AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth playmaker David Brooks hopes a fruitful pre-season campaign will help him hit the ground running when the Premier League kicks off.
Brooks featured prominently in all five warm-up friendlies, netting in victories over Hibernian and Lorient as well as getting a late winner at Southampton.
The 26-year-old returned in March following an 18-month illness and injury absence, making four substitute appearances and two starts in the Cherries’ final 12 games of the season.
Brooks, who also came off the bench in Wales’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Armenia in June, will be looking to maintain his impressive form should he get the nod when the Cherries host West Ham in their top-flight opener on Saturday.
He told afcb.co.uk: “My first pre-season since the cancer and things are good. It’s not thoroughly enjoyable because there’s a lot of running.
“But it was nice to have a run of games where you can get in the swing of things instead of just being chucked into a Premier League match and I think I did alright.
“It’s always a nice habit to be able to hit the back of the net and you want to try to get as many goals as possible in pre-season to fill you with confidence for the first chance you get in the Premier League.
“The new coach has come in and it’s a completely different formation, tactics and style of play. We’ve all bought into that.
“We’re not perfect at the moment and we’re still learning what he wants. But I think we’ve implemented some of it quite well in pre-season and we will get better as the season progresses.”
Brooks, who is closing in on 100 appearances for the club, believes the Cherries are well equipped to again hold their own in the top flight.
He added: “We’ve got a strong group of players as it is and, if we make more additions, it will get even stronger. This group can do good things in the Premier League and that’s what we’re aspiring to do.
“There are a lot of good teams with a lot of money who have signed a lot of players. But you only have to look at last season and how well teams like Brighton and Aston Villa did.
“We want to get to that point and the owner and everyone below him are striving to achieve that.
“We all want to perform the best we can whether it’s backroom staff, manager or players, we all want to do our best to pull in the same direction and keep the club moving forward.”
