Nathan Ake speaks out in praise of Eddie Howe, is raring to go for Bournemouth

Eddie Howe has received plenty of plaudits for his work at AFC Bournemouth, taking them from League One to the Premier League in less than three years time. Since the untimely sacking of Sam Allardyce as England manager, Howe has even emerged as a contender for the national team job.

Chelsea loanee Nathan Ake, who hasn't seen more than 15 minutes in the Premier League thus far, has only good things to say, too, about his manager.

"He is a bit different to the other managers I've had. He works more in training. He always likes to work at 100 per cent, work the players hard.

"He does things tactically very well. I really like him as a manager. He's a good manager and a good coach. He tries to help and improve the players."

Ake also seems to be settling in well with what seems to be a closely-knit Bournemouth squad, which can only be a good thing.

"When I came in for the first couple of days, the other players really tried to help. After a couple of months, you start to know the place and it's not really necessary any more. But on the pitch, of course, they still try to help me.

"I saw straight away that the team is tight. There's a lot of things to do. Sometimes you go to the cinema with other players. It's a good group so it was easy to settle in."

- Nathan Ake; source: The Daily Echo

Ake played primarily at left-back during his successful spell at Watford although he can, in principle, operate in other positions, such as in midfield and at center-back. In his two starts for Bournemouth this season, both coming in the EFL Cup, Ake has been deployed in the heart of defence, despite Chelsea allegedly sending him on loan to get some playing time in midfield, which is apparently deemed his best position. Being a jack of all trades, so to speak, can be both a boon and  a bane, which Ake himself also attests to.

"Sometimes, you do just want to specialise in one position and be the best you can there."

"But sometimes it is good to be able to play different positions because the manager can put you in the team there. It can be good to mix it around."

"If you play every week, like last season, you want to continue it. But in football it can go like this sometimes. I just need to keep working hard and, hopefully, the chance will come again."

- Nathan Ake; source: The Daily Echo

To be fair, things didn't seem as if they would turn out the way they have so far, when Ake joined Bournemouth early into pre-season. Although the left-back spot had many contenders as it were, in Charlie Daniels, summer signing Brad Smith and Tyrone Mings, Ake seemed set to be given his chance in midfield, which featured a mostly set three of Harry Arter, Dan Gosling and Andrew Surman. However, the deadline day signing of Jack Wilshere on loan from Arsenal did, unfortunately, have a detrimental effect on Ake's chances. He has now fallen back in the pecking order to fifth choice, with Gosling coming in when either one of Arter and Surman have been unavailable.

However, the youngster seems to be displaying a good attitude towards the situation, and is definitely learning a lot from a manager such as Howe. As Nathaniel Chalobah has proved after his experience at Napoli last season, loans are also important in terms of the abundance of things there are to learn at a new club, under a different manager with different methods of training, tactics and perspective. Hopefully though, Ake will take his chance when it is handed to him and make the best out of this loan spell.