Is Artur Boruc the best keeper in the Championship?

It is hard to look beyond the qualities of Artur Boruc in the Championship for a better keeper, but the on loan Saint's keep has plenty of competition even if his record has been outstanding in recent weeks. It is not surprise that when looking for the best keepers your eye is naturally drawn to the top of the table, and while you can claim that the keeper who has kept the most clean sheets or saved the most shots are good indicators, I suspect many fans will say their club's keeper is number one. 

Artur Boruc might not be able to put his hands on his knees
for long during games, but at least his hands are not the busiest in the Championship.

I believe it also depends also on who is playing in front of the shot stopper and how often a keeper is being made to work. In recent games Artur has thankfully not been worked too hard, but in some ways it is even harder for a keeper to suddenly be called into action and have to make a great save when he has been a virtual spectator for much of the game. Artur had only played five times for the Cherries before the Reading game and with 14 saves that was an average of below three a game. He had also picked up a yellow card in one game, so perhaps there is still even better to come for Artur.

My personal favourite in the Championship may surprise some of you, but I am not saying he is the best. It is Lee Grant at Derby County. He is agile and also imposing and has more than a season's experience now at this level. I know he has a great defence in front of him that had only let in 10 goals after 12 games, but he consistently keeps clean sheets for the Rams and is one that is only going to get better. 

Every one will also know two previous Premier league keepers at Watford and Norwich. Both Heurelho Gomes and John Ruddy will have their admirers, but I don't see them as keepers on the way up in their careers. A better pick for me is Karl Darlow on loan at Nottingham Forest. I can see why Newcastle came in for him. While he may not seem a big frightening character between the sticks, he is certainly one of those with outstanding ability. The saves he has made this season already have been highly regarded with 38 saves in 14 league and cup matches.

The other keeper that I think would rival Boruc for top spot is David Marshall at Cardiff City. Another former Premier League keeper, it is a wonder how come Marshall was not picked up be a Premier League club over the summer. He has had a slow start to the season though and Cardiff have let in 15 goals in their first 12 matches.

Is Artur No1 keeper in the Championship for you?

Yet for all the big names, if you check out who has let in the least goals this season in the early stages it is Dimitrios Konstantopoulos at Middlesbrough and before this season I bet hardly any of us had even heard of him. He had made nine appearances and 14 saves before this week's midweek game, which still puts him quite some way behind Karl Darlow in my opinion.

So, much as I might hate to admit it, if there was a keeper who I would say is No1 in the Championship at the moment, I'd probably go for Karl Darlow, but if Artur Boruc can be loured to extend his contact at AFCB past January, I can see him showing AFCB fans that he has helped saved many points for the team. Perhaps you think there is another keeper in the Championship who is currently the best? Let me know who and why?

What is happening with AFCB corners?

It may not take you by that much of a surprise to hear that the Cherries managed to stack up 17 corners against Nottingham Forest in their recent match with only two corners gained by the visitors in the whole 90 minutes. Still it is quite an incredible stat and it does ask the question what are Bournemouth doing wrong when it comes to corners, because they aren't scoring from the at the moment (I say this before the Blackburn game not know how that went).

Ritchie needs to start delivering some great corners.

Against Forest it was junior Stanislas and Matt Ritchie who took the majority of those corners, while Pugh and Fraser will also have contributed on occasion. We saw quite a variety of short corners, far post and penalty spot crosses but the likes of Tommy Elphick, Steve Cook and Yann Kermorgant could not get the kind of header in at goal that they would have liked to. Cook probably came the closest but was never close enough to trouble Karl Darlow in the Forest goal.  

So what are the Cherries missing? There is one very obvious thing. It is the kind of accurate delivery that we saw so well towards the second part of last season. But the player who made a lot of those crosses from the corner areas was Ian Harte and he is currently on the bench. It is a trade off for Eddie Howe whether he picks Ian Harte or Charlie Daniels as they both defend tenaciously and offer different things in the opposition's half. So far I have not seen Daniels at the kind of level that I know he can produce but whether that is getting back to play match after match or something else I am not sure. But I do hope that if Ian Harte is still making the difference with deliveries in training that Eddie considers him for some games as he could just be the missing ingredient to converting some of those ideal positions to score from corners. 

Forest inflict first defeat on Cherries (Gallery + Fan videos)

Match Report

AFCB 1 v 2 Nottingham Forest

19 August 2014

Attendance: 10,768

Karl Darlow kept AFCB at bay with some great saves.

Two second half goals from Britt Assombalonga and Matt Fryatt for Nottingham Forest sent them to the top of the table while the Cherries had to scratch their heads in wondering how they had lost this game. For 45 minutes AFCB bossed the match, in front of a packed Dean Court, and the only question was how had they not scored when the two teams went in at half time all square at nil-nil. Only a heroic display by on loan Newcastle Utd keeper Karl Darlow had the Cherries and Adam Smith in particular out, while Forest had simply been overwhelmed in the first half by Bournemouth's best 45 minutes of the season so far. But goals are what count and while the Cherries took the lead with a deserved goal on the balance of play after 57 minutes when Callum Wilson swept in from close range, Forest scored two goals in the space of five minutes to go top of the Championship.

Forest players get ready.

Final moments before kick off.

Match Day Gallery now has more photographs from the evening.

Eddie Howe made two changes to the starting line up as Simon Francis was said to have a thigh strain and Marc Pugh was moved to the bench. That meant in came Adam Smith for a rare home start and Junior Stanislas first home league start in a Cherries' shirt. Baily Cargill won a place on the bench, but did not manage to get on.

The first half was really a pleasure to watch for Bournemouth fans as they saw their side play some stunning football which had the Forest fans go quiet very quickly. The corner count got underway after just four minutes and they continued coming Bournemouth;s way. Cook went close early on with a header from one of the corners but it was Adam Smith who was the outstanding player of the first half, racing up the right wing causing Darlow to narrow the angle and save Smith's shot at his near post on 12 minutes. O'Kane followed up from the corner but side footed his shot straight at Darlow. A minute later Wilson had his shot blocked as Bournemouth started to turn up the pace.

After a Ritchie free kick that looked like it glanced off the post, Arter was next to see his shot saved. Most of Forest's play was being limited to Michail Antonio's short forays on the left wing, but he was constantly being out done by Smith and Ritchie. One of AFCB's best moves came after 21 minutes when Forest were cut open with a swift set of passes that put Ritchie through on goal but he hammered his shot against the tall figure of Darlow who was proving unbeatable. The home crowd was rocking by this point as it was a display so much improved from the last home performance against Brentford. 

Arter was again trying to get on the score sheet with an attempt that went well over after a knock down. Forest started to get more ball through Daniel Fox and Chris Cohen in midfield as they got more to grips with things and Chris Burke started to get more involved on Forest's right wing. Danny Fox picked up the first yellow after a foul on Ricthie when other tackles had perhaps been worse. Forest's best chance of the half fell to their new number 9, Britt Assombalonga after Antonio had sent a cross in from the left but he could only head over from near the penalty spot. As 40 minutes approached, Adam Smith again found himself through on goal and could not beat Darlow, and so it was 0-0 at half time.

Half time Chimes Fan Cam

Damian Garner is first up with his first half reaction.

Barry Smith adds some more comments on the Cherries first half performance.

The second half saw forest make two subs as off went Fox and Antonio who were replaced by Hunt and Osborn. Forest immediately seemed to have a better shape about them and for the first five minutes of this half had far more of the ball and pushed Bournemouth back. Callum Wilson was proving a handful and jack Hobbs had to marshal him away from goal with a strong challenge. For all AFCB's good play though they had not scored and Andy Reid was starting to have more influence on proceedings. Michael Mancienne was also having a good game for Forest at the back  But he could not do much about AFCB taking the lead on 57 minutes when Ritchie sent a ball into the box from the left and Wilson beat Mancienne to it, flicking it high into the air, before winning a header and seeing the ball come back to him after Kermorgant and Burke, I believe, had tried to reach the ball and he had a simple task of scoring with the keeper already on the deck.

It could have been 2-0 shortly after when Arter played a good ball through to Kermorgant but rather than shoot, the Frenchman decided to try and cross the ball to Wilson on the right hand side of the box but over hit the cross and the chance had gone. It was an important moment of the game as things changed very quickly not long after that. While jack Hunt received a yellow card and Cook went close again with a glancing header that he just did not get enough on from a corner, Forest won a free kick on the left  side with Ritchie give a yellow card. From Reid's free kick Assombalonga rose well at the far side of the goal and headed downwards into the goal, although from where we sat it had looked like O'Kane had got the final touch.

That was all Forest needed to have the belief to go on to win the game. Osborn and Hunt's fresh legs were really helping Forest's momentum and while we were contemplating who Eddie Howe should bring on a move down Bournemouth's left side saw a cross put in by Hunt and at the far post Fryatt easily out leaped Smith to head in and make it 1-2 to the visitors!

Seventy-two minutes had gone and there was still time for things to change, and Pugh and Fraser were soon ready to replace Ritchie and Stanislas. Chances still came the Cherries way with Yann Kermorgant sending Wilson almost grabbing an equaliser before Darlow claimed the ball near the goal line. Arter was then subbed as AFCB went three at the back and Rantie joined the attackers. Tokelo had a great run where he sped away from players and raced into a shooting position, but Darlow again kept the Cherries out. Cook also picked up a yellow card for a push on Assombalonga when he wanted to take a free kick quickly, but even as 90 minuted clicked over Forest were eating up time with their last sub as Reid seemed to find the trauma of running 20 yards more like a marathon with his 2 inch walking gate.

If any one was going to score in the last gasps of the game though it looked like Forest as Assombalonga raced through only to see his shot deflected and hit the side netting.Forest had done enough though by weathering the Cherries first half storm and putting away their two chances. It was a 1-2 home defeat.

Forest win out this time.

A hard fought game.

Summary
I think many AFCB supporters were left numb by the scoreline as the team had played so well and looked very comfortable for most of the match. However, two headers had sealed Forest's win and the power of the midlands side was what seemed to tell in the end. Perhaps AFCB's subs should have come on a bit earlier but the side had been on top for most of the match and if Kermorgant had decided to shoot instead of pass after the first goal things might have turned out differently. As it was Forest grew into the match and did not drop their heads when they went behind. It will be a big morale booster for them but AFCB have nothing to be overly disheartened about this performance. It is early days and they dominated Stuart Pearce's side for long periods, now they have to look to sharpen their goal scoring and keep working to get back to clean sheets.

Eddie gracious as ever.

Darlow heads off with team mates after Forest win.

AFCB
Camp, Smith, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, O'Kane, Arter (Rantie 80), Stanislas (Pugh 75), Ritchie (Fraser 75), Kermorgant, Wilson

AFCB Subs
Flahavan, Cargill, Gosling, Fraser, Pugh, Rantie, Harte

AFCB ratings
Camp 6, Smith 8, Elphick 8, Cook 7, Daniels 6, O'Kane 7, Arter 6, Stanislas 6, Ritchie 7, Kermorgant 7, Wilson 7.

Forest
Darlow, Lichaj, Fox (Hunt 45 ), Cohen, Hobbs, Mancienne, Burke, Reid (McLaughlin 90), Assombologa, Fryatt, Antonio (Osborn 45) 

Forest Subs
Harding, Weldwjik, Hunt, Osborn, McLaughlin, Paterson, de Vries

Ref watch: Kevin Friend 5/10