Bournemouth had Dominic Solanke to thank for their point against West Ham United on Saturday.
Bournemouth hosted West Ham United at the Vitality Stadium in their opening match of the new Premier League season on Saturday. The visitors went ahead through a Jarrod Bowen strike early in the second half, before Dominic Solanke rescued a point for the Cherries.
The game marked Andoni Iraola’s first competitive fixture in charge of the Cherries, and signs of his influence could already be seen in Bournemouth’s performance.
The Spanish coach was brought to the south coast club this summer with the mandate of instilling his style of play in the team. Iraola is expected to make Bournemouth an attacking, progressive side who want to be on the ball and in the opponent’s half as much as possible.
Bournemouth enjoyed 63% of possession on Saturday, and managed 5 shots on target. They kept the ball well, played intricate passes in the middle of the park, and the full-backs were encouraged to bomb forward at every opportunity. They got their reward when Solanke showed great composure to round the West Ham ‘keeper and finish from close range.
The pressure is on Solanke
A great deal of the responsibility for the success or failure of the Iraola experiment at Bournemouth will fall on Solanke this season. The Cherries may well concede more goals this season as they strive to play on the front foot. To offset that, they need to take their scoring chances.
With Solanke looking set to be Iraola’s main striker, and lead the line this season, he must be consistently clinical. There is no doubting the 25 year-old’s talent, but consistency at the highest level has been a challenge for him in the past.
Since his £19 million move to the club in 2019, Solanke has been a devastating force for Bournemouth at Championship level. His best return for them in a Premier League campaign though was the 6 goals he managed in 33 outings last season.
Solanke must, for the first time in his career, show that he can find the back of the net on a regular basis in the top flight this season. If he can’t then Iraola will have to explore alternative options for the sake of his own Bournemouth vision.