Bournemouth ready to bounce back from City defeat, says Eddie Howe
Thursday 22 October 2015 22:46, UK
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe admits it was difficult to watch back his side's 5-1 defeat to Manchester City.
Raheem Sterling scored a first-half hat-trick as City ran out comfortable winners at the Etihad last Saturday and Howe admits his team cannot afford a repeat performance at home against Tottenham this weekend.
The visitors go into Sunday's game having lost just one of their last 11 matches.
However, Howe remains confident and expects his players to respond well to the disappointment of shipping five goals against the league leaders.
"We've regrouped, we've evaluated and we've reflected," he said. "I think we've constructively gone through the game. It was a difficult one to watch back for ourselves, for everybody, because we didn't feel we did ourselves justice, especially with the goals we conceded.
"But I think it's a healthy situation, to review, and make sure you come out with positive outcomes from those reviews and move forward very quickly. We can focus on the next challenge ahead.
"Certainly it's not a time for us to dwell on any negatives or get too downbeat. It was always going to be a tough assignment for us. I think the big thing coming out for us was to make sure we tighten up, the goals we conceded were disappointing."
Howe also says he is yet to make a decision on whether to offer Ricardo Vaz Te a contract at Dean Court.
The Portuguese forward is currently without a club and has been training with the Bournemouth squad for the past week.
The Cherries are yet to find a replacement for Callum Wilson, who was recently ruled out for at least six months with a ruptured cruciate ligament.
However, Howe is not yet ready to offer Vaz Te a deal despite Bournemouth's injury woes up front.
"Ricardo has come in and we've been really pleased with him, he's looked good and bright and he's certainly showed a really good attitude to his work," said Howe.
"He's someone that we will continue to monitor and make a decision on in due course. He's certainly, in terms of attitude and mentality, fitted well into the group. "
