Eddie Howe: Bournemouth's league position makes it hard to recruit
Friday 17 January 2020 10:51, UK
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe admits their position in the Premier League is adding to the difficulties of finding the right players in the January transfer window.
Nine defeats in their last 11 league matches is the worst run under Howe's tenure at the club and has resulted in the Cherries slipping to second from bottom.
Howe is looking for reinforcements as he battles to save Bournemouth's top-flight status and he says they will continue their search until Deadline Day for the one player that could make a difference.
"I think a combination of things makes it very difficult for us in this window to recruit," he said.
"League position, availability of players, resources available to improve the squad.
"It's potentially going to be loans that we're looking at and it is not easy to find the right players to improve the squad.
"I could sign a whole host of players but I need someone to come in and actually improve what I've got and I think that's the most difficult part.
"We'll search until the end of the window because if there is that one player out there that can make the difference then we need to find him."
Bournemouth travel to bottom club Norwich on Saturday with Howe accepting there has to be improvement across the pitch.
"I think we need to defend better first and foremost, get the basics right defensively which we didn't do against Watford," he added.
"Definitely there has to be a shift, an improvement, in our attacking play which is hard for us because it has been so unlike us in recent seasons. It's always been our strength.
"Near enough every season we've always had our attacking play, our goal scoring, our style of play, to fall back on and that at times this season has gone missing. That's a massive thing we need to rediscover very quickly.
"The key thing for me is to find ways to improve so it's in a difficult moment, a negative moment, we've got to find ways to improve and change our results, change our performances.
"I'm absolutely confident we can do that, I've seen a good reaction from the players this week. They are very focused, very driven to help ourselves out of the position we're in and change the mood so that's what we've got to do."
