Saturday 6 April 2019 19:30, UK
Eddie Howe gave Asmir Begovic his backing despite the goalkeeper's costly errors in Bournemouth's 3-1 defeat by Burnley.
Begovic flapped at a Burnley corner from which Chris Wood cancelled out Bournemouth's early opener before he was again caught out after half-time, failing to gather a cross and allowing Ashley Barnes to wrap up the points.
But Howe gave his support to the beleaguered goalkeeper, who has only been restored to the starting line-up for the last two games after losing his place to Artur Boruc earlier in the season.
Howe said: "I've always backed our goalkeepers, I think we have two excellent ones. Mistakes happens, that's part and parcel of the game in every position, today we made numerous ones in areas of the pitch we wouldn't expect to. I always back my players and I know the quality they have."
The Bournemouth boss refuted suggestions that motivation was lacking for his side, who are all but safe from relegation with five games to go, but have now lost 15 of their last 23 fixtures.
But he added he could not put his finger on the issue, saying: "I don't think motivation is the problem. We pride ourselves on our professionalism and ability to never give up, but today it didn't really look like that. We're struggling with ourselves, we're on a difficult run, confidence is low, but the season isn't over - we've got a lot to go.
"It's difficult to set absolute benchmarks, it was about improving this season, improving every season in the Premier League. Whether we hit those markers or not, I don't know."
