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Howe’s Bournemouth success story continues apace — opposition profile
Saturday, 5th Apr 2014 00:39 by Gabriella Crouch

Bournemouth fan Gabriella Crouch returns to LFW to give us her opinion on the continued upward trajectory of her club and their manager Eddie Howe.

You will, I hope, excuse the truncated nature of the match previews on LFW this week — seven days of international travel has sapped your beleaguered editor’s time and strength. Thankfully, Gabriella can carry this one by herself pretty well this week — thanks to her for her time at no notice at all.. Normal service hopefully resumed for Blackburn next week.

When we last spoke, the focus was on accumulating enough points to be safe. Now a formidable run of form has you just five points shy of the play offs. Why has it gone so right just lately?

When we met for the first time in the season, it was still early days and obviously when you enter a new league for the first time, the first ambition is to stay up. Back then we were still learning the division and you could say we were a little naïve at times. We played a very open expansive game and were leaking goals whilst at the other end we weren’t being clinical enough, and obviously those two things do not go well together.

Since then as a team we have continued that learning process and adapted our game to suit. The huge turnaround has been at the back where we now have a superb defensive unit that does not concede many goals. Lee Camp has been key to that turnaround, and with a safe pair of hands behind them the back four are a lot more confident. Players like Simon Francis and Tommy Elphick have improved massively since the start of the season, and it’s a pretty obvious statement but when your backline is not conceding goals you are more likely to win games and if not gain a draw.

Up front we have added Yann Kermorgant who has been what we were missing all season. He offers a physical presence, is superb in the air, is clinical with his finishing and offers much needed support to Lewis Grabban. Combine those two improvements at the back and front and that is why things have been going right of late.

Do you think the play offs are a realistic target this year? Is it conceivable that Bournemouth could be in the Premier League over the coming years? Or is this just a decent run of form, and Championship is as good as it's going to get?

Without a doubt they are realistic but achieving them this year could prove tough. We’ve been on a very good run of late but have been mainly playing teams in and around the bottom end of the league. If we can reproduce that form against the top teams in the coming games I see no reason why we can’t make a late push, although to be honest, I think this year it could be one step too far.

I think it is totally possible that we could be a Premier League team in the future if we keep developing like we have been over the past few years. We are well financially backed which a lot of people do not realise, we play very good football which can’t be said for a lot of teams in the division, and that’s come as a surprise to a lot of teams who are not used to that sort of style. We have a good young manager and a squad of players that are interesting teams from the Premier League, so why can’t the team go to the next level? The size of a club is not the be all and end all. We’ve seen teams like Blackpool go up, Wigan were not a big club, Burnley are going up, are they a big club? My point is no one expects those teams to be Premier League teams, so why can’t we be the next one? You can never predict this division and we are one of about twenty teams who will be aiming high next season.

Is the fear that Eddie Howe will be tempted away again? Or is it once bitten, twice shy for him on that front and he knows he's best off staying where he is?

There will be many ‘bigger’ clubs after him in the near future but he is very much a Bournemouth man and I think when he went away to Burnley that hit home even more. He has always lived in and around the area and all of his family are in the area which he has already highlighted as a key factor to returning to the club. He has financial backing and is allowed to operate how he wishes which can’t be said at a lot of clubs. The fans love him and he loves the club, the club is on the up and it’s clear to see he wants to be part of its continual progress. Obviously if a big club came in for him, he would have to consider it, but at this present time I can’t see him leaving the club again.

Who have been the stand out performers in the side, and where are the weak links?

The stand out performer for me has been Lee Camp. Before he arrived we were a defensive mess and since he has been bedded into the side, the difference is there for all to see. At the back, I have never been a Francis fan but as with the rest of the back four, he has improved hugely as the season has gone on, but is still vulnerable when up against pace and trickery. Steve Cook took to the division like a duck to water and is very good central defender and his partner Elphick is another who has improved hugely. They will win most aerial battles, occasionally they are suspect to the ball in behind, but what centre backs aren’t?

At left back Ian Harte has come of age of late and his set pieces we all know are dangerous, like Francis, up against pace and trickery though he does struggle at times, so the full backs are probably the weak links if you’re being picky. In midfield we have an abundance of wingers who have not really nailed down a regular spot. Marc Pugh is full of tricks and can put a good ball in, but if you suss out his trick he can be a little predictable. On the other flank Matt Ritchie can be hit and miss. On his day he is brilliant, always looking for the ball, shooting on site and creating danger. But on a bad day, he loses the ball a lot and offers no defensive help.

Mohamed Coulibaly and Ryan Fraser offer raw pace from the bench but their end product is not yet complete. In the middle it’s likely to be Harry Arter and Eunan O’Kane. Arter is a box to box midfielder full of energy and has an excellent shot on him, whilst O’Kane likes picking the ball up from deep and starting attacks, his dribbling is very good too and dances round players with ease. The only weakness from those two is a lack of strength and physicality, so up against a physical team they could be bullied off the ball.

Up front Grabban is enjoying his best ever season; he is a poacher and has benefited greatly from the arrival of Kermorgant. Kermorgant gives the side a different dimension and is an excellent header of the ball and the two work well together, I wouldn’t say there is a weakness up front.

What sort of money is there going to be available this summer to strengthen the team? Do you think the cash will be splashed or stick with the current team?

There will be money available that’s for sure but with Financial Fair Play that means nothing. The club will have to be sensible with its spending, with the new rules you can’t just spend spend, spend and run the club into the ground. Having a small ground means we don’t get as much turnover as other clubs and will obviously have to spend within our means. I think a lot of fringe players will be moved on, they’ve had their chances in the division and Howe has seen which ones are good enough. So, getting rid of them will free up some of the wage budget. The key will be hanging onto our best players, the exposure at this level means more people know about them, so I think they will be looking to keep hold of the core of the squad and adding a couple of players.

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TacticalR added 11:52 - Apr 5
Thanks to Gabriella.

Many fans will be quite surprised to hear Lee Camp is the key to Bournemouth's turnaround, as he left QPR and Forest under a cloud, and I thought looked shaky against QPR at Loftus Road earlier this season.

Howe seems to have both an eye for a player, and an ability to get the best out of his players.
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MrSheen added 12:39 - Apr 5
Ian Harte has come of age? He must be in his 40s by now. He was slow enough in his Reading days, what's he like now? I imagine the free kick goes last of all.
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