How fit can the Cherries be for the resumption of games?

With some five weeks already passed since the last Premier League games and the players left to their fitness programmes, it won't escape anyone that it will be hard for the players to be ready to pick up on games as soon as the Premier League wants to resume. Listening to Dan Hodges, Head of Sport Science, on AFCBTV monitoring of the stats has become a touch more difficult.

Dan puts the players through their paces pre-COVID-19.

Dan himself admitted that the challenges include keeping in touch with the players. The Kitman app seems to be the easiest way that the club can keep tabs on what the players are doing, but with no team ball work the focus can only really be on fitness. I read that Burnley have put GPS trackers on their players to check what they are doing.

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I like the idea of the challenges for bike rides and having leader boards to add some competitiveness into matters. Nobody wants to be at the bottom of the board and knowing AFCB they probably have some forfeits for players in those places.

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It seems like the uncertainty of things is really the enemy at the moment. If everyone had a goal to work to it would be a lot easier. But there is no end in sight and without a fixture timetable, I imagine there will come a point, no matter how professional the players are that they get a bit bored of the routines and will want to do something new.

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I don't think AFCB expect the players to be as fit as they would be having played a few matches, but if this is an extended pre-season it is vital that they come out of it in the best condition they can. While some might have big back gardens I imagine finding space could be awkward for some and local parks won't be good for players to visit to often where they are likely to be recognised. It's a tough time for players but I congratulate those that are sticking to their personal schedules.

In other news, it was good to hear Philip Billing progressed in the ePL invitation tournament beating the Saint's Angus Gunn 4-0. This is where we are with football now - it's thumbs and fingers only!

Previous post on Cherry Chimes - Who has the toughest run-in among the bottom six

The Boxing Day hangover may still remain for Arsenal

The AFCB players have to find some energy from somewhere for the match against Arsenal. It may only be 48 hours between games but Arsenal played a few hours later than the Cherries, so they have less time to recuperate. This is where the extra cash that AFCB have spent on ice baths and treatment rooms really come into play and while I am not sure if the team will travel up by coach or fly, I expect they will be fresh and ready to go with high-intensity when they see the Gunner's logo on the side of the Emirates stadium.  

Artur Boruc will be keen to add a clean sheet against Arsenal to his record.

The Christmas period is always a busy period and Dan Hodges will have the players  well set up to recover their energy quickly. I am not sure if the Southampton battering of Arsenal did the Cherries much good, but the defeat will be fresh in the heads of the Arsenal players which could be a good thing if the Cherries can have a good start and put them under pressure from the off. The game is a late kick-off at 5.30pm and that will also not sit comfortably with Arsenal after the late game against Southampton, even if it is in their home stadium. The Boxing Day hangover may still remain for Arsenal.

We know that Arsenal have a big squad, but they have also got injury worries - most notably Sanchez and Cazorla. But they have great talent at their disposal and players like Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Walcott will be a big test for Daniels and Smith, while Giroud has been scoring a lot of goals. Arter and Gosling will also have to take on Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil - doesn't it make you excited? I hope Eddie does not over think the threat from Arsenal though. The Cherries have to give Arsene Wenger's team something to think about and Josh King and Junior Stanislas can do it against the best teams as we have seen this month already.

Every Bournemouth player is going to need to be on their game but they have to be as excited about this game as the fans. If they perform and get a result at Arsenal it will surely have been the best footballing month in the Cherries' history.   

Later today, I answer some questions on the Cherries on the Gunners Town website - look out for my interview at Gunners Town.

AFCB will be fit and ready for the Premier League

The stopwatch is out and the heart monitor is on. The players will have found it tough going in their first week back in training with the temperature rising and lots of work to do. That's the way that Eddie Howe, Jason Tindall and Simon Weatherstone certainly like it by the look of the pictures taken of the players in their new training kits last week as the real work gets underway. It looks like there was a fair bit of fun as well though as piggybacks seemed to be much in evidence. 

Everyone wants to be in tip-top condition for the start of the new season.

I thought that last season the Cherries were one of the fittest teams and usually had very strong second halves, when it hadn't always gone so well in the first 45 minutes. Whether the Premier League requires more variety of training than the team had in the Championship is a question that Dan Hodges, head of sports science, will have worked out and the coaches will be looking to add even more control and precision to the team's play.

There are quite a few new faces of course and perhaps Sylvain Distin has been lucky to miss out on a few days early training with the others. I was perhaps more wandering if there were some extra absentees and while Harry Arter will hopefully have his feet up, it wasn't evident that there were any omissions. I'm sure we will be updated soon if there are any injuries.

What I also noticed was that the ball was straight out of the bag, so the players can at least enjoy the feel and touch of the football again and not have to do massive long runs all the time. Making the players reach their peak on 8 August will be the aim and in the meantime the players themselves have to try and get in the manager's thoughts for as many games as they can before the season kicks off.

I don't relish the players the work that they now need to do, but I know that they'll all be giving 100 per cent and it will be a pleasure for fans to see them in the pre-season friendlies. 

Player selection conundrum

Eddie Howe will have to quickly assess the fitness of his squad when they come back to training in the next few days. While some will have summered well others will be in need to pick up the pace of their fitness. Eddie has sport science expert Dan Hodges and performance analyst Garavan Stewart to guide him and Steve Hard will no doubt be checking on any injuries. Things are going to start to get busy.

I suspect that is only after working out who is most ready that Eddie's player plans for the friendly fixtures are likely fall into place. He may well have some ideas of who he already wants to play in some games, but at this stage of the season I imagine nothing can be set in concrete. Plans for the German-cased pre-season camp and Zurich match will be uppermost in everyone's mind after the League fixtures have been announced.

The way the dice has rolled to bring up two Portsmouth fixtures in the space of a couple of weeks is quite freaky. Both Guy Whittingham and Eddie Howe will have to out whit each other as to their line ups for the second tie for the Capital One match. It has been customary for AFCB to give a second or third choice keeper the chance to play in such cup games and I expect this to be the case.

I do expect Eddie to keep a fairly familiar back four for the second game but perhaps Zubar, Addisson or Purches might win some game time in the friendly with Pompey. Both games might come too soon for Partington, but we will find out soon enough.

It's in the midfield and up front where Eddie has lots of selection dilemmas but I don't feel that is a great problem to have. While Matt Ritchie is keen to face his old club he may only get the one outing as I'm sure most of us would like to see Ryan Fraser given a real opportunity.

There are others too who will be lining up to impress Eddie. As for the front men it could be any one's guess who plays there for the first match, but I am intrigued to know what is going to happen with strikers that have been out on loan and of course if we do bring someone new in like Danny Ings. May be we will know a lot more before we come round to the double-header Portsmouth games.

There are some great opportunities for AFCB players in the next few weeks.

P.S. I see the BBC website has updated the league tables to put Bournemouth in the Championship but we are not at the top as they have not included AFC in front our own name!!