Bournemouth Fan View: out to get Mark Hughes - AGAIN

On the touch-line Stoke City’s manager Mark Hughes has the look of a man who is waiting for a bus. A bus that’s very late.

This comparison is of course complete fantasy – Mark Hughes has probably never waited for a bus in his life. The lucky git.

But I digress. What I’m basically trying to say is that Mark Hughes doesn’t seem like an easy-going sort, and is instead a man who appears to be constantly teetering on the verge of total and complete rage. Like a unerupted volcano – but one with a fine head of hair.

And my side, AFC Bournemouth, did quite a bit to enrage the Welshman last season. I think we can get under his skin this Saturday too.

Gamesmanship infuriates Mark Hughes

To elaborate on the above though, we got the Stoke fans a bit annoyed when we last visited the Potteries. Nathan Aké’s header from a free-kick gained us a hard earned 1-0 win, but it didn’t go down well with the locals.

We were accused of some rather blatant gamesmanship. Players diving at the slightest touch. Ages being taken over every free kick. You know the drill.

Personally I didn’t think we were as bad as Mark Hughes made out, and after years of seeing my side being a soft touch in the lower leagues I love the fact that Eddie Howe has improved our abilities when it comes to the darker side of the game.

It was also a tad rich of Hughes and the Stoke fanbase to whinge considering their side did the exact same thing when they visited Dean Court in our first Premier League campaign way back in February 2016.

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Must not lose

In any case we’ll need to show the same grit if we’re to get a result on Saturday – in what I would class as a “must not lose” fixture.

We can’t let Stoke’s recent tonkings against Chelsea and Manchester City make us think it’ll be easy either. Mark Hughes’s side may be languishing in 17th place, but have had a truly horrible set of opening fixtures.

To get anything I think we’ll need to set ourselves up in a 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 formation. I would prefer the former, as Josh King could then receive more service from midfield. It would also be a chance for us to be a bit more consistent in our team selection.

Keep plugging away

After all, our stubborn displays against Tottenham and Manchester City so far this season have shown we can still be resilient when putting five in midfield or defence.

Yes, we narrowly lost both of those games – but Stoke are inarguably weaker than both those sides. So reason would dictate that if we can put in as much heart and effort against them we’re capable of getting a result on Saturday.

Personally I hope Eddie can see the logic in sticking with the same team for once this Saturday, even if it might go against his footballing philosophy. He’ll also get the wonderful side effect of annoying Mark Hughes in the process. Everyone wins. Except Hughes, hopefully.