It feels a lifetime ago when despair for Bournemouth equated to a 17-point financial mismanagement deficit, while sitting 91st out of the 92 clubs in England’s top-four divisions, without the capacity to pay players, rent or the electricity bill.
“Fighting to win football matches was a lot easier than fighting to guard our existence as a club,” manager Eddie Howe said of that reality, which he guided them out of 11 years ago.
Under his charge, the south coast club have grown accustomed to winning a myriad of battles en route to the Premier League and staying in it. But what happens when comfort creeps in and the against-all-odds spirit is spent? What happens when what has defined your success has dissipated?
What happens when individuals start trumping the collective? What happens when you try to evolve but get stuck in limbo: neither here nor there in approach? What happens when you fix a glaring weakness - offensive threat - and show promise, recovery and resilience only to still lose 5-2 at Manchester United?
Saturday afternoon’s showing at Old Trafford could either galvanise Bournemouth or come to be seen as one of the final glimpses of the team the Premier League knew. The visitors were brave in possession, and as Ole Gunner Solskjaer admitted, “pressed us into making mistakes.” They scored twice, countered well, had two goals disallowed for offside and hit the post. Encouragingly, despite being 3-1 down at half-time in their position, they owned the opening stanza of the second half before their resistance was rinsed in five minutes by Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes.
Bournemouth had lost, but in the debris you could pick out distinguishing features: enterprise, courage on the ball, an aggressive reaction - but also, unfortunately, a thorough absence of offensive protection, and as such, defensive shortcomings.
Howe’s side have always conceded loads - 67, 67, 61, 70 in their previous four Premier League campaigns - as a consequence of being a free-flowing team without the quality of talent as the elite clubs. That was never more pronounced than at United where, before kick-off, the front three of the hosts had scored 51 times while Bournemouth's eleven had recorded just eight goals between them all season. Their attacking output had dwindled to an alarming degree, with pressing actions and turnovers all down, but there were shoots of hope at Old Trafford.
Last week, captain Steve Cook had revealed the players locked themselves in the dressing room for half an hour after the 4-1 home trouncing by Newcastle United. Howe did not appreciate his centre-back making that information public, but if the positives of Saturday’s showing were in part due to that clearing of the air, Bournemouth’s squad may have finally smelt the stench of relegation and decided to swerve it.
However, the psychological damage of trying and still being tanked might be heavy, especially with a fixture list that reads: Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester and Manchester City, Southampton and Everton. Bournemouth have a history of proving the implausible is not beyond them, but after five seasons in the top-flight, there is a sense of wear and tiredness.
That they have made it this far, with finishes of 16th, 9th, 12th and 14th, is a success for a club that were on the brink of being disbanded in 2009. Howe’s ability to keep them amongst the elite has masked what an arduous task it actually is. Clubs with greater history and greater budgets have come and gone, but on account of the work that’s already been done over recent years, Bournemouth are now held to an unrealistic standard.
The quality of their efforts and the culture of it have undeniably receded. When survival is the initial objective every season, then as Howe has admitted: “if you neglect one thing, you’ll get found out.” The coaching staff including Jason Tindall, Stephen Purches, Simon Weatherstone and Steve Fletcher are still clocking in early, still devising new training sessions, still looking for motivational tools and edges.
Staleness, though, eventually has a habit of knocking on the door and miracles can morph into a slog, especially when big recruitment plays have been busts. Bournemouth have invested heavily in the squad - the wage bill has breached the £100m mark - and have been let down, with Jordon Ibe being one obvious example. He was signed from Liverpool for £15m to be the club’s gamechanger, but contributed more in off-pitch problems than he did with performances.
“You can't make someone be focused, you can't make someone arrive on time, you can't make someone eat right, and essentially, you can't force people to do things they are not committed to do,” Howe once detailed, words which have only become more pronounced.
Ryan Fraser, his long-term future understandably in consideration, seemed to have mentally departed the Vitality Stadium long before he chose not to extend his contract to cover the coronavirus-enforced extension to the season.
Underperformance from long-serving players and being ravaged by injuries - the absence of David Brooks particularly notable - during the season have been contributing factors to the malaise, but no matter which way you try to slice this campaign for the club, it has been an “uncomfortable watch” to pinch the manager’s description.
They have lost five consecutive league games in a row and have suffered 17 defeats across the last 22, surrendering 20 points from leading positions. They have not come from behind to win since ousting West Ham in August 2018 and have not kept a clean sheet in 16 matches in the division. For all their excellence off the pitch, and they are one of the easiest, most helpful clubs to deal with, Bournemouth have lost themselves on it.
There is a weird yet natural split in wondering whether Howe is the right man to lead the club out of this mess, while pondering who else could possibly put up more of a fight? Having given so much of himself to the club across so many roles - defender, scout, Centre of Excellence boss - since 1994, this battle is personal for him. The 42-year-old has, if anything, failed to get the squad to care as much as him. He has always maintained “how you lead the team when waters are choppy and when you’re being questioned is the real test of this job.
“The negative reaction can be immediate and everything you’ve built for years can be forgotten and erased in an instant. You have to be very strong and use adversity as your asset to prove people wrong.”
Sidestepping the drop seems like one fight too many for Bournemouth though and critics are certain to undercut all that has come before if the inevitable happens. For so long, Howe has managed to ensure they were not standing still. Slipping back is not the fairytale ending to this story, but is there ever one in the never-ending series of trying to stay in the Premier League?
