Bournemouth’s pre-season programme began in earnest last night.
After what can only be described as ‘run-outs’ against the mighty Hamworthy Recreational and Poole Town, the Cherries entertained Premiership side Portsmouth and it was a pair of England forwards that stole the show.
Harry Redknapp’s men ran out 4-1 winners at the Fitness First Stadium with signs of an extremely promising strike partnership between Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch clear for all to see in their first full game together.
Old ‘Arry has always been good to us, the former Cherries boss is always willing to send us players on loan and makes no attempt to hide a soft spot for his former charges – he even hinted he would step in if the club was ever faced with closure.
Last night he did us another favour as he fielded essentially a first choice team for the fans to enjoy (David James was the only real first teamer sent down the road with another Pompey XI to take on Dorchester at the Jewson Stadium).
While Kevin Bond’s side battled bravely in the middle of the park, they had little answer to Crouch’s height and touch and the two team’s respective play in the final third was not leagues but planets apart.
John Portsmouth FC Westwood and the rest of the Pompey faithful would have been purring at the early signs of the Crouch/Defoe combination.
Like dusting off an old 60s LP and sticking it on in a modern club, Redknapp is set to wheel out a classic all-English ‘big man, little man’ strike force amongst the 4-3-3s and 4-5-1s in the cosmopolitan Premiership next season.
But it is not just their builds that compliment each other, the pair seem to have developed an almost instant understanding with each other and appreciation of where their partner wants the ball.
Crouch’s two goals may have both come from corners as he towered over the whole back line, but he set up one for Defoe after a burst of lighting quick interpassing between the two and his neat header was flicked on by Defoe into Sulley Ali Muntari’s path for Portsmouth’s first goal.
Throughout the match Crouch showed not just excellent touch and hold up play, but a great awareness of his teammates and ability to pick them out.
It seems harsh that he often polarises opinion and people seem to label the England international as a one trick pony because of his immense height.
Yes he is tall, but it is simply one of the attributes of a very talented player – he is a good footballer who happens to be 6ft 7in rather than a good footballer because he is 6ft 7in.
There are plenty of 6ft 7in plus blokes who haven’t made it as Premiership footballers because they don’t have Crouch’s ability.
Michael Essien is a good player who happens to be as strong as an Olympic wrestler but Premiership sides don’t flood their midfields with wrestlers.
I respected the way Portsmouth didn’t fall into the trap England sometimes do and simply start pumping the ball long to Crouch.
His two towering headers from set-pieces showed he had no trouble winning the aerial ball but Redknapp made sure his side kept the ball on the floor as much as possible and Crouch was equally comfortable with this.
For Bournemouth, as I have suggested, the midfield was their strongest area with Darren Anderton rolling back the years against his old club thanks also to able support Shaun Cooper and Marvin Bartley.
Young forward Brett Pitman struggled bravely in almost a lone battle and eventually got his reward as he scored a consolation goal in a performance that impressed Redknapp.
Pitman was a scoring sensation at youth and reserve team level but he has struggled to make a massive impact in almost a hundred appearances for the first team.
Often he has impressed coming off the bench but when he is given the chance to start the 20-year-old tends to go missing.
He seems to fluctuate between suggesting he might live up to his tremendous potential and leading us fans to ask why we ever thought he had potential in the first place.
Next season will be a massive one for Brett, with Jo Kuffour currently the only other out and out striker at the club this is destined to be the season he either proves himself as a regular starter or gives himself a tag of bit-part player that could stay with him for the rest of his career.
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