Our series of mid-season reviews continues with a look at AFC Bournemouth’s season so far.
The story so far
Bournemouth had a turbulent start to their inaugural Premier League season. Questionable refereeing decisions led to them losing their first two fixtures against Aston Villa and Liverpool and appeared to undermine the ambitions of the second division champions. They looked the same team that had dominated the Championship with their high-tempo ball movement, but had struggled against the clinical nature of Premier League clubs.
It was not until round three that Bournemouth scored a goal. That seven-goal thriller against West Ham United saw Cherries striker Callum Wilson claim a hat-trick and Bournemouth claim their first ever Premier League win.
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Afterwards, a run of fixtures against lower-standing teams saw Bournemouth earn five points in five games. It was also during this period that Bournemouth would suffer a string of serious injuries to key players in the squad.
Club record signings Tyrone Mings and Max Gradel would both go down during a 1-1 draw against Leicester City, each suffering crippling ACL injuries. Almost a month later they would lose top goalscorer Wilson to the very same injury in a 2-1 loss away to Stoke City. Wilson is unlikely to return this season. Somewhere along the way, club captain Tommy Elphick picked up a niggling ankle injury that has stunted his fitness. He is expected back after the international break.
Thereafter, the injury-stricken club suffered five losses in row which included two 5-1 defeats at the hands of Manchester City and Tottenham. During that time, the club would also slump into the relegation zone.
The worst run in the club’s short time in the Premier League was immediately followed by their best. Two draws with Swansea and Everton, followed by wins against Chelsea, Manchester United and West Brom as well as a third draw against Crystal Palace capped off a run which saw the Cherries take 12 points from six games.
The manager
The middle-aged Englishman has been the catalyst of Bournemouth’s meteoric rise to the Premier League and has continued to flaunt his youthful exuberance in the top flight, with the scalps of Chelsea and Manchester United already in his trophy cabinet. Eddie Howe is probably in one of the most secure jobs in English Football. Even in the depths of a five-match losing streak, there was very little talk of Howe being sacked, as there usually is in the Premier League.
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Howe has wrestled Bournemouth into 16th position on the table despite the the tide of injuries that have marred his first team over the first half of the Premier League season. His on-field philosophy of fast-paced counter-attacking mixed with shored up defending has warded Bournemouth an even playing field, even in the toughest of fixtures.
The catalyst of Howe’s managerial style thus far has been his tact. A manager who is never irritated by the probing questions of the media and one who accepts that this was always going to be a season of learning and development for the club. In a post-match interview following Bournemouth’s recent 2-0 loss to Arsenal, Howe was asked to reflect on the biggest lesson he has learned since coming up to the Premier League.
“I don’t think there is one I can pick out. I think there’s been many and think the team has adapted and grown,” Howe told the press.
“I feel were a stronger side than when we started started the season, so if we can continue our improvement in the second half I think we’ll become a very good team.
“I don’t think we’ve surprised ourselves, because I think we had that belief that we could become a very good team.
“There’s still some way to go from our perspective- we continue to work and strive to become the best we possibly can.”
Standout players
There has been a number of players that have had standout performances so far this season. Wilson was the immediate talisman. From day one, all attacking play was based around the clinical prowess of Wilson. While fit, the striker found himself at the top of the Premier League scoring charts.
After Wilson’s injury, the team’s individual performances slumped with Matt Ritchie providing the only real spark. Small and agile, Ritchie is one of those players that snatches at the chance to run at his man one-on-one, but lacked the goal output that he produced last season.
The most-improved ribbon goes to Adam Smith. A positionally-flexible defender that has found a niche playing at right-back, Smith brings with him a mongrel that Bournemouth have lacked without him. He has a rough-and-ready tackling style that inspires team mates and an ability to play with the ball at his feet that you would not expect from an ‘enforcer’, not to mention that goal against Everton.
Second-half prediction
Bournemouth have shown the ability to compete with the very best the Premier League can produce. Now it is just a matter of reproducing that standard of performance on a regular basis. If they can do that, then a mid-table finish is well within reach.
It is clear that those Premier League debutante nerves are wearing off and some quality, error-free football is taking its place. Howe has developed a process of acknowledging faults in the system and directly addressing them in training, a method that has seen Bournemouth rarely make the same mistake twice.
However, the faults are there and if gradual patch-jobs fail to fix the problems then they may be looking at a good old fashioned relegation battle.
To help the cause, Howe will likely look to bring a couple of new faces to the club in the January transfer window. Roma’s Juan Iturbe has already been confirmed, with a plethora of other names popping up in the rumour mill.
In the meantime, Howe’s Bournemouth will look to take advantage of a favourable run of fixtures over the course of January, with matches against West Ham, Sunderland, Norwich and Crystal Palace before they face Arsenal on 8 February.
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