MAGIC MARC!
what’s the point? You want it to be quicker, played with more pace.
“They need to get it up to Charlie Austin – and when they get the delivery right, he shows what he can do.
“He is a throwback striker, like Micky Quinn and Ted MacDougall.
“They come alive in the penalty area. But they need the ball. Austin is a bit like Rickie Lambert a few years ago. Outside the area, he doesn’t do that much. In the area is where he does his job.
“I like his way of going about things. He is no-nonsense. He has come up the hard way, through the ranks. He has desire.
“He was a labourer on a building site and now he is playing Premier League.
“I just want the hod carriers behind him to get him the ball. He is the brickie now, not the labourer.” MARC PUGH has spent the past few days getting stick from his family about out Bournemouth’s defeat by Burnley on Wednesday.
So the last thing he needs is to have Cherries fans on his back this week if he and his team-mates s are beaten by local rivals als Southampton in this afternoon’s south coast derby.
Bacup-born Pugh said: “Burnley are my local team, I was desperate to get a win and a goal.
“It was devastating – I got a bit of stick off the family and I just wanted to get one over on them.
“We’d had a good little run before Burnley but we were off it, we didn’t win second balls, we didn’t win enough first contacts and they fully deserved the win.
“Now we have another big game coming up against Southampton and there’s always an extra buzz when it comes to a derby. We’ve had some good run- ins with Southampton in the past, so I’m really looking forward to it. “They are a very good team, as they showed last Sunday when they won 4-1 against Everton, and th they were unlucky on W Wednesday against Manchester City. “It’s a massive game for us and a must-win, b because we want to be ch chasing the pack at the top end of the table, not looking over our shoulders.”
Amazing
Bournemouth at home to Southampton was a League One fixture as recently as 2011 – with Pugh and Co on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.
Bournemouth defender Adam Smith played for the Cherries that day, on loan from Tottenham.
Pugh and Smith both started the top-flight fixture between the clubs at the Vitality Stadium last season – another 3-1 win for the visitors.
“It’s an amazing journey,” added Pugh. “Especially for me, someone who has spent most of his time in the lower leagues. You do pinch yourself.
“Southampton are a fantastic club, and Bournemouth have come from the days of penny-pinching to the Premier League – it’s an amazing transformation.
“I remember back in the day Southampton had Lee Barnard and Rickie Lambert (left) up front.
“And I always remember going to St Mary’s, especially in the League One days, because there weren’t many big grounds for us then.
“They’ve got a good squad. You look at the likes of Virgil van Dijk, who has been linked with a £50-£60million transfer.
“But we have to concentrate on ourselves, and if we perform we can come out on top.
“The intensity is still exactly the same as it was in League One – you want to win every game of football.
“But it has got that extra bite now because you know how important it is to stay in the Premier League.”