Eddie Howe takes responsibility for Bournemouth's heavy defeat to Arsenal
Saturday 9 September 2017 18:31, UK
Eddie Howe said he will take responsibility for Bournemouth's 3-0 defeat to Arsenal on Saturday after his side were "disappointing from start to finish".
Bournemouth have lost all four of their Premier League matches so far this season, having scored one goal and conceded eight.
They were second best throughout the game at the Emirates and Howe admitted they must show character ahead of a Friday Night Football clash with Brighton, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
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Asked for an assessment of the performance against Arsenal, the Cherries boss said: "Not very good. I have to be honest with people, I have to stand here and tell the truth, I cannot hide it.
"We were disappointing from start to finish, we have a lot of work to do. I have been here many times as a manager, it happens. You can't afford for it to happen in the Premier League.
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"If you dip below your levels you get punished, we spoke about that before the game. We were punished today. I really felt if we were good today we would have had a chance but we weren't.
"You don't sit on zero points if everything is going great so we will have to dig deep, we will have to really find some character - which we have always shown historically - and we have to bounce back and really show what we are made of."
Bournemouth fell behind to Danny Welbeck's opener after just six minutes and rarely looked like making a recovery.
Alexandre Lacazette added the Gunners' second before Welbeck completed the scoring, with Jermain Defoe going closest for the visitors when his header hit the post.
"I don't think complacency can be the problem for us," Howe added. "If it has crept in then we can't allow it to creep in because we have to be at our maximum every week to compete with these players.
"They are world-class players as you saw today in the Arsenal team. As manager I have to take collective responsibility for everything that has happened this season and vow to put it right.
"I looked at today's performance and didn't see what I wanted to see. I didn't see a Bournemouth team that really represented what we stand for. That's what I have to take responsibility for."
