Bournemouth 23/24 season preview
Top scorers premier league
Player | Goals |
Billing | 7 |
Solanke | 6 |
Tavernier | 5 |
Lerma | 5 |
Moore | 4 |
Assists premier league
Player | Assists |
Solanke | 7 |
Tavernier | 4 |
Ouattara | 3 |
Cook | 2 |
Kelly | 2 |
Dominic Solanke was Bournemouth’s most productive player last season, producing 13 goal contributions which was 4 higher than the next nearest player who was Tavernier who clocked up 9 goal contributions. 13 contributions is Solanke’s best return in his premier league career. Solanke racked up 2873 minutes for Bournemouth which was the clubs 3rd highest this season, only behind Lerma and Smith. He was also rated the 3rd best Bournemouth player with a who scored.com rating of 6.79 only being beaten by Phillip Billing (6.82) and Marcus Tavernier (6.95).
Billing was Bournemouth’s top scorer last season with 7 goals, which like Solanke is his best goal tally in the premier league. Billing has played 2 other seasons in the premier league, one with Bournemouth and one with Huddersfield, he scored 2 for Huddersfield in 2018 / 19 and 1 for Bournemouth in 2019/20.
Marcus Tavernier enjoyed a decent first premier league campaign also, he played 19 games clocking up 1749 minutes and getting 5 goals and 4 assists. He was also considered Bournemouth’s highest rated player by who scored with a rating of 6.95.
Almost half of Bournemouth’s goals came from the 3 players mentioned: Solanke, Tavernier and Billing scoring 18 goals between them. Bournemouth only managed to score 37 goals across the entire season, which may be one of the factors as to why Gary O’Neill is no longer at the club.
Bournemouth only managed to score 1 more goal between the entire squad than Erling Haaland did for Manchester City on his own. Haaland managed 36 goals in the 22/23 season and Bournemouth squad only managed 37.
Bournemouth’s starting XI has been changed a lot over the season, they have played several different formations and have had 2 managers over the season.
Tavernier is an example of someone who was used in various roles, he is primarily a left midfielder who likes to run forward with the ball and has a good eye for goal. However at Bournemouth this season he has been used as a utility player for a lot of games because of his versatility and technical ability. He has played across the whole of the midfield in attacking roles, left, right, central and more defensive roles.
Position | Tally | Rating |
DMR | 4 | 7.33 |
DML | 1 | 6.1 |
MR | 3 | 7.2 |
MC | 1 | 6 |
ML | 2 | 7.7 |
AMR | 1 | 6.8 |
AMC | 2 | 6.9 |
AML | 5 | 6.7 |
Tavernier positions played 22/23
They played 4-2-3-1 the most out of the different formations used with a total of 12 starting line ups under 4-2-3-1, when playing this formation Django Ouattara was often played off the right with Billing as attacking midfielder and Jaidon Anthony playing off the left. In 16 games Billing has played as an attacking midfielder and had Lerma and Cook or Rothwell behind him allowing him to be the one involved in the attacking third of the pitch. Bournemouth W 4 D 2 L 6 when playing the 4-2-3-1 formation.
When playing 4-4-2 (the second most used formation with 8 starting line ups) the same back 4 of Smith, Mepham, Sensei and Zemura tended to be deployed. However the midfield, because Kieffer Moore would often be used as the second striker to support solanke, would be changed with either Ouattara or Christie making way, and either Billing or Tavernier filling the wide roles. Bournemouth W 2 D 3 L 3 when using this formation from the start of the game.
They also played a 4-4-1-1 with similar players however instead of Kieffer Moore being a supporting striker, Billing would move up to the secondary 1 (number 10 role) and then Anthony, Christie, Tavernier or Ouattara would be played as wingers. They W2 D1 L4 when using this formation from the beginning of the game.
If playing with 3 at the back, either 3-4-2-1 (played 6 times) or 3-1-4-2 (played once) usually Lloyd Kelly will play on the left of the 3 with Mepham and Smith or Sensei retaining their places in the side. Kelly adds a good passing accuracy % to the Bournemouth team having completed 45.1 passes on average per 90 mins. He also has a good passing range and is confident on the ball and often brings the ball out of the back line into the midfield.
Lloyd Kelly was Bournemouth’s most productive passer of the ball, having 45.1 passes per game on average with Lerma second on 42.9 and sensei 3rd with 41.6. Bournemouths most accurate passer (to play the majority of games) was Chris mepham with 83.7% passing accuracy.
Bournemouth had an average possession of 40% in premier league matches, which was the second lowest of any other team. Only Nottingham forest had a worse average possession having just 37.2% of the ball. Bournemouth’s passing accuracy was 77.5%, placing them at 15th on the passing accuracy stats.
Bournemouth had 34% of there overall possession in their own third of the pitch, which was the highest in the premier league. They had 41% of their possession in the middle of the pitch which was 3rd highest in the league and then 25% in the opposition third, the joint lowest in the league.
Going forward
Bournemouth had the lowest amount of shots per game with an average of 9.4 shots per game. Dominic Solanke recorded the most with an average of 2.3 shots per game, Tavernier with 1.6, Ouattara with 1.4 and Billing with 1.1. Bournemouth had on average 3 less shots per game than the 3 teams that were relegated to the championship - Leicester 11 , Leeds 12.2 and Southampton 11.
Bournemouth only scored 1 goal through a counter attack which is the joint lowest of the premier league sides last season tied with Chelsea and West Ham.
Bournemouth often use the left hand side of the pitch to build up their attacks. They used the left side of the pitch for 40% of their offensive actions last season. This is primarily where Tavernier, Zemura, Anthony would be playing. Marcus Tavernier was an important attacking force for Bournemouth last season and if used correctly by Antonio Iraola he could be an important player once again. He clocked up an average of 2 dribbles per game (2nd highest behind Traore, however Traore only played 429 minutes compared to Tavernier’s 1749). He was fouled 1.2 times per game on average (3rd highest in squad, behind Solanke 1.6 and Christie 1.4). Tavernier also averaged 0.9 successful crosses per game which was the 2nd highest in the squad (again behind Traore).
63% of their shots were taken in the 18 yd box, with 28% coming outside of the box and 9% coming inside the 6 yd box. They were the highest team in the league for shots inside the area and the 3rd lowest for shots outside the area. This might suggest either a reluctance from the midfielders to have a shot, a lack of creativity or a game plan from the manager not to lose possession for the chance of a shot.
Often when defending Bournemouth will drop into a 4-5-1 shape and the back 4 will go narrow. The wide players will drop in to make a back 6 against sides with wide threats. The full backs will tuck in to make 4 and then if the ball goes wide the wide players will lead the approach to the player with the ball attempting stop the cross coming into the box, something Bournemouth are very good at doing.
The 4 will stay within the lines of the box too protect the area and to try to clear the ball away with Lerma usually in and around the box to clear the ball if needed or to drop into the back line to potentially make a 5.
Bournemouth conceded 71 goals in the 22/23 season, which was the 3rd highest tally of sides in the premier league. This wont have been helped by the fact that they conceded an average of 16.5 shots per game, constantly putting pressure on their defenders and their goalkeeper. They only recorded 1 offside per game which was the lowest in the league.
However Bournemouth did place well in the charts with some defensive stats. They were the 4th highest team in the league for shots blocked, averaging 4.5 per game and they also blocked the most crosses per game with 1.9 (joint 1stwith Nottingham forest). They also topped the charts for clearances made per game with 25.6 per game. This is mainly down to the presence of Chris Mepham and Marcos Sensei. Mepham averaged 5.6 clearances each game he played for Bournemouth, Sensei averaged 4.5 clearances and Lloyd Kelly averaged 4.3 clearances per 90. Bournemouth also managed to win 13.8 aerial duels per game.
Chris Mepham made 80 headed clearances in the league last season, which was only bettered by 5 other defenders – Mings (89), Kilman (101), Andersen (110), Tarkowski (119) and Pinnock (131). Sensei managed 67 headed clearances which put him 11th in the rankings. Bournemouth were the only team to have 2 players in the top 11 spots. Mepham was also ranked high for the most blocks made in 22/23, he finished with the 12th most blocks with 27 successful blocks.
With the arrival of new manager Andoni Iraola it is expected that Bournemouth will become a much quicker tempo. With Iraola’s previous team, Rayo Vallecano having the 2nd highest turnovers and highest shot producing turnovers in la liga last year. They also had the 8th best possession in la Lisa last season, which is something he will be looking to improve immediately at Bournemouth. A student of Bielsa, Iraola should bring some more exciting football to the south coast this season.
With the permanent transfers of Hamed Traore and Justin Kluivert, Bournemouth will be hoping on getting more attacking options through the door to help them secure their premier league status. Kluivert joins Bournemouth from Roma and will be hoping for a quick start to the premier league season and hope to kick off his debut season in the league with a goal.
Predictions
Premier league
13th
Fa cup
4th round
Carabao cup
R16
First 5 fixtures
West Ham (H) 12/07
Liverpool (A) 19/07
Tottenham (H) 26/07
Brentford (A) 02/08
Chelsea (H) 17/08
A tough start for Bournemouth playing 3 of the top 10 teams from last season in their opening 5 fixtures, they will be hoping for a good result against West Ham on the opening day of the season to put them on the right track for the campaign.
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