Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Howe happy to be flexible with formations
EDDIE Howe is adamant Cherries will remain flexible with their formation after adopting a 4-5-1 line-up for much of pre-season.[LNB] A dearth of available front men forced Howe to deploy Brett Pitman as a lone striker in a number of Cherries' pre-season friendlies.[LNB] But Howe said: We played this system last season with some good success. I think we were unbeaten in six or seven games so it is nothing new to the players.[LNB] We have been dictated by the situation but it was something we wanted to look at for a number of reasons, mainly that it enables you to keep the ball better. With going up a league, that is something we had to improve and I think we have.[LNB] We won't play it in every game. We have the ability to change, which was always going to be a key factor. Different games will require different things so I'm not being rigid in anything. We're flexible and able to change formations when we want to.[LNB] I don't think you can play a rigid 4-4-2 so much these days, especially the higher you go, because the midfield area is where the game is won and lost. If you are rigid in your shape, you can lose control of the game.[LNB] Cherries: (from) Jalal, Bradbury, Purches, Cooper, Pearce, Garry, Wiggins, Cummings, Nelson, Feeney, McQuoid, Bartley, Robinson, Arter, Pugh, Partington, Pitman, Ings, Stockley, Thomas.[LNB] Addicks: (from) Elliott, Solly, Doherty, Dailly, Jackson, Wagstaff, Racon, Semedo, Reid, McCormack, Abbott, Francis, Llera, Sodje, Tuna, Mambo, Stavrinou, Warner.[LNB]
