Captain Elphick can be a big influence

Tommy Elphick is not thought to be facing a major injury crisis. He visited a specialist last week over his ankle though which indicates that he might not be as confident about playing a part in the team for a little while yet. He'll want to come back strong and not having any worries so it is right that he gets the best treatment he can and with someone he trusts. But how much will the team miss him not being on the pitch at this time?

Tommy will hopefully be back holding on to the goal posts
 at some point but before then he can still be a big asset to the
club behind the scenes.

Normally I would think that as long as Tommy is around the lads will be okay on the field, but with Wilson also now injured I hope that Tommy can ensure that he does still get his team talks in and reinforces his message of concentration and being first to the ball. A captain needs to be around his players and with so much changing with the injuries the outlook has to be one of building a fortress as the league has not been kind to the Cherries.

While Distin and Cook will be looking to improve on the two goals that they could not stop at Stoke, we start to see how important it has been for Baily Cargill to have been building his game experience in recent seasons. He is now on the edge of being involved for 90 minutes in the team and as a sub he could be needed at any time. Seeing him preparing for the Stoke game, where he would be the sub for the centre backs, I thought this is another significant step for the young defender. This weekend could be an even bigger week for him if he makes a Premier League debut. That's why I am sure that Tommy and Sylvain will be reassuring him that he is ready.

Out today - Cherry Chimes' October Newsletter brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month, plus a special Newsletter article entitled The chase will never be the same again.

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King can rule at Dean Court

The opportunity for Josh King is there for all to see. He has had a mixed start to life at AFCB and has not hit the heights that most fans will have hoped for yet. And I do say yet. There is a massive chance for him now to be adored by the Bournemouth fans if he can set about taking responsibility for his performances and have faith in his own ability to get on a goalscoring run.

Josh King just needs to have goals in his sights.

Josh King is young and has not had that many full seasons in his career and his stop start run of fitness has even kept him in and out of the AFCB team this season. He has a lot of pressure on him for sure as a new signing, and that level of desire to do well probably went skyward when he realised that he would was likely to be one of the strikers that Eddie Howe could now turn to fill the void left by Callum Wilson.

Josh and Joe Bennett at Stoke City.

Josh has many of the attributes to play the Wilson role. He is fast and while not as powerful might be able to add more aggression to his game in time. He will have studied how Wilson plays and may be given the role of stretching defences rather than playing a supportive role. Whether he could partner Glen Murray in that way we will have to wait and see, but Eddie Howe certainly seems to favour Josh over some of the other strikers at the club, and if he can be moulded into a striker that is more confident in front of goal the opportunity now may just bring his game on faster than many of us might expect. All he needs is that first Premier League goal to start some momentum and if he can do that against Watford at Dean Court we'll all soon start feeling that we really do have another majestic striker at the club.

Look out tomorrow for the Cherry Chimes' October Newsletter which brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month, plus there is a special Newsletter article about AFCB's rise up the leagues: The chase will never be the same again

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The Cherries need to stick together

It will be difficult in the games to come without AFCB's leading striker but there is a tough mentality about this squad that I still believe will carry them through these tests. They have perhaps the hardest game this weekend that they could wish for as Watford do tend to play well against the Cherries. But in a sense I think that is good as the players can focus on what they need to do to get the three points.

Many will now consider that AFCB's best chance of staying up has gone. However, write off this team though at your peril. They have always been up against the odds and have come through every time. Yes, the Premier League is a higher level and things have gone against the team but the players can't afford to let it affect them and taking on a team that has just come up themselves is a game that they know they can win.  

AFCB doing some bonding at Stoke.

I feel that such instances are either the making of a team. The players will be backing each other now to do a job and to win some points to make matters better and if the Cherries can get on a bit of a run of points it will certainly build the belief. With the international break also not far away there is the possibility that some of the players will go away again, so the team spirit before then needs to be strong and the desire to get something against Watford will be very high indeed.

Harry Arter will also soon hopefully be back competing for a spot and AFCB need a bit of good news like that. Whether he is ready in time for one of the next few October matches is hard to tell from the outside, but I hope he only comes back when he is fully ready.


Look out tomorrow for the Cherry Chimes' October Newsletter which brings you the best stories on the blog and the thoughts behind them from last month, plus there is a special Newsletter article about AFCB's rise up the leagues: The chase will never be the same again

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We are about to find out what Murray's got

With AFCB's No13 stretchered off in the first 17 minutes of the match at Stoke City it fell on Glenn Murray to step in and lead the line for the Cherries. While Murray will admit that he can't play like Callum Wilson, he has a long stride and a physical presence that we will surely see a lot more of in games from now on. It is strange how AFCB fans were saying how they needed to see more of Glenn Murray and while he was not picked to start last Saturday he suddenly becomes the main focus of attention.

Now we will see what Glenn Murray is capable of.

With Callum now sidelined for up to six months, getting the best out of Glenn is the aim now. The team is not used to playing with him as the figurehead up front but this week will be mainly about finding ways of making his runs and opportunities to score a little more familiar to everyone. Routine and habit will get the understanding that needs to be built up and it is vital that AFCB concentrate on the players they have available to them at this point rather than dwell too much on what they have lost.

Whether it sees a change in style from the Cherries play will perhaps be more down to how Murray wants to be seen himself and whether he can ask Eddie Howe to help him play to his strengths. During the 80 minutes or so that Murray did get against Stoke City it was good to see that Glenn did have some shots on target. The best chance he had was from a knockdown from Distin in the last 10 minutes though and AFCB will need to create more in the box chances for him.

Stoke trip did not disappoint

We had to leave the house at 9am on the Saturday to ensure that we could get passed any unexpected traffic delays on our way to the Britannia stadium. It was our first visit to the stadium so there was plenty of excitement and having missed the Norwich away game I was hoping to see a good AFCB away crowd and a good rocking atmosphere.

Destination - the Britannia stadium.

The route would take us along the M25 and up the M40 in fairly quick time and without any delays for once. We did start to hit trouble though on the M42 and the M6 where we suddenly saw a fair few reminders that the Rugby World Cup was on and Villa Park was one of the venues. Not surprisingly the traffic started to swell and our fast pace became more of a snail's crawl as we came up to the Dunlop offices and Birmingham's congested motorways.

An early start for Robert.

We stopped off for a quick bite to eat before going on to the Stadium.

At last we did find our way through and the A500 suddenly appeared in front of us and we soon had our first sight of the Britannia stadium situated high up on a hill. We shot past the stadium as we wanted to get some food inside ourselves before the big match and we had already picked out a well-known fast food chain on the map so it was easy to find. Stoke fans out numbered us hugely but they were happy enough to see us on the table next to them.

We had lost quite a bit of time on the road so we decided to eat quickly and look to park up at the ground by 1.30pm as I knew that it was likely to be a crowd over over 25,000. Navigating the nearby industrial estate with its roundabouts was pretty easy as it was well signed and well patrolled by marshals on every junction. Having handed over a fiver we were directed up towards the Stoke Academy building which was just a short walk away from the stadium.

We parked up a short walk from the stadium in one of the official car parks
 which meant find a space by the side of the road.

It wasn't too busy when we first had a full view
of the stadium. Note the big gap in the corner between the stands.

I started taking my pictures of the ground and we thought we would take a tour around the outside of the stadium to see all four sides. It always amuses me to see the stewards wanting to direct away fans to their section straight away, but we always like to see everything we can when visiting a new ground. Stoke's stadium is impressively tall and while only one corner is closed in it seemed fairly compact and not that different to Dean Court in some ways with the exposed stanchions and rugged looks.

The club shop was doing a good trade.

Shop window. 

The club shop was very ordered and adorned mainly with club shirts more than anything else. The absence of a big trophy cabinet was perhaps a bit telling of where Stoke City are as a mid-table club of recent seasons. Still they had a dedicated shirt numbering area and the ticket office was covered and large - not quite like ours.

The Marstons Pedigree away stand.

Plenty of cantilever metal work is on show around the stands.

I was keen to get an interview in with some Stoke fans and to assess their recent form so we spotted three fans who were the perfect guides to their team as it turned out and they all had something to say on why things had started slow for Stoke City at home. The loss of Steven Nzonzi to Sevilla this summer seemed to be the main reason for their difficulties but they were still scoring goals with Mame Diouf up front.

Plaque on Sir Stanley Matthews statue.

I just took this to show you the sun does shine in Stoke
and well it's a nice arty shot with our shadows.

Sir Stanley captured in motion.

John Ritchie 1941- 2007. I don't believe he was relayed to our  Matt, but you never know.

Stephen spotted a huge statue of the legendary Sir Stanley Matthews CBE so we went over to get a picture next to it and to see the sculpture close up. The three profiles really brought over the style of the man and his balance, but I wondered why it was set quite some way from the stands on the far side of the car park?

We spoke to a couple of more Stoke fans who were very open and pleased to exchange thoughts ahead of the game. Far from being down they were optimistic about their team and we soon found out that they had good reason to be confident. We entered the stadium at the Marstons Pedigree stand and ran up the steps to get a good view of the pitch and facing stands. Sadly there was a lot of netting behind the goals so I knew it would be hard to get many good photos pre-match, but there were a lot of empty seats and I moved around to try and get what shots I could get of the players while listening into the local radio station to try and capture the team list.

Lots of flag waving.

It was quite a good atmosphere before the game with applause ringing out for school children doing a charity fund raising event. We heard that there were no changes to the AFCB line up and having done a Cherries fan interview we were soon in our allotted seats watching the game. While the first half did not go well for the Cherries I was confident that they could still get something from the game. The Stoke fans were fairly quiet and I wondered if they sang more when it was an evening game than in afternoon matches or whether it was the fact that they had not won at home yet that they dare not sing up too much for fear they would lose again.

For AFCB it was all about how the team would respond having seen Callum go off injured and they played extremely well to get back in the game at 1-1. From that point I just thought hang on and don't concede, but Stoke conjured up a bit of magic and all the points were lost with just five minutes to go. The defeat was disappointing only because the team had fought so well to get back on level terms, but I couldn't say that anyone had a really bad game. Sometimes the game just goes away from you and that was the case on this day. Well played Stoke.

Dan Gosling leads the players off the pitch.

The walk back to the car was fairly uneventful and we had a bit of a queue leaving the roads around the stadium with most of the traffic being diverted to the A50 Uttoxeter and Derby. We decided to go with the flow even though it meant a slightly longer journey back via the M1, but by the time we reached Redhill at 8.40pm we knew that whatever route we had gone on it would have been busy.

Job done, another away ground ticked off. Just time for me to get the laptop out again and start writing up the match report. These jouno's at the match with their laptops on tables have it easy compared to us paper and pen bloggers!

There are more pictures on Match Day Gallery. Please also listen again to the Mick Cunningham interview on All Departments' website.

Don't underestimate Gosling's scoring abilities

AFCB need goals from all over the pitch and probably even more so now that they have lost Callum Wilson to injury. The team has been getting most of its goals from Wilson and from the wings, but Dan Gosling chipped in with the first central midfield goal of the season up at Stoke and it would be rather helpful if he could get on one of his scoring runs now to lift some of the burden off of the strikers who will have to try and make up for Callum's absence.

Dan Gosling continued his strong form at Stoke.

Dan has not found it easy to win a place in this side and he finally might be feeling that he is really making a big contribution now. His goal at Stoke City ended up being a consolation goal but at the time it was well taken and demonstrated his calmness in the box when presented with a shooting chance. Beating Jack Butland is no simple task and that Gosling found the corner showed his great execution.

There was a bit of a tendency for players to overplay a little in and around the box in the last game. Lee Tomlin was probably the chief culprit and I think it would do him wonders to get on the score sheet and not feel that he has to pass when he has a good clear shot at goal himself. That is what Gosling did and I am sure he will grow from that goal and will look to keep having some shots. Others need to be brave enough to have a go as well.

I don't think we have seen the best from AFCB's midfield yet. They need to make it harder for teams when they are in creative positions and while the team is getting their shot count up it is not as high as it might be if the players just had the thought of shooting more often when they found themselves in space and in a good position to shoot.

PremierTalk asks: Did anyone see Man City's result coming?

AFCB's defence is facing tough examinations

Like everyone I was very sad to hear that Mike Cunningham passed away yesterday. I am pleased that there are so many photographs though that everyone has been sharing that were taken by Mick over the years and I do hope fans get to think about the great work he did for the Echo and the club over the years. The club I am sure will make a big effort next match to tribute to Mick in the best way they feel is appropriate. Our thoughts are with his family.

Back to Saturday's game

On the playing field, most of the thoughts this week have been connected with the team losing its star striker. It is the obvious big news and yet the injury disguises some facts that AFCB fans might not be so happy to think about. However well AFCB played last Saturday they again let in two goals from open play. They were not the kind of typical goals that the Cherries have been conceding. It is not often that you see our players getting sucked into the ball to stop a player on the byline and to be outstretched on the wing and have to face an incoming cross while running towards your own goal is not a defensive position that AFCB ever try to find themselves in. Still it happened.

Hopefully not running in totally different directions
- Sylvain Distin and Steve Cook.

For the first goal Simon Francis clearly lost out to Arnautovic's skill and found himself slipping and sliding but ultimately not able to block him which opened up the whole goal for Walters who had the simplest of tasks to put Stoke ahead. Arnautovic was the main villain all afternoon for the Cherries as he had several raids that were very effective and he carried the ball well. had he been shackled a bit earlier in the match it might not have been such a good day for the Potteries club. I don't think Artur Boruc had much choice but to cover his near post and with Steve Cook already sucked in to the byline there was only Surman and Daniels trying to make things difficult for Walters, but they couldn't beat him to the cross.

Stoke's second goal was equally disappointing from an AFCB defensive point of view. A quick free kick and an alert Glen Johnson ultimately did for the Cherries resistance. The space that Johnson found himself in was huge as Daniels was out of position and when the low cross was perfectly slung in the bounce caught out the stretching Distin who missed the ball and it was superbly finished by Diouf's stooping header in between the defenders. Whether Boruc might have anticipated where the ball would be crossed to is hard to say but it can't be easy when you see three players hurtling towards you and the ball still out in front of the six yard box as the players come rushing in.

The quality of both goals from a Stoke point of view would be considered quite high. There was not much AFCB could do once Arnautovic had weaved his way around the back and  Johnson's cross was pinpoint for the second. Two quality moments and two goals conceded. keeping a clean sheet is far from easy in the Premier league and yet AFCB looked comfortable for most of the game. I just hope it is not a pattern that keeps repeating itself.

All Departments has released its podcast to review the Stoke game. Just visit All Departments' website to listen in. It will be posted on Cherry Chimes later today.