Finding a settled team may help Cherries

Despite the hectic Christmas period when there are so many games and the change in personnel could be frequent, because of injuries and tiredness I believe it would be a big bonus if the Cherries could start fielding the same side a bit more often. The Birmingham game saw Eddie Howe picked an unchanged team for only the second time this season. It has been a difficult start to life in the Championship when it comes to picking a settled side for AFCB and that is probably not a great help when it comes to building confidence. Now that some players are again returning to fitness we just may find out what is Eddie Howe's best team.

Ritchie is a must pick for  Eddie every game when fit.

On the wings it looks like Pugh (but sometimes Fraser) and Ritchie, while up front it is certainly Grabban and midfield Arter is picked when fit. At the back it is Daniels, Cook and Francis and probably Ward ahead of Elphick. And even with Camp in goal it leaves a space for another player up front and one more in midfield. Whether Eunan O'Kane, Shaun MacDonald or Andrew Surman is favoured is always very much in the balance and while Rantie has had a good spell as a main striker, he has not come up with the goods yet.

That all leaves AFCB with a couple of spaces where there is potential for strengthening. While Coulibaly, McQuoid or Fogden could win one of those places it is in Eddie's mind that someone new faces are needed.

I would like to see a period when the team was not swapping and changing from week to week. The difficulty in bring more players in is getting them to quickly  play in the way AFCB are used to and we have seen with Spurs that it can be tricky.

While it is good to have competition, the best sides rarely make more than one or two changes over a few games, and the fact that AFCB can't do that signals to me that perhaps we are a club that is still finding its way. Whether the team is a bit lightweight at this level is something that I believe Eddie may well feel, even if the team is good enough to survive in the Championship.

The one thing I can say is last year I could pretty much name the team and the subs every week, but this season it's extremely hard to know which players will start the game for AFCB. It may just be that the Championship is so demanding that an unchanged side is not something that Bournemouth can do at this stage. You either have to have a big squad that is doing so well that you can keep the same side or a small squad and a club that hasn't the finances to change the team as often. AFCB are perhaps somewhere in between.

Cherry Chimes talks to Ciderspace ahead of Yeovil's visit Dean Court

Match Preview
AFCB V Yeovil Town
Blogger interview 

Cherry Chimes has a quick conversation with Martin Baker who writes on Ciderspace, the Yeovil Town blog that has a tremendous amount of news on it and some excellent photos showing the Glovers' promotion winning celebrations at Wembley last May. So how are the Somerset team doing in the Championship?

CC: There is a lot of information on Ciderspace so do you work with others and how do you put it all together?

CS: Whilst I'm currently the main person who works on the site, we do get a lot of guest contributions and people who are willing to help out, which I really appreciate - both fans and people associated with the club. In addition, I've had a lot of work-based experience of internet technology, and so sometimes bring ideas of how we can cut down on some of the maintenance of the site.

CC: Going up via the play-offs has to be the best way. What was it like at the end of last season? Could you believe it?

CS: At the start of the 2012-13 season, I think very few Yeovil fans would have predicted promotion. We'd had around three seasons of flirting with the relegation zone, and so if we were going to go out of League One, a lot of people would have reluctantly predicted we'd go the other way. But Gary Johnson has a bit of a midas touch with our club - about halfway through the season, you started to recognise some of the techniques and patterns that he'd used to get us out of the Conference and up through League Two during his first spell as manager.

Once those signs started to show through, it started to look possible. We had two lethal goalscorers - one of whom was James Hayter, and we had a cracking goalkeeper at the other end. Whilst we entered the play-offs on a high, and a celebration that we were there, our semi-final opponents Sheffield United seemed to be almost in despair at having to go through that route. At that point it seemed as though we had a big chance. Going up via the play-offs is a fantastic experience, and probably beats automatic promotion, although it's not the way you'd gamble to do it - we'd previously failed in 2007 against Blackpool. But this time we seemed more confident, more street-wise as a club - players and supporters - and throughout the whole day I felt it was ours to win.

CC:  What do you think about Yeovil's performance this season so far?

CS: We've stuttered a little, but I think we're gradually growing into being able to compete in the Championship. It's a massive learning curve, given we've got no spending power, and only a tiny number of players such as James Hayter and Jamie McAllister have genuine experience of playing at that level. Whilst we've played the majority of the Championship sides before in League One or in the FA Cup, when you play them at League One, you can single them out as that 'cup final' and raise your game for it. When those big guns come in across 46 matches, you can't do that. We've coped OK, but struggled badly to score goals. It's only in the last month or so that we've started to put together good results. Overall, I think most fans are content, and are happy with the start that we've made, although it's going to probably go to the wire in April as to whether we can extend it into a second season.

CC: What's the latest situation with Paddy Madden - do you think he'll stay in January?

CS: I don't think he'll play for us again. He's not scored for us this season, and right from the start there seemed to be a bit of friction between himself and the manager. Exactly what Gary Johnson's thinking is on this, is harder to determine, but Madden was in and out of the team with Johnson suggesting he wasn't doing quite what he wanted him to do within games and in training. At some point a line has been crossed, and Gary has said "no more" and so Paddy has been transfer-listed. Gary's attitude in the past in such situations is that the player gets frozen out entirely, and so Paddy will either need to find himself another club, or get very bored for the remainder of the season. He'll still be a hero to Yeovil Town fans for what he did last season, but it's clear there is no turning back now. He hasn't been in the matchday squad since he was transfer-listed. Hopefully there are enough clubs out there who can find him a new home in January.

CC: Who has been Yeovil's best player in the Championship?

CS: Probably Byron Webster - which is fortunate for yourselves, as he's 99 per cent certain to be missing through a hamstring injury. He's a centre-back that on paper you'd never believe would be in the Championship and competing so well. York City rejected him, Doncaster Rovers fans were very dismissive of his time with them, whilst Northampton Town seemed far too willing to tear up his contract and give him to us for free. But he worked under Gary Johnson when he was at Sixfields, and I think Gary knew what he was taking on. He's quietly grown into a key player for us. Other worthy shouts would be for Everton loanee Shane Duffy, who plays the last game of an Emergency Loan spell on Boxing Day - he's only been with us for three months but has been rock solid as a centre-back alongside Byron. I'd probably also be singing the praises of Marek Stech as well were it not for the fact that he's been missing for four-and-a-half months with a broken hand. We got him back between the sticks last Saturday, and that's going to be a big boost for us.

CC: All of last year's promoted teams are finding it hard going. What do you think the main difference is between League One and the Championship?

CS: For us, it's been the ability to score goals. Championship sides are far more organised with their tactics, and we've found far too often that our attacks have been snuffed out at the edge of the penalty box. In League One, there's a lot more running and athleticism, whereas in the Championship it's about players using their brains and their technique. Some matches become closer to a chess match. We were clocking up 60 per cent possession in some games, which made us feel like we were dominating games, but after a while you began to wonder how many shots did we have that were inside the opposition box? So we've needed to get a bit smarter with our movement off the ball, and that's starting to look better.

CC: Your results have been picking up and you have beaten some good sides like Forest, Blackpool and Watford. So are Yeovil supporters optimistic for the rest of the season?

CS: If you'd asked me that five or six weeks ago, I think I would have given a very luke warm response. We'd dropped to six points from safety just before the loan transfer window closed, and it was utterly imperative that Gary brought in some new players. Nottingham Forest's Ishmael Miller, Everton midfielder John Lundstram (who was at Doncaster Rovers last season) and Liverpool striker Adam Morgan have breathed a bit of life into the side - particularly the first two - and I think now we can see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. We've got out of far worse trouble in League One at Christmas, so I think it's still all to play for. We will have the advantage that unlike teams like Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley, Charlton and Millwall who are floundering, there will be zero pressure on our management team and players. Come March and April, that will be vital for us.

CC: Which ground have you most enjoyed visiting this season?

CS: So far, I think it's been Watford. It was a new ground for us, and from a Yeovil point of view it's a localish away trip which meant we got a good away following. Winning 3-0 away from home obviously helped our mood, but it was good to visit a ground with a bit of genuine Football League character. The odd thing is that although this is a brand new division for us, we've only done one other new ground - we'd never been to Burnley's Turf Moor. During the second half of the season, I am particularly looking forward to Birmingham City and Queens Park Rangers. Again they're new grounds for us, and both clubs have fantastic histories and traditions.

CC: AFCB have not been great at home of late. I'd better ask what is your score prediction for AFCB v Yeovil? A nailed on three points for the Glovers?

CS: If only! Have you seen our recent record at Dean Court? I guess we can take some solace from the fact that Bournemouth haven't won in four home games, whilst our overall form lately has been good. But I'll opt for the theory that Boxing Day local derbies tend to turn into central battles that end up in draws. So I'll predict a 1-1 draw, with Ishmael Miller getting ours, and that at least one red card will be produced as at least one player from one side takes the name 'Boxing Day' a bit too literally!

CC: Thanks for your comments Martin. I really liked your answers and AFCB fans know that Yeovil are capable of springing a surprise on any team in this league. It will be good to rejoin our derby rivalry in the Championship this year and I expect the Glovers will bring a good crowd on Boxing Day. Please read more of Martin's thoughts at Ciderspace.

As a little Christmas bonus KnowHowe 5 can now be watched if you click on the KnowHowe tab.

What are Yeovil made of?

Happy Christmas to all readers of Cherry Chimes' and AFCB supporters! I've really enjoyed sharing my views on the site since February and look forward to the New Year following the Cherries.

Merry Christmas to all fans of the Cherries.

I got a bit defensive of Yeovil last summer, when some other Championship supporters felt their teams would definitely finish ahead of the Somerset team. While Yeovil have been finding wins hard to get they have not been beaten heavily by anybody and they have beaten Nottingham Forest, Blackpool and Watford to keep their giant killing prowess going in this league. 

While the Glovers have found it more difficult that AFCB to reach the higher levels of the Championship, they are certainly stirring now as I thought they might. They were bound to have that togetherness like the Cherries which helped get them promoted, because they have a small squad and  they could not go out and spend big last summer. That meant much of the squad that came up are still playing for Yeovil and there are some familiar characters in their team.

I am sure that the Paddy Madden situation has not helped their cause. The unsettled striker was the star man last season and it is easy to see some comparisons with our Brett Pitman's inability to do as well this season as well. 

Luke Ayling's yellow card against Blackburn Rovers last game means he will miss the match at Dean Court which is a bonus for AFCB in my opinion, because I always feel that he is a leader by example on the pitch for the Glovers. Edward Upson has been a really tall defender and leading scorer for them this season, which is part of their problem. Yeovil are struggling to score in the Championship. But AFCB's central defenders will have to watch Upson on set pieces, especially corners where he has been impressive in recent weeks. He is partnered at the back by Everton's Shane Duffy, who has a one month loan.

James Hayter has also not played as much as he might of wished. The ex-Bournemouth striker though is capable of turning any match as we well know and he is on just one goal this season. Joel Grant and Byron Webster though are the strikers that we will probably see most of at Dean Court, while Ishmael Miller is also a danger man - on loan from WBA.

Lastly, let's not forget Gary Johnson who has guided the Glovers to the second tier in English football for the first time. Yeovil's manager has done a magnificent job and on a shoestring of a budget. If he keeps Yeovil up this season it would be a great achievement for him and the town and while I love my Bournemouth I would like to see him keep Yeovil up. I think us minnows like being underdogs and with AFCB's newly increased spending power there can be little doubt that Yeovil can claim to be playing catch up on AFCB and there is nothing they would like to do more than beat us in what we can virtually call a derby.

So don't think this is an easy win for AFCB. The Glovers were all over Blackburn Rovers the other week when Jordan Rhodes popped up against the run of play to get a winner. We know that feeling only too well and Yeovil are well capable of upsetting the best teams in this division as I am sure Eddie Howe will tell his players.

Yeovil Away form:
LLLWD

AFCB Home form:
WLLDL

As a little Christmas bonus KnowHowe 5 can now be watched if you click on the KnowHowe tab. This afternoon I'll also have an exclusive Rival Lines interview with the Ciderspace blog ahead of Yeovil Town's visit to the Goldsands Stadium.


   

Primary mission for the Cherries - a home win

Home supporters have been deprived of seeing AFCB at there very best this season. I don't think it is through a lack of effort or even ability, but events in different matches have conspired to prevent Eddie Howe's team getting some deserved wins at home. Individual errors and some poor finishing on our teams part are some of the reasons why the team has not picked up more points but the anticipation of AFCB sweeping teams away has probably been a little on the players' minds.

Tactically we all want to see our wingers attack and full backs overlap at home and this style usually creates plenty of chances, although a few more quality low crosses into the box would make it easier for Grabban, Rantie and the like to feed off of the deliveries. I do feel the team need to be a bit more patient though at home. While the onus is on AFCB to take the game to the opposition they have often failed to keep the door closed behind and early, sucker punch, goals have become a bit of a familiar and recurring bad dream for home fans. The last home win was back on 5th October 2013 against Millwall. I think we are overdue a home win.

We could do with some home cheer this Christmas
and an AFCB win or two at Dean Court.

So how does Eddie Howe take the confidence from the away games and make the team thrive at home? I hope he is telling them to enjoy the game and just try and do the simple things right. The team have done so well in the last calendar year that I hope they can round things off with some  home wins this December. Selecting the players to do that is something that Eddie will have to really think about in these coming days with so many games close together. If he gets it right against Yeovil and Ipswich we may all wonder what we were worrying about back in November and early December.

Elliot Ward is likely to keep his partnership going with
Tommy Elphick if Steve Cook is still injured for the next two games.

Who will start with Grabban at home?

There is no doubt that Lewis Grabban will start at home against Yeovil Town this Boxing Day, but there is a real discussion to be had over who would partner him, if as expected AFCB play two up front. While the obvious choice is Tokelo Rantie, Eddie Howe has not given the South African much time on the pitch of late. I am not sure if Rantie has a crisis of confidence or if Eddie Howe just wants to take some of the pressure off him at the moment, but I expect it is a bit of both. The timing of when to bring Rantie back into the starting line up will be important and Rantie will want to put a few goals away to prove some people wrong. Boxing Day could be his day.

Striking trio, Grabban, Pitman and Rantie.

However, the team is starting to buzz at the moment and I just wonder if Eddie will look elsewhere. How about a surprise? 

If Wes Thomas suddenly started scoring it would not only help the team it would give him a brighter future.
Could Eddie give him a bit more time on the pitch?

Wes Thomas has been quietly going about his business and keeping his head down this season. He hasn't had hardly any chance to really have a run in the team. Eddie Howe may well want to reward Thomas at some stage for his efforts and patience as all is forgiven about last season as far as Howe is concerned with Thomas. I would actually like to see Wes play and I'd celebrate enthusiastically of he could put a few goals past Yeovil Town. He is an AFCB player who made some mistakes, but he has a talent as a goal scorer and if he could feel good again about playing for the Cherries and score a few goals, who knows what might happen in the long term? But Eddie would have to play him for more than five minutes. 

Can Pitman regain his finishing form of last season?

Then there is Brett Pitman. Brett has me puzzled at times because on his day he is unstoppable. I wonder though if he also is a bit lacking in confidence having been in the spotlight from January onwards last season, he just hasn't hit top form in the Championship yet. Is he thinking back at his time at Bristol City and are we seeing similarities? I hope not. Yet, he will know there are no spaces for passengers and that if he does not get some goals and play, well AFCB might feel that his level is as a top striker in League One. That feeling has already been placed on Matt Tubbs you would think and there are some choices to be made in the summer or if not before on who can be let go.

Is Josh McQuoid a player that could come back and excite the crowd?

We also have to consider that Josh McQuoid has been making his way back and could be tried next to Lewis for our next home match. I would say this may also be a good surprise package for the Cherries as, on his day, Josh can be a massive plus for the team, we just need to see him perform consistently. Can he be the player he was when he first burst onto the scene at Dean Court?

I am looking forward to seeing who Eddie Howe picks. We have seen that playing Surman behind Grabban at home against Birmingham did not really work as well as when AFCB play away, so I would be disappointed if he tries that again at home even if Surman has been sensational away from home.

Still enjoying the Championship ride

We are approaching half way through the season and people are starting to ask me about how AFCB are doing and if they have lived up to expectations in the Championship. I find it quite hard to answer such things as my heart always rules my head in such matters. You want and hope for the best for your team at the start of a campaign, but we all know that only a few teams can be truly successful in any one season. For the rest it is a case of not having too much embarrassment when you walk through the door on a Monday morning after a derby match or revealing to your mates that you travelled along way to see your team get thumped. At least that didn't happen last weekend. Still there are some better teams than AFCB in the Championship.

I think most AFCB supporters are enjoying the Championship,
especially if you have been on the road with the team.

I'd have to say AFCB have done okay when coming up against derby or near-by, rival teams . They have not lost to Brighton or Reading and while the team has come up against some really good teams they have only had a couple of results I would rather forget about. No one cruises in the Championship. Even for those at the top it is a grinding season with many set backs, injury blows and key decisions that can go against you. But at the end of it, on 3 May 2014, I hope I can say I enjoyed this season no matter where AFCB finish.

I will have enjoyed being with my friends watching the games and having visited new stadiums and felt the thrill of beating some teams that I feared would stuff us out of sight. You know even the big defeats and the poor runs make you come back the following week to see if things will change.

I have not had a chance to listen to All Department's podcast on the Sheffield Wednesday v AFCB match yet, but you can have a listen if you visit Michael Dunne's website at All Departments. This week I believe he speaks with AFCB fan Iain Chapman who used to live in Bournemouth but now resides in Barnsley.

The Cherries are hitting form

Just watching back the second goal at the weekend that Grabban lashed in against Sheffield Wednesday had commentators Kris Temple and John Williams on BBC Radio Solent more than a little ecstatic. It was not until I could see the highlights that I could truly appreciate the part that Harry Arter played in the build up to the goal. While Kris and Willo explained that the pass was exceptional and played with the outside of the foot to curve back in towards Grabban's run, it was even better than probably Arter could have imagined - it was inch perfect.

Arter's pass to Grabban was a beauty for AFCB's second goal.

Grabban has shown that he is usually good at running the lines to collect the ball, but does not always make the most of such opportunities. But he was like an Olympic athlete at Hillsborough, speeding to the ball with electric pace. His hunger and desire was great to see and even the finish was made to look very simple when in reality he had very little to shoot at, but blasted the ball in at the near post. 

The pleasing things I felt about the whole move was that both Harry and Lewis were on the same wavelength. They knew what they were trying to do before the picture developed and making that kind of space was no fluke, it was part of a game plan to spring Grabban when the opportunity arose. Just a few moments earlier Ritchie also tried a similar pass to Grabban, so the team is looking to play this way.

Grabban on target yet again.

Another good game from Surman. That is three starts in a row now although he was
subbed at half time in the Birmingham match.

Having seen the move back again it was good to see that it was Surman that initially won the ball tackling back to give AFCB possession in the first place, while he also had an assist with the first goal from Ritchie.

It is all very well to say our strikers should be scoring every once in two or three chances but doing it is a different matter. It would be easy for players to have become a bit despondent in recent weeks but as Steve Claridge admitted, on the Football League Show, with AFCB having come through a sticky spell , "they have shown a bit of character and fight to turn things around." I think that's the most praise our players will ever get from Claridge. 

Anyway, AFCB players are starting to show that they can play with grit and determination especially when trying to get that all important first goal. AFCB soaked up the early pressure so well on Saturday and awaited their chance to play their football. When they did, they were clinical, first shot - one nil up!

Is this the springboard now for the Cherries to start winning even more games? I don't see why not. The away form is simply stunning at the moment, even if the clean sheets have not quite materialised. It is possible that the knowledge that Connor Wickham was not playing for Sheffield Wednesday probably gave our players a boost pre-match, but even more pleasing was the way that they coped with a heavy pitch and players that were very much playing for their shirts with a caretaker manager taking keen note in their performance. AFCB were more often than not first to the ball, winning headers and playing with pace and great accuracy despite the sandy pitch. I am hoping that their latest win will remind them a bit of that run they went on last year, because if they can do anything half as good as that it will be a very successful season back at this level.