Boss Eddie says he’s heard it all before – Cherries will keep playing his way ...and out of trouble

EDDIE HOWE insists Bournemouth will not sacrifice their style of play to dig themselves out of relegation quicksand.

TV pundit and Vitality Stadium season-ticket holder Graeme Souness blasted the Cherries for playing the ball out from the back in last weekend’s 3-0 thumping by fellow strugglers Watford.

Since winning promotion to the Premier League in 2015, the south coast side have conceded 300 goals – more than any other club.

But reacting to the attack by Souness (right), Howe said: “That goes with the territory.

“We had it most of our Championship days when we started the first season poorly, all the way through to the Premier League.

“Our style is questioned when we don’t get results.

“But, ultimately, every year we have achieved what we want to achieve whether that be promotion or staying in the Premier League.

“To change for me would need a change of players because we don’t have the players with characteristics to play that different style.

“It is about being really calm, being good at what you do and not listening to the outside noise, which is not important to how you work.

“I would know deep down if I was spent and the creativity juices were not flowing, if I looked at our training and thought it was not where it needed to be.

“I don’t want to be deluded either – I don’t want to say everything is great, I am great, when results say the opposite.

“I’m just working as hard and as smart as I can to try and change results.”

Bournemouth face a crunch

This is not new territory for me, trying to prove people wrong

clash at bottom club Norwich today, and Howe says keeping the Cherries in the Football League when he was first named manager has prepared him for the battle ahead.

He added: “The first few days, weeks and months here were incredibly difficult. We were in League Two and looking like we were going down into the Conference.

“We were chasing teams that were seven points above us, so I have been in this position loads.

“As a player I have been in this position hundreds of times, written off, not good enough, injured for two years, sat in a treatment room with no idea when I was going to kick a ball again.

“This is not new territory for me, trying to prove people wrong and trying to lift the team. The reality is a couple of good results and things look very different.

“The players know how important every game is now.

“We are going to run out of games if we don’t turn our form around... so Norwich is a massive game for us.”