AFC Bournemouth
With Crystal Palace visiting Vitality Stadium in the Premier League on Tuesday, Tommy Elphick faced the press this afternoon.
Here are three things we learned…
1. O’Neil still gave training
The first-team coach stepped into the fold for the press conference with head coach Gary O’Neil ill.
Despite O’Neil’s absence from the sit down with local media outlets, Elphick revealed that he had still been well enough to deliver training.
“He’s struggling a little bit,” he said.
“He’s been struck down by a virus but he was well enough to get in and deliver what he needed to deliver to the lads this morning.”
Elphick added: “We hope he'll be okay for the game tomorrow.
“As I say, he still got in and spoke to the lads this morning, so off to bed to try and get ready for tomorrow.”
2. Boost from visit of Bill Foley and Michael B Jordan
Thursday saw both Bill Foley and Michael B Jordan make introductions with the players, which Elphick felt brought a welcome boost.
He explained: “It was really exciting. It was the first time he’s really managed to get in front of the group and deliver his message of what he expects and what he wants going forward.
“I know that if I was a player sitting in the room then I would have been really excited.
“Even as a staff member, the direction that he’s wanting to take the club in makes it a really exciting time for us.
“This new era, if you like, that we’re heading into is going to be a really good one for the club.”
3. Plans for Palace visit
The Cherries see out 2022 with the visit of Patrick Vieira’s Eagles tomorrow hoping for some New Year's Eve fireworks at Vitality Stadium.
When facing the media Elphick shared a little on the approach going into the game against the 11th-placed Palace.
“We certainly found in the Chelsea game that it was tough to predict what they were going to be,” he said.
“So, with us going forward into this game, we concentrate on ourselves and we try and impose our game plan.
“Obviously, we’ve done a lot of work on Crystal Palace and we understand what their strengths are but we’ll make this game about ourselves and really attack it.”
