All hail Artur Boruc 2.0

Despite watching them for ninety minutes a week, we football fans rarely know much about what footballers are actually like - what drives them or the details of their personal affairs.

Most of the time it’s probably best we don’t know of course, but it’s safe to say some footballers are more enigmatic than others. At AFC Bournemouth quite a lot of the squad don’t have much mystery about them, but one certainly does - none other than Polish international goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

To say Boruc’s relationship with the AFCB fanbase has had more ups and downs than your average Thorpe Park attraction would be an understatement. Personally I was never convinced by him last season, as he was just as likely to make a huge error as he was to make an outstanding stop. You just never knew you were going to get - the footballing equivalent of a bag of revels.

That’s all changed this season though, with Artur having put in outstanding performance after outstanding performance - making a variety of excellent saves at important times. But why has he looked so consistently superb between the sticks so far this campaign? Well I’ve listed five possible reasons below…

Spending time with the national team at Euro 2016

Most people from England would prefer to forget Euro 2016, but for Artur Boruc his time in the tournament could have been time well spent. A section of our fans have suggested that Boruc has always looked sharper in goal after returning from international duty, so after spending an entire competition with his country’s side (despite not playing at all) it would stand to reason that he would have come back fit and raring to go for us. However I’d prefer to think our own staff have had an hand in his recent form of course…

Our coaches stepping up their game

Our goalkeeping coaching staff have come in for criticism in recent seasons, after several promising stoppers have failed to improve once donning an AFCB jersey - instead often turning into shadows of their former selves. It’s been quite depressing.

This has inevitably resulted in our goalkeeping coach Neil Moss and his assistant Anthony White coming under increased scrutiny.

I think that if that logic is applied when our keepers are under-performing then the same should apply when they they’re doing well though. It’s only fair. Both Moss and White were recently in the first batch of recipients of the inaugural UEFA Goalkeeping A Licence too, and being able to get that qualification can have only been beneficial to Boruc…right?

Personal problems resolved?

When I said Artur Boruc was an enigma, I meant it. He was so distant at times last season it was slightly worrying - no better demonstrated in a very awkward interview after our draw with West Bromich Albion, where he admitted his mind was somewhere else (although that was evident enough in his demeanour in the video).

If I could make an educated guess I’d say his problems with his ex-wife could have been the cause of this lack of mental clarity - but after he recently filed legal action against her his mind could have been made a little clearer, with his form improving as a result.

Accepting he’s not invincible

Linking into the point above, Boruc has often had an austere air that could often make it seem like he believed he was above playing for AFC Bournemouth.

Perhaps I was reading way too much into things - it wouldn’t be the first time - but when he recently admitted in an interview that his “arrogance and greed” cost him from being one of the best keepers in the world, he did seem to be admitting that he’d finally turned a corner. In the same piece he also claimed he was “a changed man.” This acceptance seems to have given him a new lease of life, and it’s showing in his recent displays.

Forging more of a link with the fans

These improved performances have helped endear him more to our fanbase - who before really didn’t know what to make of him. Not only were his performances hit and miss, he also had a tendency to rush down the tunnel at full time - never coming across with the rest of the team to applaud the fans.

He seems to have turned things around this season though, often clapping to our supporters and seeming a lot happier on the pitch - and the fans have responded to this, even giving him a standing ovation after his sensational save from Romelu Lukaku’s header when we played Everton last month.

Boruc himself has claimed that if “you really feel support then that helps do everything, that helps you achieve your 100%” - and there’s no doubt the fans are behind him at the moment, having rightly voted him as our best player in both August and September this season.

And I think I speak for all AFC Bournemouth fans when I say I hope this Artur Boruc love in continues for as long as possible.