Etheridge could have brought a deck chair out against Bournemouth

Bournemouth had a lot of possession against Cardiff City. It was as much as 73 per cent according to the BBC website. Yet, Neil Etheridge had very little to do in the Cardiff goal. The stats point to just two shots on target from Bournemouth in the 90 minutes.

Etheridge didn't have to get his hands dirty against Bournemouth.

It is not that Bournemouth didn't try to work themselves up field. Surman's early shot that Etheridge saved to put on the bar was the best effort that Bournemouth had all match. You could count AFCB's chances on the odd finger or two, while Cardiff had bucket loads of opportunities to get their goals. There was a flatness about Bournemouth when they got over the half way line. We can say that Cardiff defended deep at times and hit the Cherries on the break with Niasse's and Murphy's pace, but the team didn't learn.

Making the possession work for you is what Bournemouth must do better. Howe wants possession football, so the team is doing some things right, but with and without the ball the Cherries were far from being at their best. Bournemouth have to make space in the attacking areas for the runs of Fraser and King and Solanke, but Surman often had to turn back and face his own goal when he found he couldn't make a forward pass to any of them.

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Whether Solanke will find he can adapt his game to fit with Bournemouth is something we will find out in the next few months. He looked like he needed more time to get an understanding with the other front players in this game. But it's early days and we want him and others to give keepers more problems than he gave Etheridge on this day.

Wee-man is going to have a big AFCB season

Ryan Fraser was rightly the talk of the town on Saturday night after he had scored the opening goal of Bournemouth's 20018-19 season. The wee-man had said in pre-season that he wanted to make more of an impact on the score sheet this season. He has started as well as he could have hoped with an excellently timed run to finish off a team goal that he started himself.

Ryan is looking to take his chances.

The first half of the game against Cardiff City went pretty well as could be hoped for. While it took until 23 minutes to get that first goal, the home crowd had remained patient and were giving the team great support. Ryan Fraser and David Brooks, watched by Ryan Giggs,  were catching the eye with their quick movement and while Bournemouth didn't create lots of chances that Neil Etheridge had to save, it will have been pleasing to Eddie Howe that the chance to score fell to Fraser and he made no mistake.

It was an eventful day for Fraser who attracted a scene that we don't want to see from the Cardiff fans of coin throwing. The Welsh club will surely be in trouble for that and it was brave the way that Fraser just carried on and carefully picked up the objects that had been thrown at them to hand them to the officials.

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It's the football though that we want to remember. Fraser could well have his biggest ever season for the Cherries which is not such great news for Marc Pugh who didn't manage to make it on to the bench for this opening game. But Pugh will be delighted that his team-mate has started well. To keep Marc Pugh out of the side has taken Fraser a while to do but he has come of age and is beginning to see himself as one of the players that can really make a difference for this Bournemouth side.


Daily Mail season predictions - AFCB