This week, Cherries players returned to the Performance Centre to kickstart their preparations for Marco Rose's first season as AFC Bournemouth manager, and that bodes the question of, what factors in this period really matter for the players, staff and fans too?
Despite the 2026/27 Premier League season still being over a month away from getting underway, Bournemouth fans can now look forward to seeing what Marco Rose's approach to Pre Season is like.
The fact that Rose's appointment as Andoni Iraola's successor on the South Coast will have given him a lot of time to conjure up different plans of action for what he will want to put his squad through over the next 4/5 week period to get Cherries best prepared to take on what the upcoming season has to offer.
Bournemouth fans should expect to see Rose's well known 4-2-2-2 system get put into place, with several different combinations of strikers, wingers and central midfielders being the positions that will need the most focus.
© Steffen Prößdorf - Creative CommonsSomething that allowed AFCB to be so effective across all 38 games last season was the squads versatility, with players like Junior Kroupi, Alex Scott and most importantly Marcus Tavernier having reputations of being players that are comfortable playing in a myriad of positions across the pitch.
Arguably one of the most important parts of this Pre Season period will be finding the positions that all 3 of these players are of most use in Rose's system, as all 3 of these player, if still at the club in a months time, will be expected to be in the first XI away to Manchester City.
With Cherries playing against teams all across Europe in their Pre Season fixtures, it will be a great test to see how some of the fringe players, like Amine Adli, Alex Toth and Veljko Milosavljević can compete against European teams, and potentially work their way into the team for some of AFCB's early stage Europa League games. This would be crucial to achieving success domestically and in Europe, as being able to have like for like replacements to let our key players like Tavernier, Rayan and Scott rest without performance levels dropping, is a luxury that some teams when playing in Europe for the first team ever do not have.
Action Images via Reuters/Craig BroughContinuity is also something that cannot be neglected in Pre Season, as in the 25/26 season, Bournemouth played their best football when having set partnerships all across the pitch.
Defensively, Bournemouth were at their best when Hill & Senesi played for a sustained period of time alongside each other, which then coincided with them not losing a single game in all 19 return fixtures last campaign.
This is why signing a Centre Back to replace Marcos Senesi in the coming weeks should be a priority for Tiago Pinto, as if Cherries go into next season not with a set partnership at Centre Back, they cannot expect to maintain the impressive form that was shown in the second half of last season.
Action Images via Reuters/Paul ChildsTo conclude, this Pre Season is the most important preparation period that Bournemouth have had in recent times, and it is paramount that Marco Rose experiments well with the options that he has in his squad and has a set XI going into Cherries' Premier League opener at Manchester City.
