After every game, I would usually do a ‘five things we learned’ to pick out some key elements of the game, whether that be positive or negative.

But yesterday’s defeat at Brentford, meaning AFC Bournemouth have not won in nine successive Premier League games, highlighted that truly all is not well at the club. The first half performance, especially, magnified those feelings.

Andoni Iraola claimed after the game that his side turned up ’45 minutes late to a Premier League game’ – but how was that allowed to happen? Why was that allowed to happen? A problem with the players, the staff, or a bit of both? Andoni Iraola has been a fantastic head coach for the football club, but he certainly can’t be exempt from criticism with the form as bad as it has been.

The players seem to be lacking that bite, intensity and desire that has seen them produce some incredible results over the last couple of years. It was all too easy for Brentford to cause problems yesterday, most problems were in fact caused by Bournemouth themselves. The first goal was one simple ball over the top, before Bafode Diakite was far too easily brushed off by Kevin Schade to finish past a hapless Djordje Petrovic. Unfortunately, the second goal was simply one of the most embarrassing goals I have seen a Bournemouth team concede. Thiago easily broke clear of Marcos Senesi, his shot was blocked by Senesi into Petrovic, whose save fell to Diakite. Diakite then got his clearance all wrong, kicking the ball straight into the sorry Petrovic, comically looping into the net. The timing of the third goal was terrible, just five minutes after half time, and once again it came from a Bournemouth attack, as the first two goals did. Playing the way Iraola sides do means you will always be susceptible to conceding goals on the break, but the defensive transition left a lot to be desired again. Tyler Adams may be a miss in this regard, but you can’t pin your whole defence on the man in front of them, and goals were being conceded with him in the team regardless. Brentford’s fourth, Schade’s hattrick, came with AFCB chasing the game, which can be understood, but it was still all too easy.

The side have now conceded 18 goals in the last five away games – three at Manchester City, four at Aston Villa, three at Sunderland, four at Manchester United and four at Brentford yesterday. You simply cannot concede that many goals and expect to win games (although they will feel they should’ve won at Old Trafford). Andoni Iraola cannot allow this trend to continue, especially with a dangerous side up next away from home in the form of Chelsea. The side must improve defensively.

Part of the ongoing problem, unfortunately, comes from the recruitment. When Dean Huijsen’s release clause was announced, everyone knew he was a goner. But I don’t think many expected to see his imperious partner, Illia Zabarnyi, follow him out the exit door. As it was, PSG came calling, and AFCB accepted what many saw as a below value bid for the Ukrainian giant. Huijsen’s replacement was at the club already, with Marcos Senesi regaining his place in the side. But that hole on the right hand side of the central defence is being very much felt at the moment. Diakite was purchased for £35M from Lille, but he has not looked close to the levels of his predecessors. Of course it would be hard to reach those levels, but for a player of that fee, you want to see better. It was a calamitous display from Diakite yesterday, and he was hooked at halftime after truly being bullied by Igor Thiago and Schade. Watching Diakite does not fill you with confidence, and he lacks the ball playing abilities, strength and stature of those that came before him. Lewis Cook has played centre back twice this season (both games when Diakite has been hooked at halftime), and certainly hasn’t looked any worse than the Frenchman.

Djordje Petrovic was bought in for £25M, replacing Kepa, who chose to join Arsenal as backup keeper rather than take a pay cut and stay with the Cherries. Petrovic started his AFCB career fairly well, but has struggled in the winless run. Again, he is not a player who provokes confidence from the stands right now. The own goal yesterday was not his fault, and he did make an outstanding save before the miss of the season from Keane Lewis-Potter (who was not offside), so the defeat was not on him. But overall, the underlying stats are not great. He has a save percentage of jut 61%, ranking him 19th in the league for goalkeepers. The stats also suggest that Petrovic has conceded more goals than he should have,

The box below contains an explanation of ‘Post-Shot Expected goals minus Goals Allowed’, and what that means. Last season, Kepa’s was in the positives, at +2.0, meaning he saved more than he was expected to. On the contrast, Petrovic ranks second worse in the league in this stat, at -4.1. I understand that not everyone likes these stats, but it’s clear that Petrovic has conceded more than he should have. You don’t need stats to tell you that, though, it is evident from watching him. There haven’t been many brilliant Petrovic performances, but there have been more than a few times he should have done much better – especially for a goalkeeper who cost so much.

Adrien Truffert has been a solid signing, but sometimes I feel the aggression of Milos Kerkez is missed, especially yesterday where he might have been able to get the team going through a tackle. Also, Truffert lacks the quality of Kerkez going forward, his crossing ability leaves a lot to be desired. His only assist this season has been a three yard pass to Antoine Semenyo, who had more than a lot to do before his brilliant solo strike against Fulham. But value for money wise, there can’t be too many complaints about the arrival of Truffert, who has been ever present so far this season. It is a shame he couldn’t keep up the levels he showed earlier this season, though.

As previously mentioned, also in the heart of that struggling defence is Marcos Senesi. Senesi has had a good season, but his future remains uncertain. What we do know is that past the summer, Senesi will no longer be an AFC Bournemouth player, happy to let his contract expire after rejecting multiple ‘lucrative’ offers from the club. It’s understandable, yet frustrating, that Senesi would like to move on and further his career. Barcelona, Juventus and Atletico Madrid have been credited with an interest, and although there have been rumblings about January interest, it’s expected that those clubs will bid to sign him for free rather than now for a fee.

It could be that this is where a lot of problems are coming from – uncertainty.

Senesi is one of them, Semenyo another, and perhaps most of important of all, so is Iraola. His contract runs out in the summer, and there has been very little news as to whether he is likely to sign a new deal or not. Everyone knows that Iraola likes to sign contracts in the summer, but it’s very possible that the lack of clarity off the pitch is not helping results on it. A new deal for Iraola might rejuvenate the players, even giving them a clearer sense of direction that this is their manager, this is how we play and that is not going to change. Had results gone our way in the last nine games, this wouldn’t have been spoken about – it might even have increased the chances of Iraola staying around. But the uncertainty around the club is worrying.

It’s also worrying that come our fixture against Arsenal on January 3rd, our best player, Antoine Semenyo, will likely no longer be an AFC Bournemouth player. He will, at that point, likely be donning the sky blue of Manchester City after completing a £65M move. Frankly, I hope this transfer represents some serious lessons learned for the recruitment team. Letting our best player leave in January for a below market fee is incredibly poor business, and only makes life harder for Iraola, as well as themselves, needing to find a replacement. ‘Always advance, never retreat’ is the motto of owner Bill Foley – but nothing about this says the club is advancing. The new contract Semenyo signed in the summer included this release clause, not present in his previous deal, and once it was leaked (presumably by his agent), the club put themselves in a powerless position. If the club only allow themselves to be seen as a stepping stone for players, with low value for release clause, how will they ever advance? A club like Brighton would never allow their best player to leave in January for a fee like that. The recruitment team has to put themselves in stronger positions in the future. It’s all well and good attracting great players, but as fans we need to feel these players want to be here for the long term, not just for a move in a couple of seasons. How the club replaces Semenyo remains to be seen – they have had plenty of time to come up with a plan, to try and identify a player who fits the system as well as Semenyo does. But Semenyo has such a unique set of attributes that whoever does come in is unlikely to hit those levels, and with the club struggling at the moment, that is a tough pill to swallow.

£50M was already spent on wide men in the summer, but Amine Adli can hardly buy a minute, and Ben Gannon-Doak is out for at least a couple more months with a major hamstring problem – hardly surprising given his injury record. They could both of course come good, and were signed for a reason, they’ve both shown glimpses of what they’re capable of, but are unlikely to be able to fill Semenyo’s shoes themselves.

Also not helpful is some players not hitting the levels they showed last season – Justin Kluivert and Evanilson in particular. Kluivert netted 12 Premier League goals last season, Evanilson with 10. This season so far, Kluivert has one, with Evanilson just two. But even away from their goals, they added so much to the team last season, whether that be by leading the press, winning penalties (Evanilson) and just all round high quality play. Neither have looked particularly close to those levels yet, and it has been highly detrimental to the team. Kluivert had almost no pre-season due to injury, and his performance off the bench yesterday was an improvement on recent times, but the team need more from him. As for the Brazilian, the side have not created chances in abundance from him, but two goals at almost the halfway stage of the season is not good enough for a £40M striker.

Junior Kroupi has been a surprise package for the season, with five goals in only 494 Premier League minutes. He is an incredible finisher, but isolated against a strong Brentford backline yesterday, perhaps showed he is not quite physically there to lead a line by himself yet. Personally, I would love to see Kroupi and Evanilson start in tandem, especially with Enes Unal still an option to come off from the bench. Whether we will see that in the not so distant future remains to be seen.

The season has an eerily similar feel to that of the relegation season in 2019/20 – a fantastic start, problems off the pitch and form fading at almost the exact same time as it did back then. I am not saying we will be relegated, I am confident the team can get out of this mess – and more importantly there will likely be three worse teams than us.

But the confidence needs to be generated from somewhere, a draw at Chelsea or at home to Arsenal, in the right circumstances, might be enough to pick those levels back up. Last year, the team showed incredible levels in the face of adversity. Some players may be different, but it is up to Iraola to rally the troops the same way he did.

Clarity will definitely help – hopefully a Semenyo replacement comes in swiftly, given time to bed in. The board may look to spend, giving Iraola even more reason to stay if he is backed, but they need to ensure these are players he is able to get the best out of, rather than signings for signings sake.

All it might take is one result and this team could fly again, making this article seem almost silly in the long run. I would love that. But as it is, all is not well, the team that we saw earlier this season is not the same as now. As previously mentioned, the hunger, intensity and quality is, for whatever reason, not there at the moment. Some moments have been unlucky, such as not beating West Ham or Manchester United, but results at home to Everton and Burnley really stick out to how they have fallen off since the season start. And that’s without the defensive problems away from home…

Now is the time for the big decision makers, and the players, to prove their worth to AFC Bournemouth. For fans, it is a waiting game, to hopefully see new faces and results pick up. Let’s see.