Bournemouth defence is still a concern

This will come as no surprise to anyone, but as an AFC Bournemouth fan my greatest fear heading into this season is our defence.

We conceded a hatful in the last campaign. This was covered up somewhat by our free-scoring antics, but still. The period we went through midway through the season where we conceded three goals in eight out of ten games was a huge concern.

It also highlighted that if our frontline was misfiring our backline simply can’t pick up the slack. It almost always wasn’t strong enough to allow us to scrape out a result. Be it a dull stalemate or narrow undeserved victory.

Upgrades needed in the Bournemouth defence

There is reason for slight optimism when it comes to shoring up our defence though. namely that we’ve signed two players that will almost certainly slot into our first team. We’ve now got Asmir Begovic between the sticks and then Nathan Aké partnering with Steve Cook at centre back.

Of course Aké is no guarantee that we’ll suddenly start keeping regular clean sheets. His loan period demonstrated that all too well. Although he’s well known for his winner against Liverpool he was also part of the backline that was torn to shreds by the Merseyside outfit for much of that match for example.

Even Aké himself admitted that although he was happy with scoring the winner (who wouldn’t be) in that game he was less than pleased with his defensive contribution.

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Friendlies a source of concern

Our friendly results have also done little to salve any worries regarding our defence either. We’ve conceded goals to League One (Portsmouth) and League Two (Yeovil Town) outfits.

The first was a hopeful ball into the edge of our area, with the second from a corner. The latter is a big worry as defending set pieces has always been an achilles heel, and it’s perhaps a problem that still hasn’t been solved in pre-season.

Our first game of our Premier League campaign is against West Bromwich Albion too. A team well known for their prowess on dead ball situations, so we’ll definitely know if this weakness will rear its ugly head again next season.

Lacking strength in depth?

The biggest concern though is that even with two new signings bought in we look a little short on options in certain areas of our back four.

At right back we only have Adam Smith and Simon Francis. The latter of which is now used to playing as centre back for all of last season. I don’t think he has the pace anymore in that position now in all honesty.

Then when it comes to left-back Brad Smith still doesn’t convince me as back up. Whereas in the centre back position Tyrone Mings still has much to prove.

So there are still some big question marks over our defence heading into the new season, but one thing is for sure – we won’t be dull to watching going forward, or at the back.