Are There Any Players From Bournemouth We Should Be Considering For Our Gameweek 1 FPL Squad?
General Overview
- Expected formation: 4-4-1-1
- Expected current line up: Begovic, A. Smith/Francis, Aké, S. Cook, Daniels; Stanislas (Fraser until Stanislas is back from injury), Arter, Surman, Pugh; King; Defoe
- Penalties: Defoe, King, Stanislas, Daniels
- Direct free kicks: Arter, Fraser
- Indirect free kicks:Â Stanislas, Daniels, Fraser, Arter, Pugh
- Corners:Â Stanislas, Daniels, Fraser, Arter, Pugh
- Opening fixtures: Wba (A), WAT (H), MCI (H), Ars (A), BHA (H), Eve (A), LEI (H), Tot (A), Sto (A), CHE (H)
Bournemouth had a great season last year finishing in a very respectable 9th position in the Premier League table. Well regarded for their fluid, passing style under Eddie Howe, they have more than solidified themselves as a Premier League team since making the wonderful climb from the lower echelons of English League football to the big time, having spent barely any money in doing so – so much to be admired.
Going forward, there were certainly no issues. They scored 55 goals, 1 more than the mighty Manchester United managed – a superior total to the teams around them (Southampton 41, WBA 43). This was mainly down to Josh King, who more than picked up the mantle that the unfortunate Callum Wilson left behind, scoring an impressive 16 goals in doing so.
Conversely, the one worrying snag to all this positivity, is the amount of goals that they let in – 67 goals conceded, a total that pales in comparison to the teams around them (Southampton 48, WBA, 51). So they kind of had to make sure they attacked well so they could score more goals, to make up for the obvious lack of defensive organisation at the back, otherwise they weren’t picking up any points. Despite this, they did manage 10 clean sheets, which was 4 more than WBA (6) kept.
New signings Begovic and Aké from Chelsea are Eddie Howe’s answer to that. Should they keep around the same level of clean sheets as they did last year and cut out the tendency to concede a lot (Everton 6-3) in games on average, which means extra minus points for our FPL assets, then their defensive players may just be a viable option for our defences.
Lets have a look at the players of interest from Bournemouth.
Begovic £4.5m
A good piece of business from Bournemouth and a tempting FPL proposition at that price, should Bournemouth become more defensively organised. Wasted as a bench warmer for Chelsea, I think Begovic could have a good season for Bournemouth and predict we might see him appearing in a fair few FPL teams. At £4.5m, he provides the cheapest, nailed route into the Cherries defence and has pedigree in FPL achieving huge scores of 144 and 136 points in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons respectively amassing a grand total of 221 saves – last seasons outstanding keeper Heaton by comparison, achieved 149 points and has made 269 saves in his 2 seasons in FPL.
Aké/Daniels: £5.0m
Having made the move permanent after a successful, albeit short, loan spell at the Cherries last season before being recalled back by Chelsea, Nathan Aké looks to tempt us into bringing him into our teams, and he might just convince a fair few of us. 3 goals and 1 assist from just 8(2) games he played for Bournemouth in his loan spell and a PPG ratio of 5.5, make him a brilliant prospect if he’s nailed, which he is certain to be. If he picks up where he left off, at that rate, he could be on for big season, but it’s a fairly big IF to continue at that rate. Irregardless of that fact, he certainly is one to keep an eye on.
Another tempting proposition, and a personal favourite of Jonty’s over at FFScout, is Charlie Daniels. I like him a lot and after backing up his first solid season’s score of 130 with 134 points last year, his renegade-like operation of that left hand side might be difficult to ignore, especially if more clean sheets start coming in.
Over his first 2 seasons in the Premier League, he’s demonstrated an ability to cause great problems to oppositions right hand side, with his strong physique and good close control of the ball being instrumental in being able to get past players and provide a consistent number of assists, 3 last year and 5 the year before. Not only that but he knows where the net is, scoring 4 last season and 3 the year before that. At a respectable price of £5.0m, and with the new defensive recruits, he could be set for a 140+ plus total – well worth the money!
Defoe £8.0m and King £7.5m
To score 15 goals in a team as poor as Sunderland last year was an outstanding effort by Defoe in my opinion. They offered him literally no support and without him they would have been relegated a lot sooner than they were. He managed an impressive 24 bonus points last year, likely down to a good chance/conversion rate. He keeps himself fit and he knows where the net is, what more do you need to know about him? A Premier League legend. With better service and quality around him this year, it’s likely we’ll see Defoe at least match his total of 166 points last season, with a good chance he will beat it if he avoids injury – more than worth the £8.0m outlay if so.
Last seasons hero Josh King, comes over this season after being re-classified as a striker instead of a midfielder and at a £2m price hike from his start price last season – not great viewing for us FPL managers. He was brilliant for the Cherries last year and a welcome bonus for those of us that brought him into our squads early. The decision we now face when we look at King is; does he now represent good value for money with the new changes taken into consideration?
I’ve added an extra little comparison below, to my ‘Player Value Comparison Spreadsheet’  , that may just help with regard to that. If you’re one of those who are unsure who to choose between King and Defoe, or you’re just generally interested in seeing how his value and stats change if we take the the new classification and price into account, then take a look below and see if it helps you. Bare in mind here, that the ‘Points Per Game’ (PPG) stat gets lower for those who have played longer, so whilst King wins out on PPG in that little comparison, it’s only because Defoe played roughly 500 mins more than King, which will dilute the PPG figure down.
Conclusion
All in all, there are plenty of Bournemouth assets that warrant our consideration based on the statistics and information provided in this article. All the aforementioned players have good potential, but who to choose from those players mentioned is the difficult part. There’s no question in my mind, that Defoe will continue to do what he does best in this team and that paying the £8.0m outlay for him, will be worth it in the long term. I also think, that even with the huge drop in my ‘player value’ stat due to his position change and his price hike, King will continue his form from last season and provide decent value for money in that price bracket, it’s just whether we want to go that high for our 3rd striker slot.
Furthermore, I’m erring on the side of caution when it comes to their defence. The new recruits are a marked improvement on what they were operating with last year, no question – Francis, a player I personally don’t think is good enough for the Premier League – however, I still think they will be subject to conceding a lot of goals based on the way Eddie Howe wants them to play. That expansive, fluid, passing football philosophy, would leave a defence with Bonnuci, Chiellini and Barzagli vulnerable. I just don’t feel they have the all round quality to play that kind of football without consequences – as we saw last season – and I personally don’t feel that Begovic and Aké coming in will make that much of a difference. I do however, hope that I’m wrong.
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