Can Eddie Howe out smart Pep Guardiola?

Eddie Howe has faced Pep Guadiola a number of times, but the closest he has got to a point was probably in August 2017 when Sterling scored an injury-time winner for a 1-2 home defeat for AFCB. Those sort of results stick in the memory. Bournemouth can't say they haven't performed against City in those games though. They have gone close and have certainly competed, but they've not yet managed to come out on top. Could it be different this time?

Has Eddie Howe got enough tricks to outwit Pep Guadiola?

The omens might not seem great, but I have no doubt that the personal challenge that Eddie Howe has to take points off of every manager in the Premier League is one that sits uneasy with him. It's only right that Pepe Guadiola is the one manager that he is left with from the top six that has got the better of him, and it is building to a day when Howe does come out on top. There is every chance that record could be about to fall as Howe has more and more experience and his squad is being bolstered all the time.

There might not be too many surprises in the game, but the one wild card I see is Harry Wilson. Eddie Howe has to try and get Harry and Ryan Fraser in the game and not just defending but actually putting City on the back foot and chasing back to their own goal. I believe Harry Wilson is going to be a key player as he can do the unexpected. Bournemouth don't yet know how good he really can be, while Man City have even less chance of knowing how he might be able to take a game and cut through defences.

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If Bournemouth's timing is right and they take their chances, we could see Eddie Howe out smart Pep Guardiola. Man City will keep finding solutions as the game goes on and Howe has to have more than just one game plan, as City will try and get round whatever blocks he set up. But staying in the game for as long as possible has to be AFCB's aim. City are smarting from their dropped points against Spurs, and while that may make them angry and even over energetic to strive for an early lead, AFCB could find that they can start to play their football, if they can hold out in the first 20 minutes and start to build some confidence from passing movements that could see AFCB break through City lines as the game goes on.

It's a big challenge, but this is the kind of opportunity Eddie Howe wants to improve as a manger. Putting his team up against the best. We will all be behind the team and willing the players to succeed. 

Possible AFCB Line up

Boruc, Rico, Simpson, Surman, Ibe, King, Solanke

AFCB TV Preview

How can AFCB take the game to City?

It is one thing to stay in the game with Man City and quite another to try and win it. Bournemouth haven't come closer than almost getting a draw against City and the history of the past few meeting is perhaps best forgotten, if Bournemouth are to achieve a point or more against the best team in the league.

Can AFCB get this score after 90 minutes?

Finding a solution is a puzzle that all the other managers in the Premier League are going to have to try and solve as well when they come up against Pep Guadiola. Eddie will not want to see a result like West Ham had on the first day of the season, so he'll not play too open and we may see less balls played out from the back if Man City play their high pressing game.

Bournemouth have the speed of attack to cause City problems if they do play well on the counter, but City are well aware that is something they have to guard against. Where City dominate is in midfield and that is the area where I think AFCB have to try and get closer to City. If they can stem the flow of passes to the attackers then this will start to interrupt City's passing game. Somehow they have to ruffle players like de Bruyne, David Silva or whoever Guadiola puts in the middle.

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Once City have manoeuvred players out of position they have the strikers to kill games off quickly. This game is all about positioning and keeping a good shape. High concentration and the alertness to strike when City believe they have you where they want you is the only game plan that I can see working. It may be the counter-attack is Bournemouth's best form of defence and if they do get set set-plays there is more of an aerial threat about the Cherries now with Billing, Aké, Simpson and Steve Cook all good targets to hit.

It's one thing looking at City's potential vulnerabilities and actually playing to AFCB's strengths on the pitch. But Bournemouth have been in the Premier League for five seasons at then end of this one, and it would be annoying if Man City are still the only team that they haven't taken at least a point off of. AFCB's players should see Sunday's game as an opportunity to try and achieve this.

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Man City are under more pressure than the Cherries

Man City come to Bournemouth having to keep winning to ensure their title bid stays on track. While the Cherries were hammered in their last match by Arsenal they are a different proposition at home and Guardiola won't take the game for granted. For those reasons there is a lot of pressure on Man City's players as they know one bad performance could set them back.

AFCB secure mid-table security while City chase down the title.

While City remain a point behind Liverpool in the Premier League race they are not in the box seat, even with their goal difference supremacy. They are the chasers and their recent games have not been the usual goal fest that Man City are capable of when they play teams. A penalty in a 1-0 win over West Ham last time out did the trick, but Guardiola will want a win to come easier than that at Bournemouth.

Players aren't machines though and no matter how exceptional Man City's players are they get nervous just like any other team. Bournemouth have to aim to make this game as tight as they can for as long as they can. The pressure then will mount on Man City if they can't get a break through. If we get another opening few minutes like we did against Arsenal then fans can expect a similar outcome to the match. But Bournemouth have to show some character now.

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Man City have scored 75 goals in their 28 matches which is an average of about 2.68 goals a game. Aguero has his own personal challenge of leading the Premier League goal scoring table on 18, but Ederson is three games behind Liverpool's Alisson in the clean sheet stakes for keepers. City do concede goals occasionally, but it's their midfield that is I believe is the best in the league and we are only seeing de Bruyne starting to get back to his best, having only scored one goal in his injury heavy season. He'll fancy adding to that tally at AFCB as will Raheem Sterling who is on 12 goals this season. Leroy Sané is two away from double figures for goals and he could be Man City's devastating player for AFCB just like Mkhatirayan was for Arsenal.

It's a game AFCB will try and get some pride back, but the odds are heavily stacked against them, even if they are not the ones under the most pressure. 

I have a feeling Howe will make changes and we could even see Begovic back in goal and Daniels and Brooks given starts.

Man City Away Form
WWLWW

AFCB Home Form
WDWWD

AFCB Line up

AFCB Subs: Boruc, A Smith, Rico, Taylor, Ibe, Surridge, Wilson 

AFCB TV

Man City press conference

Can Eddie How learn from Pep Guadiola?

Eddie Howe is just at the start of his managerial career and he has come up against some of the very best a few times now, but is he able to develop his own knowledge from them? In the Premier League I do wonder how easy it is to pick up ideas from other managers as everything is so frantic that one game follows another and managers have so much to try and get right in making their own layers do their jobs without trying to pick up new ideas from a manager in charge of another team who has his own reasons for playing the way he can with his players.

Man City have just been great for Guardiola but can Eddie Howe
pick some things up from the way Guardiola sets up his team and how they play?

Pep himself is only in his second season in the Premier League and he didn't get it right in his first season. I think much of his success is built on his analysis of what his team is not doing well enough more than how he worries about what the opposition might do. Eddie Howe is also very dedicated to focus on what his team is doing well and not so well rather than try and react to the opposition. While Guardiola has a healthy budget to buy in players he has developed players that were at City already, even if they are like Sterling well seasoned international players, he has also bought well. I still think Eddie Howe is learning on the transfer market and the type of players Howe can buy are obviously much further from the finished star Premier League player that Guardiola can go after.

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I should think Howe would learn more from managers like Guardiola on the training pitch than on a match day when there are so many more distractions that are outside the control of Guardiola. But it is noticeable that Guardiola is one of the most talkative and hand gesturing managers on the touchline in the league, whereas Eddie Howe hardy gives anything away with his small note pad receiving most of his attention. That in itself might be something that Eddie should note, Pep doesn't jot everything down but almost loses himself in the game just watching and drawing information while reacting with his players and giving them messages to add positive encouragement.

What I am sure is that the moments after the game where Eddie has a moment or two to talk with Pep will seem all too short for Eddie. 

Possible AFCB team to play Man City.

It would not surprise me if King and Arter make miraculous recoveries.
Subs: Boruc, Simpson, Ibe, Stanislas, Pugh, Mousset, Afobe 

City have been untouchable for the Cherries

I doubt I am the only AFCB fan who looks at the visit of Man City with a great deal of trepidation. It's not just because that Pep Guardiola's side have regained their swagger as they sit high in the table with the Champion's League places now fully in focus, but it's the fact that of all the sides in the AFCB have not come anywhere near matching the Blue half of Manchester in a Premier League game in three attempts - why should this game be any different?

AFCB at Man City last season.

There is no magic formula that Pep has sprinkled over his players to suddenly turn them back into world beaters, but on their day everyone knows that Man City's players can beat any side -  after all, they beat Barcelona earlier in the season. Now they have a Brazilian star striker that is in hot enough form to knock Aguero out of the side. Gabriel Jesus has been filling the sports pages over recent days with his destruction of Swansea City last time out, and he's only just warming up I feel, having seen what Romelu Lukaku did to the Cherries last week.

Vincent Kompany might even be back to ensure that City are for once solid at the back and if City's defence has been a little 'open door policy' shall we say, then AFCB's has been like a chasm. Finding weaknesses among City's ranks will keep Howe and Tindall awake at night and if they do spot a chink or two, there is also a need to find a way for AFCB's players to exploit it.

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With Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and David Silva also rather useful at scoring goals and with Sergio Aguero to join the party in the second half, for once it is appropriate to still call Eddie Howe's side little Bournemouth. Yet, Howe will draw upon what the Cherries did earlier in the season to hold Spurs at home and to come back and beat Liverpool. These are all top sides and it may be a while since the Cherries played as well as they did in the first half against Arsenal, the genie is out of the bag in that Howe knows his players can play that well - it's just a case of tapping back into it.

It seems funny that this is what AFCB fans craved for only 18 months ago - more games against the best in the land. Now it is probably the last thing they need in terms of confidence. But if AFCB's form is to turnaround, why not do it against a team that is expected to win a Champion's League place? AFCB have to grow at some point - it's either that or curl up and join the others at the foot of the league.

If Howe and the players believe City are untouchable then AFCB fans are in for a rough night. Man City want to chase down Spurs and Chelsea and it won't matter to then that they are away from home. But if our manager can find a plan to knock City out of their stride, I'd say it would be his biggest achievement to date.

Man City Away Form
LWLLW

AFCB Home Form
WLDDL

AFCB will have to find a better platform

I was interested to hear that Eddie Howe had looked at the team and picked the first 11 looking to provide a platform for the side to get into the game against Man City. While it did not work, at least AFCB tried to do something new and looked at an adaption to their normal game as they knew they would not have as much of the ball as normal.

The way to get a platform though is not to concede in the first 45 minutes and once the first goal went in there was plenty of discussion to be had as it was such a weak way to lose a goal. It may have come as a surprise for Kevin de Bruyne to be playing down the middle for City, but none of the AFCB players seemed to be able to get near him for most of the match. Sometimes you have to put your hands up and recognise a special talent but City did not look overly extended in getting four goals against AFCB and even when playing a talent like Jack Wilshire in midfield he can't work his magic five yards outside of his own penalty box.

Have AFCB got the balance right in the side yet?

Getting the Cherries playing higher up the field was a real battle all game. Guardiola had obviously made it clear to his players that the Cherries are impressive when they attack and his side were not to sit back at any point. Steve Cook and Charlie Daniels were constantly chased and put under pressure at the back when  trying to get out of defence and even Wilshire couldn't do much to try and beat three players in his own half just to get a pass away to another Bournemouth shirt. It is the movement and being in the right spot at the right time that the very best sides are great at and I hope AFCB get the video out and see what City did to them and look at how they might be able to add some of those things to their own play.

Eddie Howe talked even before the game of how much he liked watching City play, but he won't have liked it on Saturday. It was too easy for City and now that AFCB have played them they have to be more ready for the examination they will get from Everton next Saturday.

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How will City tonking affect AFCB?

It was a harsh knock back to reality for the Cherries yesterday. I heard one Premier League fan on the radio say that, "it's a great league - any team can beat anyone this season." Well, AFCB never looked like getting something at the Etihad and they probably travelled knowing that it might be unlikely that they could keep the score tight. Sadly, that is how it turned out and even Eddie Howe admitted that the gulf in class was huge, with City being 'a level above' them, even if he wanted his side to do better and felt that they should have got more out of the game than they did.

I was not so dismayed by the scoreline of 4-0, even if one or two of Man City's team are currently injured or unable for selection. It was never going to matter that much. Guardiola is warming to his task and AFCB met City on one of their good days which was a pity. The important thing for the players and the staff is to not let the result get to them. They are not at City's level and it has been proved. But the movement and pace of City's passing is something that AFCB's players can go away with and try and replicate. You learn from playing the best sides and Steve Cook was honest at saying that was the best team he he as played against.

AFCB just have to go again and know there is a level that they are still trying to get to.

While some of the fans and players will sound despondent, this is a reminder that the Cherries are in a league that is going to punish teams that are not at their cutting-edge best. The best sides are ripping apart those that are not able to compete in terms of the world-class talent that they face and it is like these teams are not going to allow another Leicester City season to happen again.

AFCB have to pick themselves up and work on what they can improve on. Eddie Howe mentioned that there were things they could do much better like not giving away the ball when in a good attacking position themselves for the second goal. The high-pressing that City employed kept the ball from AFCB for much of the game and the team will have to see how City managed this and how they can try and do similarly to teams that come to Dean Court. City play in a similar way, but they just do it far better. Now AFCB have a measure of the level they need to aspire to.

If the AFCB players look at the game in this way with honesty and a recognition of what they can improve on, such a match does not have to be a negative in the long run. UTCIAD!

AFCB must stay hard to beat

It is always going to be difficult going to any of the top six sides in the Premier League and next Saturday it will not be easy visiting the Etihad. Still, it is possible to get points against the best sides and AFCB have to make themselves much harder to beat than the last time they visited that stadium.

The side has found it very difficult to get clean sheets and it was very well timed that they managed that in their last game against WBA. Now they need to try and carry it on with a second clean sheet and that is just about the hardest test they could have up at Man City. Yet, what a boost it would be if they could achieve that. Artur Boruc was injured in the warm up last time the side went to Man City and this time he is in cracking form. The defence will know what they are in for having played their last season and with no Aguero they have at least one less world-class player to worry about, even if Pep Guardiola has an amazing squad to pick from.

AFCB travel to Manchester with more promise than was shown in early August.

Now that AFCB have something on the board in terms of points they need to set themselves new challenges. It is no good just being part of the Premier League to be knocked over by the big teams every week. At some point you have to knock the trend and beat a big team. There is no reason why AFCB should not go to the Etihad with a game plan to stifle the sky blues and keep the game tight until at least the second half. That in my view would be progress on what we have seen an AFCB side do and who knows what they might be able to do if they can stay in a game with a side that will find it frustrating if they can't just sweep aside the Cherries.

Against Chelsea last year, AFCB found the perfect plan to worry the then Champions. Now they must focus again on another stern test away from home and see if they can use the pace in the side to cause panic in Man City's defence. Positivity can take a group of players a long way and that is how AFCB should approach this next challenge. 


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AFCB's fans wait for transfer market to spark into life

This is certainly the calm before the storm. When Sun journalists are keen to follow Eddie Howe to town to see his wife buy a coffee you know that news is thin on the ground in the transfer rumour mill. At least we will no longer be linked with Jermain Defoe who has signed a new three-year deal at Sunderland and if Michael Carrick was a target he has escaped Eddie Howe's clutches for another year. But should AFCB fans be worried by the lack of activity?

Don't be fooled. Neill Blake, Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall will be extremely busy in trying to get bids for players ready. When you consider that Ronald Koeman has more than £100m to spend this summer and the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp will probably spend even more it is probably a waiting game that many teams are having to play at the moment until the big guns start splashing out. Whispers are that even Arsene Wenger may open his purse! Still, AFCB usually like to get their business done early so that players can be integrated during pre-season so I don't expect it to be long before the Cherries start to get some bids in.

How many new additions will AFCB bring into their squad this summer?

Of course, Eddie Howe may not want to bring in as many players as the fans might hope for this summer. He has after all spent a lot of dosh in the last transfer window and if the basis of the side can be kept together he won't have to find too many new stars. There is of course some anticipation over which players can secure lucrative transfers from playing at this year's Uefa Euro 2016 competition and it seems crazy but AFCB is a Premier League club that would have the kind of purchasing power to attract players that are performing at that level.

It is the British players though that I expect rate highest in AFCB's tick list for inbound transfers. The club has had mixed success in attracting foreign players that have flourished and unless they are U21 or full internationals it is hard to see how players can force their way into the side now. That means spending big bucks and the risks are greater now than they were in League One of the Championship. It is not about leaping first, it's about getting it right. UTCIAD!

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