The Opposition View: AFC Bournemouth

Last updated : 09 February 2013 By Jim Bonner

Since Eddie Howe took over Bournemouth have been on an amazing run. How confident are you that promotion can be achieved now?

We wasted the first third of the season struggling without any sort of plan under Paul Groves, for a side to gain promotion by only playing two thirds of a season is a big ask.

But we've slowly gotten ourselves right into the mix, we're fairly confident that a play-off spot can be achieved, and anything can happen then.

How has David James performed since he joined the Cherries? Is he likely to play on Saturday?

James did a decent job at helping to settle down a defence that was all over the shop when he arrived. Whilst he has made a couple of costly errors, he's presence helped calm things.

Just recently he's been dropped in favour of Jalal who was keeper for Howe's first stint as manager here, and recent young signing Allsop who will be the future. So James is unlikely to play Saturday.
 
Another ex-Pompey player to recently join your club was Matt Ritchie. What are your early impressions of him?

We only saw him for 45 minutes against 10 man MK Dons, that was down the left and he quite impressive. I like that he looks to get a cross in whenever he can, compared to our left winger Marc Pugh who can over-play things and beat a man 5 times when once will do.

Does Richard Hughes get much game time at Dean Court these days?

He got injured for a few months soon after joining, so we've not seen much of him. Our game is based on high tempo and pace, Hughes doesn't really fit that. He's normally on the bench as an experienced head to bring on later in games.

Ex-Bournemouth players Shaun Cooper and James Keene are on Pompey's wafer thin books right now. What did you make of these players in a red & black shirt?

Cooper was a long serving player who is remembered fondly. He always put a hard shift in, played in every position across defence and midfield at some point in his time here and never really put a foot wrong. but for injury, he would have had a career at a higher level. Into his twilight now and injuries have taken their toll. He really struggled in Crawley's midfield when we played them the other month.

James Keene was on loan here for a short period and did well. Indeed we were linked with signing him several times over the years and none of us would have been disappointed with that. He scored one particularly memorable goal away at Brentford where he confused the defenders by controlling the ball with several 'keepie uppies' before slamming the ball home.
 
Onto the game and given the form of both teams this should be an absolute walkover for your team, shouldn't it?

Ha, I think a few too many of our support are thinking that as well. I expected Pompey to struggle when I saw you at Fratton at the start of the season and you did pretty well. We of all clubs should know how it's possible to upset the form book with a small rag-tag group of players fighting relegation, we've been there.

I must say though that we are playing very well, especially at home. So I would hope we'd get the 3 points one way or another, although it may not be a walkover.
 
What are the biggest weaknesses in the this Bournemouth side that Pompey could exploit if, by some miracle, they play well?

We have some question marks over the defence currently with a couple of injuries. The backup players are away on loan and Howe doesn't want to recall them from first team football just to cover a couple of games here and then go back to not playing again, so we're trying to make do for now. We don't have an obvious left back for example.

Are there any names in the Pompey squad that strike fear into your heart when you read them?

James Keene will have the 'ex striker returning' factor, and he's always known where the net is throughout his career. If Pomepy can supply him with chances, he'll cause problems.

What sort of match are you expecting on Saturday?

We don't tend to hold back much, we know our strengths lie in attacking with pace and width, that's what we do best. We're not much of a keep-ball side, although Howe is trying to improve that, we're more of a break forward at every chance side.

So that's what we'll do, I expect we'll have most of the ball pinning Pompey back somewhat, but we'll have to break Pompey down and actually score the chances we create, it can take us 3 or 4 chances to score which can be frustrating.

Predict the result of the game.

Bournemouth 3 Pompey 1