Eddie Howe pleased with Bournemouth display in Manchester United defeat

Eddie Howe offered his support to Simon Francis after an error by the Bournemouth defender set Manchester United on their way to a 3-1 victory on Super Sunday.

A poor back-pass by Francis allowed Juan Mata to open the scoring just before half-time at the Vitality Stadium, and second-half goals by Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic put United in control.

Adam Smith struck a well-taken consolation for the hosts, but the three-goal deficit proved too much to overcome.

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But Bournemouth boss Howe was pleased with his side's performance despite the result, and refused to blame Francis.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Howe said: "Lots of elements of our game were pretty good today. I thought we started quite brightly and the first goal was the hammer blow for us.

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WATCH: Premier League goals and highlights

"We gifted them the goal and you can't do that with any team in the Premier League. We have done it to the very best today. You just have to go again.

"Simon has been outstanding for us over a long period of time and that's just a little blip. I thought he had a very good game, as the majority of our players did.

"Those goals were the turning points in the game but credit to our players they never gave in."

Lewis Cook and Jordon Ibe made their Bournemouth debuts having joined over the summer, and Howe was pleased with how the pair performed.

"I thought they did well, I thought the team in general functioned pretty well," he added. "We did have good possession, we did probe but we didn't have the cutting edge.

"Hopefully that will come in the coming weeks [because] we got beaten and that hurts."

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