Manchester City vs Bournemouth: Simon Francis loving late run on the big stage

Three years ago full-back was struggling for a game in League One – then he joined Howe’s Bournemouth revolution, sorted his lifestyle out and listened to his manager’s advice, he tells Jack Pitt-Brooke. Today, he is charged with stopping City

Two months ago, at 30, Francis made his Premier League debut (GETTY)

Even when Bournemouth were in League One, Eddie Howe would show his right-back Simon Francis videos of Pablo Zabaleta. Even when preparing for Stevenage, Hartlepool United and Bury, Howe would make Francis study the runs of the man who had just won the Premier League with Manchester City.

Three years on from Howe’s return to Bournemouth, he is taking his team to the Etihad Stadium this afternoon. Francis, more important to this side than ever before, will be there with him.

The fact that Francis should face Zabaleta today – although Bacary Sagna may play – is testament to how much he has improved with his team, how much he has learned from Howe and what his manager has shown him.

Francis was 27 years old and playing his sixth consecutive League One season when Howe returned to Bournemouth, the moment that turned the full-back’s career around. Two months ago, at 30, he made his Premier League debut. It is no surprise, then, that Francis speaks about Howe with this much admiration.

“When Eddie first came back, he really helped out my game with stuff I never thought I’d be doing,” Francis says, in his first major interview for a national newspaper. “Like watching other full-back’s runs, and their timing.”

The particular run that stands out, that Zabaleta has mastered, is the “underlap”, when the right-winger stays wide but the full-back darts inside him down to the by-line. That run has made a lot of goals for City over the years, and Francis has been working on it, too. Howe showed left-back Charlie Daniels videos of Leighton Baines for the same effect.

“Zabaleta does it brilliantly,” enthuses Francis, sat in Bournemouth’s home dressing room after training this week. “You like to watch exciting football, and Man City, when they were at their best, had Zabaleta doing those kind of runs. It would be foolish not to take note of that, and the manager did the same, and showed me some clips. I am never too old to be learning new moves or positions on the pitch.”

That willingness to learn, that commitment to improvement, is what has impressed Howe the most about Francis, and how the manager explains his late rise through the leagues. “That appetite to learn has been key for him,” says Howe. “I don’t look at Simon as an experienced player, as a player of his age. Mentally he is coachable, mouldable. You can give him information, review with him, and he doesn’t get flustered. That is why he is producing the best football of his life.”

Francis is certainly playing well. He was excellent when Bournemouth won 4-3 at Upton Park in August, their best performance of the season, tearing away from Aaron Cresswell to set up the first goal for Callum Wilson. The Premier League has taken adjustment, but not beyond what he and the team expected. They might have taken more than eight points from their eight games, but they are not playing badly.

This is still a team, for the most part, which has grown up together through two promotions, which works, eats and holidays together. “We really do know each other’s games inside out now,” Francis says, and those bonds of trust, communication and instinctive understanding are what makes this such an impressive side. Bournemouth do not have the same individual quality as City – how could they? – but football is still a combination game.

“Those relationships, those partnerships, that have been the cornerstone of how well the team has done in recent years, they will become even more important on Saturday,” Howe says. “The teamwork is crucial. You are not going to get a result at Manchester City unless the team functions together, and not as individuals.”

No partnership in this team is stronger than the one between Francis and Scotland’s Matt Ritchie, down the right. They attack together and defend together, and know they will have to do a lot of both this afternoon.

“Matty and I have got a good understanding,” Francis explains. “He has come back from scoring on international duty a little bit chirpy, and we are trying to bring him back down to earth. We’re close, it’s hard not to be having played together for so long.”

So when Raheem Sterling drifts inside today, and whoever plays left-back – Gaël Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov are both injured – runs beyond him, Francis and Ritchie should know what to do. Francis will certainly not be following Sterling all over the pitch.

“If I make forward runs Matty will come infield, or he’ll stay wide and I’ll underlap and go inside of him. If their wide man does come infield, Matty might come infield, and I’ll take the full-back coming outside, rather than Matty tracking all the way past me. We’ve got an understanding, as long as you talk on the field. Communication plays a massive part in that, and it’s magnified this season, as you have more top players, making better runs.”

Even without David Silva and Sergio Aguero, City have attacking players who can hurt Bournemouth. But there is no prospect whatsoever of Howe parking the bus. He has never done that before in his career, and jokes that he would not have one big enough even if he wanted to.

“We definitely haven’t been working on parking the bus this week,” Francis says. “We’ve been working on our game, our link-up play, our attacking play. We might have to bide our time on the ball to create chances.”

Francis has never played in a ground as big as the Etihad Stadium before and not many of his team-mates – aside from Artur Boruc and Sylvain Distin – have much big-game experience. “What we have got, though, is a lot of youth, and real energy from the lads who haven’t played there before, including myself, who are keen to impress. That is a great weapon to have.”

Even if the Etihad is the biggest stage so far, there is no question of them being overawed. “As soon as you are day-dreaming about playing in this division,” Francis says, “you’re going to get caught on the ball.”

Francis could be forgiven, though, for reflecting with some pride this afternoon on how he has got here. He is exactly one month younger than Zabaleta, but his road to the Etihad Stadium this afternoon has been very different. By Francis’ own admission, his four seasons at Southend – three in League One – were “wasted time”, as he enjoyed the Essex nightlife too much, to the detriment of his football.

“The mid-years of my career, at Southend, I was probably just comfortable playing at that level,” Francis concedes. “That is never a good thing as a footballer. You should always want to push yourself. But I probably wasn’t living as well as I should have, off the pitch, in terms of health and diet, and maybe even going out too much.” Francis says that it took the birth of his daughter Halle to force him to reconsider his priorities, so that he did the best he could in his career.

Francis was in and out of the team – “which was disappointing, in League One, when I look back on it” – and only played his best football there in 2009-10, when Southend were relegated to League Two. Francis left for Charlton Athletic, where he played under Phil Parkinson, but not under Chris Powell. He spent the start of the 2011-12 season on the fringes at League One Charlton, barely playing, “a bit of a nightmare”.

It was only when Lee Bradbury, his old team-mate from Southend, managed to sign Francis on loan for Bournemouth that he found his way again. And when Howe came back to the club, from Burnley, Francis started to believe.

“Not until the gaffer came back, put an arm around me, showed some belief in me, and said I could go to the top,” Francis says, “it was only then that I realised that, under this manager, I can get the best out of my game, and play at the highest level I can. I felt like this was, if not my last chance to get to the Premier League, but probably my best chance. From League One, we had to move fast.”

My other life: kids and box sets

Looking after my two kids takes a lot of time. My girl Halle started school in September. It’s nice for my missus Ashley, she’s got a bit of peace and quiet with the baby, Jude, who is 10 months. He’s just about walking, which is hard work, you can’t take your eyes off him. That takes up a lot of my time.

Ashley and I are engaged, we have finally set a date for 2017.

I’m also into my films and TV shows. I’m on Sons of Anarchy (below) at the moment. I loved The Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad. Narcos is next.