RYAN Christie has been a man reinvented this season, a new role revitalising the diminutive winger into a key cog in the heart of Cherries' midfield.
As evidenced by a second-placed finish in this season's voting for the Micky Cave/Daily Echo AFC Bournemouth player of the year, fans have appreciated the Scot's efforts on the pitch this season.
Out of the 19 players signed by Cherries during their two seasons in the Championship, only Ryan Christie remains a regular in the first team.
In this series we will look at different members of Cherries’ squad this season, reflecting on their roles and performances, highlighting their strengths and looking what their futures may hold.
Firstly, we are taking a look at a player many deemed to have improved the most over the course of the 2023/24 season.
Added defensive steel
Formerly Cherries’ creator-in-chief during their promotion season from the Championship in 2021/22, Christie has been retooled as a combative central midfielder under Andoni Iraola, making great use of the Scot’s eagerness to cover every blade of grass on a football pitch.
Only Dominic Solanke covered more distance than Christie last season, the Scottish national team regular totalling 376.2km of running in the Premier League.
That is nothing new – last season it was common for Christie to top the charts for distance covered after matches.
Christie’s defensive output has almost doubled in comparison to last season, highlighting the tools the 29-year-old has added to his game.
Not only did Christie win more tackles than anybody else in the side (44), but he did so all over the pitch, highlighting his workrate and ability to cover ground.
Only the other half of Cherries’ midfield axis, Lewis Cook, intercepted the ball more times than Christie, but the former Aberdeen man picked up more loose balls (231).
Helping to replace Lerma's absence
A lot of fans worried when Jefferson Lerma left the club on a free transfer at the end of last season, knowing that Cherries had to find a replacement for the Colombian.
AFC Bournemouth paid around £23million to secure the services of Tyler Adams from Leeds United, but injuries have prevented the American from properly inheriting Lerma’s role in the side, breaking up play and regaining possession for Cherries.
However, Christie has added those skills to his toolkit, making Lerma’s – and Adams’ absence – hardly felt.
On top of the defensive stats, Christie has also provided Cherries with the same consistency of availability that Lerma used to give the side.
Whilst Iraola opts to substitute the midfielder off towards the end of games, the Scot missed just one Premier League game this season – just as Lerma did last term.
Last year, previous head coach Gary O'Neil shared how he felt that Christie was unfortunate not to be playing week in, week out, despite his efforts in training.
This year Christie has shown that he is more than capable of being relied upon as a first-team starter.
Creative chops still there
Despite adding defensive steel to his game, Christie remains a creative threat.
After somewhat of a subdued first season in the top-flight, Christie was Cherries’ joint-top assister in the 2023/24 season, matching Marcos Senesi’s five assists.
Ranked 15th overall in the Premier League for chances created not including set-pieces, no AFC Bournemouth player created more than Christie’s 55 chances, 10 of which were deemed by the Premier League as ‘big chances’.
Christie also led the side for dribbles attempted per game, successfully beating his man on more occasions than any of his teammates (51).
Aside from 117 shot-creating actions, Christie supplied 17 through balls – almost treble Antoine Semenyo’s five incisive passes, the player with the second-most through balls.
Evidently, Christie is still a creative heartbeat for AFC Bournemouth.
Area for improvement
It is no secret that Christie lacks goals – no Premier League player took more shots without scoring than the former Inverness man.
In fact, Christie took 15 more shots than the next goalless footballer, his 43 efforts on goal not finding the back of the net.
If only Conor Gallagher’s last-ditch block in the final minutes of Cherries’ last Premier League game against Chelsea was a fraction slower…
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