Ah, football. How quickly opinions can change. Andrew Surman was attacked by nearly every AFC Bournemouth fan – myself included – at the start of this season.

He was criticised for showing a distinct lack of fight in the middle of the park, as well as simply playing the balls sideways all the time. Like a crab. That is, if a crab could play football.

Fast forward a few weeks, and he’s now he’s being heralded as our most consistent midfielder performer.

Best of a bad bunch?

Being our best midfielder so far this season wouldn’t be difficult though, admittedly. His competition is hardly fierce.

Harry Arter has gone severely off the boil, and his performances for the Republic of Ireland don’t seem to be helping. His play-acting to get a Moldovan player sent off on Saturday was cringe-worthy in the extreme.

AS IT HAPPENED: Bournemouth v Leicester

READ MORE: Bournemouth’s 2017-18 Premier League fixtures in full

Dan Gosling, on the other hand, has stayed on the boil – but at an incredibly low temperature. Gosling is clearly much loved by Eddie Howe for his work-rate, but he simply doesn’t have the talent on the ball to compete against most sides in the top flight.

Then you have Lewis Cook, whom the entire AFC Bournemouth fan-base has been demanding that he plays for most of this campaign. And as soon as he played last week, he struck up a great partnership with none other than Andrew Surman. They both complimented each other very well, taking it in turns to attack and defend when necessary.

READ MORE: After record £1.4bn summer spend, who got the best value for money in the Premier League?

READ MORE: Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere: I’m the fittest I’ve ever been

Proving his critics wrong

In fact, I can pinpoint the moment Surman’s performances turned around – and it wasn’t when Cook played last week.

No, it was via an interview he conducted with the Bournemouth Echo where he claimed he was unaware of the criticism he was receiving via social media.

But I’ll be a tad controversial here, and say that he may well have known about it – as his performances have swiftly improved the last few weeks. He’s suddenly diving into more tackles, and is far more forward-thinking with his passing.

It began with the league victory over Brighton, a game where Surman didn’t play superbly – but was still solid, and more importantly popped up with the essential equaliser that turned the match firmly in our favour.

That cool strike – from a player that hadn’t yet scored for us in the top flight – has just been nominated for Premier League goal of the month. And rightly so.

Andrew Surman, a Howe favourite

So yes, Andrew Surman is potentially having a career renaissance. I thought I’d never say that, but here we are. Weird.

As a result, Eddie Howe can’t drop him at the moment. Not that Howe would, as Surman has always been one of his favourites (despite his dip in form over the last year or so) – but at least with his recent performances, Bournemouth fans have been able to see why.