Cherries no longer prepared to coast
JOSH KING still believes, for now, that Bournemouth’s likeliest route to Europe is six miles along the coast on the ferry from Poole.
But after a four-star romp at Vicarage Road, the Cherries can dare to dream of getting their passports stamped via the Premier League’s top six.
Bournemouth were fast, exciting, and if there was a better value-for-money signing than £11.5million midfielder David Brooks in the summer, he must be some player.
Two-goal King, Brooks and Callum Wilson put 10-man Watford to the sword.
“People probably underestimated us for the first two years we were in the Premier League, but now they know what we’re about and we get the respect we’re due,” said King.
“It’s too early to talk about Europe, but this is the best squad Bournemouth have ever had, certainly in the years I’ve been here. It took us 16 games to reach 16 points last year and this time it’s taken us eight. We’ve set our standards high and want to stay towards the top end of the table. We can only mess it up ourselves.”
Watford started brightly, but their response to falling 2-0 down and defender Christian Kabasele’s mindless pair of yellow cards was virtual surrender.
King said: “Sometimes when that has happened in the past – playing against 10 men – we’ve let our mentality and our work-rate go, but not this time.”
Eddie Howe is mystified how Wilson and midfielder Lewis Cook cannot get a look-in with England.
“I don’t see a problem with anything in their game, with their age, our style of play – it should all be suited to the England set-up,” said the Bournemouth manager.
Watford defender Kiko Femenia admitted: “We can’t believe what happened. The red card changed the game.”