caught just offside. Lee Tomlin then made a tight turn to send Wilson on his way and another corner was won with 12 minutes gone, but getting a shot on goal wasn't a possibility. Leicester were building well in the game and keeping better possession than I'd seen in their previous games. Jamie Vardy hit a shot over after 16 minutes and to be fair the Foxes were looking good at this point. Andy King was mopping up a lot of the ball in midfield even if he tried to do so with his arms in one instant and a loud cheer of 'handball' went up.
AFCB were about to apply some pressure though with Daniels pushing up the left and having a shot, come cross, that went just wide of Schmeichel's left post. The Cherries goal though came soon after with Surman winning the ball and Gradel and Daniels joining with Tomlin. The ball lofted up towards Gradel in the box and while he could not get much of a head on it, the ball broke off of Robert Huth to Wilson who watched the ball's flight onto his right boot, as he attempted an overhead kick, which lashed the ball past Schmeichel's right hand and into the top corner - 1-0!
There was a good chance for AFCB to extend their lead when Lee Tomlin was brought down on the edge of the Leicester box by Kante, although it was questionable whether the challenge was actually inside the box. Gradel took the kick but Schmeichel punched it clear.
The home crowd were getting a bit frustrated with some of the decisions though as Lee Tomlin was said to foul King. Still AFCB were keeping possession well and were in front. But on 40 minutes Charlie Daniels went down injured. While he soldiered on, he was certainly in discomfort but just had to last for a few minutes more before half time arrived with the score at 1-0.
AFCB subs warm up.
Cherry Bear at half time.
Half time scoreboard.
Second Half
Both teams made substitutions at half time with Daniels being replaced by Tyrone Mings who made his Premier league debut and Leicester's star man Riyad Mahrez being withdrawn for Shinji Okasaki. It was a wild start to this half with Robert Huth deciding that Callum Wilson falling over outside the box deserved him belting the ball against the striker for winning a free kick. Huth then handed off Tyrone Mings and a bit of a confrontation broke out with nearby players and the referee needed to calm things down with Robert Huth accepting a yellow card. Gradel floated the free kick in but it evaded all of AFCB's players.
Tyrone Mings had seen a bit of action down the left wing but he didn't find it easy to miss the attention of Drinkwater who chased him down and left him clutching his leg while play went on. Mings could not continue though and the stretcher came on for him after just six minutes of the second half. Adam Smith became the third left back of the day for AFCB.
While Leicester were winning corners, the Cherries looked comfortable enough at making clearances. Wilson was keeping Morgan honest at the other end and all we seemed to be missing was some shots on goal. More bad injury news was on the way though as Max Gradel now had to come off, hobbling with an injured left leg on 66 minutes. Marc Pugh was his replacement.
Leicester were sensing that they were well in this game now with a chance of getting something and Schlupp came mighty close with a run down the left and a shot that Artur Boruc did really well to keep out on the angle.
Leicester's midweek hat-trick sensation Joe Dodoo replaced Marc Albrighton on 72 minutes and AFCB were now really scrapping to keep control. O'Kane was yellow carded for a tug on Drinkwater and Okazaki was making things difficult for the back four. Pugh was doing more defensive work while Ritchie was also not such an easy outlet with Leicester pushing for a goal.
AFCB fans might have thought it would be their day when the game went into the last 10 minutes and Dodoo had a clear air shot which could have proved costly, only for Schlupp to then tried his luck again as he hammered a shot that flew very close to Boruc's left post.
All seemed well until Eunan O'Kane trod on the ball in the middle of the pitch with the on looking Kante quick to win the ball and feed Jamie Vardy who accept the gift. His strong run to the left side of the box had three AFCB players around him. With Elphick twisting and turning and unable to get a tackle in, the lunge from Cook took Vardy straight out - a clear penalty! Artur had been great all game and guessed correctly to his left but the power was too much in Vardy's shot and the Foxes had levelled - 1-1.
Right on 90 minutes Leicester brought on Benalouane for de Laet to see the eight minutes of extra time out. Schlupp picked up a yellow for disagreeing with a decision, but the ball was soon back in the Cherries' box and Pugh's clumsy challenge on Vardy could have been adjudged a foul, but AFCB finally had some luck and nothing was given.
There was just one last attempt by Wilson to out sprint Huth and while he went down in the box the referee soon turned away as he was not going to give anything, despite the calls for a penalty.
Full time.
The players just after the whistle.
A tough day for Steve Cook.
Eddie was pleased the Cherries got something from the game.
Summary
The Cherries know that they have played well in their four matches and probably should have won more points than they have. Yet a draw against a team in second place is not a bad return on a day when they had to make so many changes because of injuries. It upset Eddie Howe's plans for tactical changes and the rhythm of the team was not as good in the second half. Leicester were always in the game and although chances were very few it always appeared that they might get something. The table does not look at all shabby though for AFCB who have now picked up a point at home and came very close to getting a clean sheet against an unbeaten side. Moreover, Callum Wilson is quickly growing into a formidable Premier League striker.
AFCB: Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels (Mings 45, Smith 57), Ritchie, O'Kane, Surman, Gradel (Pugh 67), Tomlin, Wilson
Referee watch: Neil Swarbrick 4/10 gave one penalty probably missed one or two more. Booking a player in the first minute is really all you need to know.
AFCB have a lot of homework to do as the Premier League gets underway. The research on other teams has to be of the utmost quality to be of benefit to Eddie Howe and his players and the researchers will be hard at work scanning formations and pre-season performances of some teams just to get more of a feel of what they are about.
AFCB players come up with a master plan.
Some of the Premier League's elite might not be so rigid in their formations these days as rotation has become the byword for resting players and altering tactics when bad runs become all to frequent. But with the return of the Tinkerman to the top flight at Leicester City it might be very difficult to know what the Foxes will be putting out as their first 11 every week. Finding that chink in the opposition where there is a genuine weakness aided by the use of complicated computer programmes has not seen the Premier League routinely turn into 10-0 matches, so I wonder how important some of the data that is collected on players is and am even more interested to know how it is best used. We can all see when a player has a bad day and makes a howler but it's the overall habits of the team that need to come in for closer scrutiny. But can we say an Aston Villa team, who play in one way one week, will try something totally different the next because their key player has been injured? Will AFCB's work on the Villa with Benteke at its spearhead now be thrown away (until the Liverpool fixture) and an entirely new thought process added to the model with Ghana's Jordan Ayew now monitored for his key movements and preferences for how he likes to take the ball forward in attack? The work that researches can do is almost endless and it must be heart wrenching at this time of the year when so many events are shifting opinions about how teams will play in the new season. "We don't worry about the opposition, we only make sure what we are doing is working for us" - that is the mindset of more than a few managers and I kind of agree that how every helpful today's data is it has to be respected but not adjudged to be the only way of getting the better of the opposition. When your team has the ball, it has the ability to inflict damage by scoring a goal, and the work that Eddie Howe and his players do on trying to get his striker comfortable at finding the back of the net a regular habit is time well spent, and it's not something that is necessarily dependant on what team the opposition turn up with on the day.
You can now read my return interview about to day's match with Leicester Till I Die. Also see Rival Lines for my questions to the Leicester blog.
