Going in to the third international break of the season, the Cherries have, in the course of 12 months, under gone a remarkable transformation since Eddie Howe returned to the south coast, going from relegation fodder to promotion in a remarkably short space of time.
In making the step from League One, manager Eddie Howe was under no illusions of the task faced by the Cherries as they sought to adapt to life at the higher level.
On that elevation, Howe is quoted in the Bournemouth Evening Echo as saying: "I always knew it was going to be an incredibly difficult transition and it has been. The step up is huge and the quality of every team is very high. I don’t think there is much of a gap between the top and bottom clubs and that is rare in most other leagues. It is really tight and the margins between winning and losing are fine, as we have seen ourselves. We were unfortunate to be on the end of a couple of big scorelines when the reality was that we were in both games. We have also won games which were tight and that is why results in this league are difficult to predict. That is why we have to be at our best every week to get anything and I think that has been proved because, when we have performed, invariably, we have picked up points. Some players have surprised us with how well they have done and some perhaps have struggled a little. But I think that is only natural when you step up and not everyone will adapt at the same rate and in the same time span. Even those who have done very well this season will have to maintain those levels in order to progress. The ones who haven’t will need to adapt quite quickly and get up to speed because it is a ruthless division. We have seen that already within our own results. If you drop your performances, even by a small percentage, you will get punished. It is an ongoing process and players will always have a chance to prove themselves. The ones doing well will need to improve again in order for the team to progress to the levels that I want it to. I have been encouraged by our start but there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us".
Source: Cherries MAD
Source: FOOTYMAD
