On Saturday 29th July, Atalanta visited Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium for a pre-season friendly. The Serie A side won 3-1, and the match was a good test for the Bournemouth players (who hadn't yet played a top side this pre-season). The friendly provided lots of positives and negatives for Bournemouth to consider before the Premier League season kicks off in 2 weeks time.
Atalanta opened the scoring within ten minutes after a low cross found Mæhle in plenty of space inside the six-yard box. In the 36th minute, Marcos Senesi gave the ball away inside his own half, and Bournemouth found themselves 2-0 down thanks to a delicate chip from Koopmeiners. Just minutes later, however, Senesi smashed one home after a goal-line clearance rebounded to his feet. A less eventful second half ended with Emmanuel Latte Lath making it three for Atalanta after Kieffer Moore's defensive header found him inside Bournemouth's box.
Read More: FPL Differentials: 2023/24
The Talking Points
Midfield Depth
With Philip Billing missing from the matchday squad, the Cherries were very shallow on midfield depth. The reason for his absence is still unknown, as the midfielder was in the stands for the match. Whilst the most likely cause was a minor injury, there have been rumours of Billing moving on from Bournemouth.
Bournemouth began the match with just one central midfielder (Lewis Cook) and just one backup on the bench (Joe Rothwell). The depth levels were clearly not strong enough for a single match, let alone a season. Bill Foley's Cherries are still yet to replace Jefferson Lerma (who joined Crystal Palace on a free transfer this summer), although there are rumours of a second bid for Bristol City's Alex Scott. Midfield recruitment will be crucial to Bournemouth's bid for Premier League survival next season.
The biggest hole left by Billing's absence was the great lack of creativity. Bournemouth had no creator in the centre of the pitch to progressively carry the ball. Centre-back Marcos Senesi even resorted to driving with the ball from his own half to the opposition box, creating Bournemouth's biggest open-play chance of the first half.
A consequence of this lack of creativity was the constant punts upfield by centre-backs Senesi and Zabaryni. More often than not, this worked with Kluivert and Solanke receiving the ball in the final third and retaining possession. However, this route one tactic is surely not in Andoni Iraola's long-term plans.
Bournemouth desperately need to recruit some midfielders: a defensive midfielder is required to replace Lerma. It is also clear that if Billing is injured, the Cherries severely lack a progressive midfielder. It appears that the Cherries therefore need two new midfielders to cope with Lerma's departure and potential injuries in another round fixture-heavy Premier League season.
A New Striker Required?
As a result of Billings' absence and therefore the consequential lack of central creativity, Solanke was constantly dropping back into the midfield to receive the ball and distribute it out to the wings. He was required to do this to help build creativity and hold the ball up on counter attacks whilst his wide men (Anthony and Kluivert) got up the pitch. However this has always been the case with Solanke, even when Billing could play. His style of play involves dropping deep and getting involved in build-up play. Questions could be asked, therefore, of the effectivity of Solanke as a lone striker.
Solanke has also struggled with clinicality in the Premier League. Bournemouth's number nine scored just three goals in his first 42 Premier League appearances for the club, before the Cherries were relegated to the Championship. In the 2022/23 season, the Englishman had an XG (expected goals) of 9.2 in the league. However, Solanke only found the back of the net 6 times.
This lack of confidence and clinicality hasn't disappeared: in the 63rd minute, Solanke found himself inside Atalanta's box after pressing the opposition defenders into a mistake. Despite being in a great shooting position, the striker squared the ball to a teammate and the chance was squandered.
As Bournemouth aspire to improve on last season's 15th-place finish, a new striker may be required. The striker could play in a two up front system (With Solanke), or on their own. Either way, they should be brought in to score more goals than Solanke was.
Set Pieces
Last season, set pieces were the bane of Gary O'Neil's life. Bournemouth conceded the most goals from set pieces (PL) at 21, seven more than Nottingham Forest who conceded the second most. The Cherries conceded by far the most from corners (16), seven more than the closest competitor. They also conceded the second most penalty kicks, and would've conceded the joint most had Mo Salah converted his at the Vitality Stadium. At the opposite end of the field, Bournemouth failed to score a direct free kick. This comes as a result of having no free-kick specialists in the squad (besides Junior Stanislas who played just 58 league minutes). Any attempt was either sent into the stands or straight at the wall. Additionally, O'Neil's side failed to win a single penalty all season. Clearly, some work was required on both offensive and defensive set pieces.
On the positive side, Bournemouth did score from a set piece against Atalanta. A superb corner was whipped in by David Brooks, which Solanke met with a glancing header that beat the goalkeeper. Despite an Atalanta player clearing the ball off the line, Senesi was there to finish the job. On various occasions, free kicks and corners, there were good deliveries but unfortunately Solanke was unable to connect well with the cross. For example, in the 60th minute, a free kick found Solanke but his header went far wide of the post. However, the set pieces were generally a move in the right direction for Iraola's side.
Defensively, however, set pieces were still a weakness. Atalanta's third goal came after a free kick was headed away, only into Lath's path. The Ivorian found himself on the penalty spot with plenty of time to make the perfect connection and place the ball into the bottom corner, whilst five red and black shirts stood in the penalty area and watched.
Bournemouth clearly still need to improve on their set pieces, most crucially defending them as conceding fewer goals is the ultimate key to Premier League survival.
Does Adam Smith Need Replacing?
Whilst the majority of Bournemouth's team are on the favourable side of 30 years old, Smith is an anomaly in their starting lineups. In fact the average age of their starting eleven is 26.3 years old, and Smith was the only outfielder over the age of 30 to play a Premier League game for Bournemouth.
Smith's age has caused him to be significantly slower than other fullbacks, and last season he was a target for tricky, pacey opposition wingers. The right-back was in the bottom 27% for tackling dribblers per 90, despite facing more dribbles than almost any other full-back. Smith was constantly beaten by fast, agile wingers who could easily change direction and catch him out on counter attacks. During the Atalanta game he was up against Ademola Lookman, a notoriously fast and skillful winger. Lookman beat Smith numerous times, and was also given the space to cut inside and cross the ball or drive towards goal. It was clear that a quicker, younger full back may have coped with the threat better, as Kerkez did on the left-hand side.
Smith was fruitless on the offensive front too. The Englishman refused to make overlapping runs past Anthony, perhaps due to his lack of pace. Whenever he received the ball in the final third, an easy pass was almost always chosen rather than a cross or a forward drive (which he used to enjoy in his younger days). When a cross was resorted to, it was easily headed away by the Atalanta defenders. Conversely, Kerkez constantly drove the ball forwards, made inverted runs and crossed the ball towards Solanke.
Across the season Kerkez will show Adam Smith up as a weak full-back, and a much younger, quicker, more attacking right-back may replace him. Bournemouth have already been linked to Fresneda (who fits this description), but Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Barcelona are interested in the full back. Smith appears to be a weak point for the Cherries, and Iraola may look to bring in a starting replacement prior to the beginning of the season.
Comments