Premier League crisis club of the week: AFC Bournemouth
By Sean Walsh
You never really know just how far away your football club is from a crisis.
After winning 2-0 against Aston Villa on the opening day of the Premier League season, Bournemouth looked to have hit back at their doubters who insisted they would be heading straight back to the Championship.
Heavy defeats against Manchester City and Arsenal were expected (and duly inflicted), but a 9-0 loss against Liverpool saw the Reds pass on the Premier League crisis championship belt to the Cherries.
Here's the full lowdown on why Bournemouth are our crisis club of the week (patent pending).
What's the crisis?
If you lose a football match 9-0 - a league encounter, no less - then you're immediately in a crisis.
And yet Bournemouth's problems run deeper than that. Scott Parker's sacking on Tuesday morning cemented the Cherries' position here, and not just because of the weekend's result.
In a statement, owner Maxim Demin suggested that Parker was not 'aligned' with the board, that he wanted to deviate from what has largely been a successful club strategy for the last decade.
This divorce was about more than just what's been happening on the pitch.
Why are they in crisis?
The simple answer is Bournemouth's squad is currently not built to survive in the Premier League. An added layer is Parker was not a good enough manager to have them punching above their weight.
The south coast side are still in need of major reinforcements - as Parker foretold to the annoyance of his now former employers - and have less than three days to bring them in.
Even if a new manager is appointed before then, they won't have enough time to make the required changes to their new squad.
What can they do to rectify it?
While Bournemouth are the current crisis club, they could save their season with the right managerial appointment.
Parker admitted that Saturday's 9-0 loss might not be the lowest point of the Cherries' campaign (he's right but he probably shouldn't have been the one to say it).
Bournemouth need a head coach who can get the team to punch above their weight, who can bring a defensive resilience that the club has never displayed in the Premier League. Sean Dyche's name is being floated and he'd be a great fit for sure, but the Demin and co have to make the Parker's successor is the perfect replacement.