Bournemouth Fan View: Jordon Ibe helps paper over the cracks

Jordon Ibe finally started paying back some of his fifteen million pound price-tag for my AFC Bournemouth side against Brighton last night. He finally looked like the player we all know he can be.

It’s not an exaggeration to say he completely turned the game around when he came off the bench, and perhaps even saved our season in the process. But that might be a tad hyperbolic.

What is a concern however, is that we only avoided defeat by relying on a player that many had – perhaps rightly – written off after his displays last season.

Supersub Jordon Ibe

For roughly an hour of our 2-1 victory over Brighton on Friday we looked like we were sleepwalking our way to yet another defeat.

We dominated possession in the first half, but did nothing with it. It was like watching someone try to take a wall down by whacking it with a ladle. Then to add insult to injury we deservedly fell behind early in the second half.

With the crowd becoming restless and the players on the pitch looking largely clueless, things were looking bleak.

But then Jordon Ibe came on in the 65th minute and it was as if a switch had been flipped. He gave us much needed attacking impetus, looking to pass the ball – shock horror – forward.

He took the risks that needed to be taken to help cut apart a team that was playing so deep they may as well have all been wearing scuba gear.

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Howe needs to drop old heroes

Make no mistake though, despite grabbing three points the overall performance was still lacking. Changes need to be made if this is to be anything more than just a one-off result.

Hopefully the way Jordon Ibe played has helped Eddie Howe to realise that some of his old guard simply can’t cut it at this level. He needs to trust more in some of the young talent he has at his disposal.

Harry Arter, for instance, was poor – misplacing passes everywhere, and looking a shadow of his former self. Simon Francis also looked incredibly shaky at the back, and clearly has errors in him.

The problem is, they’ve both looked that way for a while now. Yet Howe doesn’t pick clearly better players – namely Lewis Cook and Tyrone Mings – over them. I do sometimes wonder how badly some of the old guard need to play to actually get dropped.

Long live the new flesh

Sadly, it may take several poor results for Howe to really shake things up as needed. The fact the home crowd were singing for Lewis Cook to come on during Friday’s game perhaps tells you that we’re becoming a little frustrated at Howe’s stubbornness.

Fortunately we have a cup game on Tuesday night – where several players can stake a claim for a first team place. Mings forced his way into the side after playing well against Birmingham City in the previous round – so it is possible. If unlikely.