How much of a miss is Daniels?

While Ian Harte has done exceptionally well at left back in the two games since coming on for Charlie Daniels, AFCB do miss the drive and power of Charlie and his link up play with Marc Pugh. When Daniels is flying down the left there is no better sight for a Cherries fan. 

Charlie Daniels has one of the best engines of the AFCB players.

In recent games Charlie has been tremendous in getting forward to support Pugh in particular and when he is not on the pitch the team does not look as penetrative or dynamic. I think this is the case no matter whoever tries to play at left back instead of Daniels and is not a poor reflection on Ian Harte, who I already have said has been brilliant against Huddersfield and Leicester City.

It is funny that the left back position always causes AFCB lots of problems. Repairing Charlie Daniels is an ongoing project it would seem, but it is worth getting him just right. While Tommy Elphick and Elliott Ward are seen as the leaders of the team, I feel that nobody leads better than Charlie Daniels with his actual play. He simply races around the pitch and if he gets beaten he gets back up and endeavours to do better next time. While Charlie is set to be out for a few weeks, we wish him a speedy recovery. News is today that he has flown out to the Italian clinic for treatment.

Charlie Daniels runs up the left wing offer plenty of creativity for AFCB.

You can pick up some further thoughts Cherry Chimes had on the Leicester game by visiting Leicester Till I Die blog. 

It's tempting for Eddie to play Kermorgant against Bolton

Last Saturday saw the home debut of Yann Kormorgant in an AFCB shirt in front of a packed Dean Court. The forward came on at the second half along with Matt Ritchie in a tactical change to play two up front which has become a bit of a rarity at home these days.

Yann Kermorgant walks out at Dean Court for the first time on AFCB colours.

From the start you could see how well Yann can hold the ball up. He is really confident with his touch and control of the ball, even with his back to the goal and defenders pressing on him. He showed a few very nice lay offs and quickly fitted in with the tempo that the Cherries were setting. It was also good to see that he had the strength to create space around him and in the air he looks like he will add a new dimension to AFCB's game. 

Yann says in his first interview that he is particularly looking to play in behind the front forward which is most likely to be Lewis Grabban. That may mean that Rantie continues to be used as the second half sub more often that not. Yann's experience will surely bring more confidence to the Cherries' attack and it remains to be seen if Pitman and Rantie can raise their games to try and challenge for a place. It is good that Eddie Howe does not feel that he has to play Grabban up front on his own all the time now. It does put a lot of work rate on him and a shared responsibility of getting the goals should help him to relax a little more in front of goal. Let's hope Yann and Lewis can become as prolific as some of the other striking partnerships in the Championship.

Yann warms up before the Leicester City game.

It will be interesting to see how Yann is used with the other strikers at AFCB.

We can already see that Yann will offer Eddie Howe something different up front.

For the moment AFCB fans will be keen to see if Eddie Howe sticks with his one up front against Bolton or if he thinks Yann should be used in a 4-4-2, with perhaps Andrew Surman being left in reserve. With a distinct lack of efforts on goal of late it may well be too tempting for Howe not to give Yann a chance to get himself off the mark against Bolton. 

You can pick up some further thoughts Cherry Chimes had on the Leicester game by visiting Leicester Till I Die blog. 

Bolton will be a dangerous opponent

Don't be deceived by Bolton Wanderers currently lowly position in the Championship. They have already beaten AFCB at Dean Court and have plenty of fire power to be able to do the same again at the Reebok stadium. They played well recently against QPR and only narrowly lost 1:0 to Premiership Cardiff City in the FA Cup, while a 1:0 defeat away at Ipswich Town last time out is hardly a bad performance.

If anything Bolton have been a bit unlucky. They need their experienced players like Jay Spearing and Zat Knight to step up now. Andre Moritz the attacking Bazilian midfielder is the club's second highest goalscorer this season and is likely to be back to face the Cherries if his knee injury has improved. They also have the talent of the tricky Chung-Yong Lee on the left wing who was one of their best players when they played AFCB earlier in the season. Up front David Ngog has moved on to Swansea, but Lukas Jutkiewicz, the Middlesbrough forward they have brought in this January has a reasonable a good goal scoring record and Eagles has been back in the last two squads.

The good news for AFCB is that Jermaine Beckford may be unavailable for this game as he has been recovering from a hamstring injury that is likely to put him out, according to the local press. Having scored six of Bolton's league goals this season he would be a key miss for them and AFCB have to take advantage of that if he doesn't make it back in time. But other sources though say that he could be fit enough to play. Craig Davies the Welsh international striker played in the last two matches for Bolton, but he has not yet scored and has been sent out on loan to Preston North End.

At the back David Wheater should add some defensive strength to the team that have let in 45 goals this season, just two less than AFCB. Dougie Freedman is certainly up against it and a home defeat would really increase the pressure on him, so he would see this game against the Cherries as a must win to start getting momentum going again in Bolton's favour. A wounded animal is a very dangerous beast they say so I hope that Eddie Howe and his team are aware of the situation at Bolton. They are already in desperate need of points. If the Cherries can hold the Lillywhites in the first half they may find that the home crowd get impatient. 

TK might just find things easier now

I didn't get much of a chance last week to talk a lot about Tokelo Rantie after his first goal at the Goldsands stadium with so much transfer business taking the limelight. Yet I wanted to talk a little more about TK. It was the celebration of his goal that says so much about AFCB. He ran to the crowd and was soon consumed by them as he and they wanted a hug and the home supporters were only too keen to come down and hug him as well. If you did not think that football players felt pressure or could feel relief after they had scored then this was a moment when you could see that the goal meant everything to TK and to AFCB fans.

TK and Steve Cook, high five.

Tokelo might just start to think only about enjoying
playing his football now, which will serve him and AFCB well.

While he was booked for over celebrating I should hope that he still enjoyed the moment. Even the other AFCB players made a special effort to get over to where Tokelo was to celebrate with him. That shows you how much he is liked in the camp. Now that Yann Kermorgant has joined the team I believe that TK can feel some of the weight that he has been carrying in terms of expectations start to come off him a bit. He can concentrate on his football now and just enjoy the games. Being in that kind of place mentally is going to be a real bonus for him, because he comes across as a man that needs to feel wanted and liked and also so wants to please everyone.

There was a nice picture in the Leicester City Match Day programme of Tokelo with Eddie Howe putting his arm around the South African and sharing a smile. The two men look very close and there is little doubt that Eddie Howe firmly believes in the talent of his star striker and as always he is there for reassurance and encouragement. Such friendships are evident all through the team and with the players and the supporters. We have a really special club and it is so great to see everyone be a part of the success and to share in it. UTCIAD!

The Championship is getting stretched

Last weekend's results started to separate the teams quite a bit more in the Championship. Leicester look like runaway leaders now with their 10 point gap and I can't see two teams overhauling them before the end of the season although stranger things have happened.

There are worrying times for Millwall, Barnsley and Charlton as they all went down to defeats, while Yeovil are still propping up the division. These would appear to be the teams that will struggle to stay up, but AFCB can't afford to be complacent. Only Millwall have conceded more goals than AFCB.

AFCB's goal difference has stayed pretty much where it is around -13 for the last few weeks mainly because the team is not managing massive wins or defeats. The narrowness of the victories and defeats is adding further belief to the feeling that AFCB are settling down now in this league. But a few crucial injuries are all it takes to weaken a side and this week is not going to be long enough to bring everyone back in time for the weekend.

Yann Kermorgant is going to be keen to impress.

I am hoping that Eddie Howe is particularly working hard with the strikers this week as it is important that Yann Kermorgant hits the ground running, while a shoot on sight policy might help that goal difference. One shot on target against Leicester is a bit of a disturbing stat, along with 12 shots all game at home compared to Leicester's 22 attempts on our goal playing away. That is the difference between the top teams and those in the middle and it's starting to stretch the league out.

I expect some of those teams at the bottom to suddenly start hitting form which will put those just above relegation under more pressure. Sheffield Wednesday are the team that are really finding form in the bottom section in recent weeks. It's all still up for grabs though, but there will be some more strange results as we know in this league. A win in the Bolton game this weekend for the Cherries could really move AFCB away from the bottom quarter of the league and these are the matches that can propel a team towards safety and that magic 50 point line, which is a good safety guide. 

I am looking forward to the next few fixtures for AFCB as they are going to be tight affairs and the scramble for points is really on now.

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Howe ready to press for his ultimate ambition

In the interviews the weekend before last you just might have heard Eddie Howe on ITV comment that his ultimate ambition is to get AFCB to the Premiership. He has set his sights high and I can see why he feels it would be an ambition that could be fulfilled. While Roy Keane may snipe that AFCB haven't the cutting edge to hurt teams like Liverpool, there is nothing to say that may develop over the next few years with some further player investment and training of the current crop of young players.

Eddie Howe is not quite ready to walk out on
 his dream of getting AFCB to the Premiership.

The initial aim has to be to stay in the Championship and to build year upon year in attracting players who can start to challenge the higher places in the division. While Eddie Howe is at the club I can't see anything detracting him from trying to achieve his ambition. We are told that Maxim Demin is right behind Eddie and that they share the same goals. It is not a simple aim and it can't be done overnight. It will take a few attempts to build the club further, but if you look at what has happened in just the last five years it is hard to see any other club that has somewhere near the drive and ambition of AFCB.

Much will depend on the coffers and to what extent the manager can be financially backed. The target is clear though. The fans turned out in their droves for AFCB v Liverpool and they will again and again if Eddie Howe can get his team to challenge at the top of the Championship. The January window has brought some important signings. Kermorgant I always felt is the kind of bullying centre forward that always does well against teams like AFCB. It will be a good addition to have a forward with his kind of no holds barred approach to getting a shot off. Adam Smith can also surely only add quality to the team and at his age he is going to develop into one of pillars of the team.

I still feel that Eddie Howe has to get our midfield players to score more goals to help earn the club safety this season without most supporters having to look over their shoulders in April. If he does that then that would have been a very successful first campaign back in the Championship. And with a few more signings in the summer AFCB could start to become one of the top sides in the Championship.

Ian Harte can still do the business

You can't keep a good professional out of the team for long. Ian Harte may be viewed as more of a stand in these days but that does not mean he does not like to roll back the years and use his vast experience to give us all something to cheer about. I was thrilled to see him look so commanding at the back against no less than Leicester City.

Ian Harte should get a good little run in the team now.

Ian was winning lots of headers as well as doing a busy job of clearing up play at left back. He was hardly ever beaten by the pace of Knockaert despite the winger's devastating attacking runs. Ian kept up with him for 90 minutes and Knockaert was easily Leicester's busiest players from what I could see. Ian used his positional sense really well and while we did not see him canter up the left wing on too many occasions he planted plenty of good passes up to Fraser and then Ritchie as AFCB tried to adapt their game to the pitch and weather conditions.

At the end of the game it was Ian who also was coming forward and tried his best to get on the score sheet with a typical left foot blast. While Ian hasn't scored yet for the Cherries it would be great to see him get a goal before Charlie Daniels comes back. But for the moment, you're doing just fine Mr Harte.