Tommy Elphick feels that Bournemouth have enough strength in depth to cope with the loss of Wilson, Gradel and Mings. I'm not convinced, as Wilson was their top scorer last season, with 25 goals, which was over a quarter of their total. After this weekend, at home to Watford, they're away at Citeh and home to Spurs!!! http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sp...We_ve_got_depth_to_cope_says_Elphick/?ref=mac
Many teams missing the equivalent players regardless of status would be in for a tough time it weakens the squad and then makes them more susceptible to little niggles as they are tired, however it might give a chance to some youff players
Absolutely terrible for Bournemouth. I really want them to stay up (as long as we do too) but I think they are now in an incredibly difficult position, psychologically as well as with the missing players. Watford next is a must win for confidence. The one thing I would say is that it really highlights the difference between our squads - they've lost their key LB, midfielder and striker. Now a few weeks ago, we were missing... Olsson, Mulumbu and arguably Grabban. Obviously nowhere near as bad as their losses, or for as long as theirs, but the point it highlights than we can swallow a few key injuries and not noticeably weaken the squad - we have back-up who are very close to that level.
Yes Rob, Bournemouth do seem to lack cover for some positions and their next 3 games could define their season quite easily. I think we do have cover for most positions - maybe with the exception of Tettey.
I think that Mulumbu will be first choice, Tettey as cover and either O Neil or Dorrans could also cover there.
Because of his mobility, Tettey works very well as the DM in AN's tactical approach (as described in the Relegation Watch thread). Mulumbu can do that job as well, but with less mobility. He can, however, also play as the deep play-maker as an alternative to Howson (or Dorrans or Odjidja-Ofoe, given our depth there) in away games, especially against top 6 teams. This gives AN a big advantage as it allows him to choose the best option to counteract opposing players on the day either as a starter or as a tactical substitution.
It's significant that Mulumbu mostly played as a CM alongside Yacob at DM when at WBA, but then they play with a defensive emphasis under Pulis. It does, however, emphasize his DM/CM options which Tettey doesn't really have. Odjidja-Ofoe is going to have to improve his defensive skills if he is to break into that highly competitive area of the squad.
I think that Bournemouth's poor luck with injuries has emphasised their lack of squad depth. Maybe it is akin to us losing Hotly, Wes and Drury when we first came up in 11-12 as we certainly did not have the depth of squad then that we currently enjoy. We are different now in that we have far more depth across most positions wiith probably only Wes being a one-off in the squad. The next stage in our development will be when we can start to buy the sort of players capable of making a significant difference to the first team rather than just add depth to the squad which for me is where Swansea and Saints are currently. We were where Bournemouth are but three PL seasons and the willingness of the Board to keep the squad together last season have left us with arguably our strongest playing squad since the heady days of Fox, Eadie and Sutton.
Agree with that NB and although Wes is dominant in that role, Howson can also play there, as he did against Liverpool, and Odjidja-Ofoe and Andreu offer potential options if they can push their way into the squad which is already looking very good as a whole.
Not sure our missing players are as important for us as Bournemouth's are for them. Certainly wouldn't count any of our 3 missing players as key. If we lost for example Bassong, Jerome & Howson then we would be is just as much if not more S**t as them.
While we managed without Olsson, it would mean that Brady would have to revert to LB. That'd be less of a problem now that we have Jarvis, but I've got a feeling that we'll see Brady and Jarvis on both wings soon because they are both better tracking back than Redmond is. Bassong would be our biggest loss as he is the only left-sided CB we have, and thus is my principal worry even though we have Bennett and Wisdom who could play there. Jerome and Howson would be big losses, but such is our squad that we have four other options in each case! IMO, Wes is the player we'd find most difficult to replace, IMO.
I think Howson is one of those players that you don't realise how important he is till he's not there. I don't think its a coincidence that our improvement towards the end of last season coincided with his return from injury.
I agree cannario and I think Howson's playing better this season than any time before. Part of that is AN's tactics, which give him the freedom he thrives upon, as does Wes. He's also the principal other option for Wes's role, especially against big teams or away from home, as at Liverpool.
I think a decent option if Wes were to get injured is Redmond in the CAM role and with Brady on the left and Jarvis on the right. He obviously isn't like for like but he has a good shot on him, can play intricate balls and it would provide us with even more pace up front. If we played against the big teams with a front four of Brady, Jarvis, Redmond and Jerome, we'd be super effective on the counter.
Interesting idea Colk, and Redmond's weaker defensive capabilities would be less of a liability there.
No, I know, that's what I was saying - part of the reason they are not as important injuries to us is because we have replacements. That's my point. Injuries to first XI players do not hit us as hard because of the depth of our squad. Also, I'm not sure we would be quite so much in the **** as Bournemouth are now if we lost Bassong, Jerome and Howson. Bassong, on the face of it would be the biggest loss. Howson might well be, as has been made clear above he's all action, but we at least have strength in depth in his position so it wouldn't be a psychological blow so much as stylistic. Jerome probably the least, tbh. Any injury is a pain, but we're hardly relying on him to score our goals in the way Bournemouth are Callum Wilson - we've got several other strikers behind him with reasonable reputations (although I appreciate that might not equate to decent replacement). In other words, I think Bournemouth would be a lot happier if they had our bench and reserves... No team wants injuries, every team has key players, but we're in a position to cope with them, anywhere, much better than Bournemouth IMO.
IMO, the biggest threat to PL survival is injuries, and AN has done everything he can to provide cover at all positions, with the possible exception of CB, and that was not for the want of trying. At least there are 3 other options and one squad place for a free agent should it be needed. What I also like is that 18 of our 25 man squad have had significant PL game time and another 9 have had time in cup matches (including some now out on loan). Mulumbu has missed out because of injury and Kean as third GK. You could then include the game time other players are getting on loan. Good management, that is.
Yes, totally agree RER, we have got good or reasonable cover for most positions and most have PL experience to boot.
