EDDIE: AKE WAS EXCEPTIONAL
SHORT of going straight from a night out with Wayne Rooney, it’s hard to imagine how Gareth Southgate could mess up his England interview tomorrow.
But here was a reminder that, if something did go catastrophically wrong, Eddie Howe is an obvious man for the FA to see next.
You want coaching? Here was a Bournemouth starting side with a combined transfer cost of just under £4million winning away to climb into the top half of the Premier League.
You want style? Some of the passing they put together was superbly easy on the eye.
You want results? They slowed the game down so much that beaten Stoke manager Mark Hughes accused Howe’s side of being “blatantly cynical”.
Individual development? How about 21- year- old Nathan Ake, who not only headed the winner but gave a towering display in defence in only his first Premier League start since joining the Cherries on loan from Chelsea in the summer?
Howe said: “I work with all my players and my job is not just to win games, but to develop footballers and make them better whether they are in the team or out.
“Nathan was exceptional when you consider he’s not had a great deal of football. “I don’t think he put a foot wrong.” Certainly Jack Wilshere is blossoming under Howe’s influence. After only a minute he won the ball and sent Callum Wilson sprinting away only for a linesman’s flag to wrongly bring it back for offside.
If that was a bad decision, worse followed. Wilshere again sent Wilson clear, and the fleet-footed forward was stopped only by Ryan Shawcross’s desperate foul inside the box, yet hapless referee Roger East waved play on. It was so blatant even Hughes admitted: “We got away with one there.”
Bournemouth shrugged off the injustice and deservedly went in front after 26 minutes when Junior Stanislas floated in a free-kick and Ake far too easily lost Charlie Adam to head home.
Stoke should have been level two minutes after the break. Wilfried Bony’s header was well saved by Adam Federici, but as the ball broke loose Simon Francis clumsily stood on the back of Bojan’s heel.
The little Spanish striker picked himself up to take the penalty, only to crash the ball against the underside of the bar.
Stoke huffed and puffed as Bournemouth tried to run the clock down, but the nearest they got was when Harry Arter cleared Bruno Martins Indi’s shot off the line in injury time.
Hughes admitted: “I’m not against time wasting, I’ve done it myself, but I have not seen it as blatant as that – although that is not why we got beaten. You get days like this when it doesn’t matter how long you play, it won’t go for you.”