Will Eddie drop his captain?

Burnley targeted a weakness in AFCB's line up I believe last Saturday. They tried to get Vydra up against Simon Francis whenever they could in a one-one one and Bournemouth looked stretched whenever Francis had to try and go out wide to keep Matej Vydra in sight. Franics had had some reasonable games at home in the last few games, but even Eddie Howe must see that he can't keep playing Francis and expect him to keep pace with top strikers in the Premier League.
Francis gets caught out at Burnley but will Eddie Howe stay loyal to him?The next match will be against Chelsea and their striker, Olivier Giroud having just scored last weekend, will be relishing the chance to play against Bournemouth's captain. He'll have seen how much trouble Vydra gave him. So will Eddie Howe be brave enough to drop his captain?Advertisement


I think he has to as long as Nathan Aké is back and fit enough to play. Bournemouth's best central pairing is Steve Cook and Aké and must play his best team against a top four side if it is available. Simon Francis doesn't now command that automatic selection in my book and Bournemouth need to work out a way their defence can get a clean sheet.

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I don't think Eddie Howe got it right with dropping Diego Rico either unless Rico was struggling with something. It looked like just a way to shoe-horn Jack Stacey into the team and keep Adam Smith in the first 11. But it would have been simpler to choose between Smith and Stacey for the right back spot and let Rico resume at left back. Moving Adam Smith to left back didn't exactly go well, and I wonder if a left-footed Rico would have positioned himself slightly differently for that high ball that caught Adam Smith out for the  handball.



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Selection is really important now. It's time to drop the egos and personal favourites. Bournemouth need points and it needs to be round players in round holes. The best player for the best job. Some players just haven't been producing and it's more than time to let some of those players know who isn't up to the job at the moment.
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Published on February 26, 2020 05:03
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Cherry Chimes

Peter Neil Bell
This is a fan’s personal view of AFC Bournemouth from the outside looking in. It reports on the daily official activities reported by the club and comments made by individual fans on social media and ...more
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