HOWE I’VE AGED
Cherries boss feels pace as he bids to halt the slide
EDDIE HOWE says that Bournemouth’s horror run is taking its toll on his looks.
The Cherries are four points above the relegation zone after failing to win since December ahead of today’s trip to Manchester United. At 39, Howe is viewed as the Premier League’s brightest young manager. But suddenly he doesn’t look quite so bright, or so young, anymore. “When I look in the mirror, I see someone who is ageing at the moment, to be honest,” said Howe. “It’s not good for your health, this game. I’ve got a slightly tired face this time of the year – I could do with a little bit of sunshine. “But I also see someone who’s determined. I work very hard for the club, for myself and for the Bournemouth people to try and achieve what we want to achieve. “I see Bournemouth staying in the Premier League next season. Our destiny is in our own hands. We have it all to do.” Howe has taken nothing but plaudits for masterminding Bournemouth’s amazing rise to the Premier League. Now the Cherries chief says he should shoulder the blame for their dramatic decline, which has seen them slump from 10th at the turn of the year to 14th. “I have always been my harshest critic, as a player and as a manager,” he said. “The buck stops with me. When you think of the position this club had been in, and these players have been in, it’s not been a bed of roses.
“That is where you get your strength from. I need to grow strong from this experience and I’m more motivated than I have ever been before.
“We have always tried to defy the odds and will have to do it again. Before the season started there was talk of second-season syndrome and that is where we are now.”
Howe fears in-form United ace Zlatan Ibrahimovic will plunge his side deeper into relegation turmoil.
The Swede, 35, has scored nine goals in 11 games in 2017, only one fewer than the entire Bournemouth team.
Howe said: “Zlatan is definitely a candidate for player of the season. Take his age out of it, it’s what he has achieved this season and what he has done.
“His sheer number of goals is incredible and his appetite for the game impressed me last week with how he approached that cup final.
“Even in interviews after you can see how he is built to achieve the success he has. I’m appreciating him on a football level.”