ARE THE CHERRIES NOW GOING BACKWARDS?
After a decade of forward momentum, there are fears that Eddie Howe’s side have hit the limit of their potential. Bournemouth have slid since their second top-tier season, 2016-17, took them to 9th.
Finishing 14th in the Premier League is a remarkable achievement when they faced obliteration as recently as 2009, but last year felt like a missed opportunity.
After a strong start, Bournemouth flagged badly. At the end of October, they weren’t just 6th – they had the most points of any Premier League team to ever be 6th at that stage. But then they folded in the face of tougher opposition, losing 10 of their next 12 games and suffering an alarming tumble down the table. It’s a familiar story: spells of brilliance and spells of frailty.
Fans boast about playing from the back, but there has been a shift towards counter-attacking, aided by the acquisition of composed Welshman David Brooks. Howe’s team scored more goals on the break than any other side in 2018-19, with Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson forming a fruitful partnership – indeed, they were statistically the most successful top-flight pairing since Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, Blackburn’s SAS.
However, the Cherries also conceded the joint-most goals on the counter, and often looked more likely to concede from an attacking set-piece than score from one. Capable of beating anyone on their day, they also collapse defensively far too often, something that no new signing has yet been able to fix. Only Fulham and Huddersfield let in more goals in 2018-19, and it’s nothing new: in their four Premier League seasons, Bournemouth have shipped 67, 67, 61 and 70.
Attempts to evolve the first-team squad, which still features a number of veterans from Bournemouth’s League One days, have been hit and miss, while their focus in 2019 of trusting in a more youthful defence plucked from the Football League – Lloyd Kelly (20) and Jack Stacey (23) now joining 21-year-old January signing Chris Mepham – is admirable but risky.
Some fear that Bournemouth’s time in the Premier League may end with nothing tangible to show for it. Supporters have been frustrated by Howe’s rotation policy in the cup competitions, and by continued delays to a planned expansion of the stadium, which remains the smallest in the division by some distance.
As Howe faces the ongoing challenge of successfully remodelling his squad, 2019-20 could prove crucial in determining whether Bournemouth’s story ends up as a plotline or a mere footnote in Premier League history.