FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL
This is like a battle for our very existence, says Howe as Bournemouth face crunch and their...
EDDIE HOWE believes Bournemouth are fighting for their very existence when they entertain Southampton today.
Howe’s miracle club desperately need a victory if they are to stand a chance of avoiding relegation after five remarkable years for the smallest operation in the Premier League.
The hugely respected Howe’s job is not on the line, despite a run of just one win in 11. For him, a man who took over the club and saved them from dropping out of the Football League in 2009 after they were 10 points adrift following a 17-point administration deduction, this is a challenge to relish.
Howe, 42, said: ‘When you look back at that situation, when we were fighting for our whole existence, I think that’s a healthy thing to put into perspective. Because I still sort of feel that way anyway in this situation, that we are fighting for our existence in a different way. Those feelings are mirrored, really. [This season] has definitely driven me mad. Football just has a way of sinking into you, your whole psyche, everything is around the job and around trying to achieve.
‘I’ve been absolutely committed this season to try to achieve success for the club. It’s been a really testing time for me personally because it hasn’t always gone as I would have wished it to go.
‘It is a new situation. I don’t think the players necessarily want to hear too much about the past. But for us as coaches, having experienced that definitely helps.’
A theory Howe despises is how a successful season back i n the Championship would be just the tonic for him and the club after battling against the drop for their entire top-flight life.
He added: ‘I don’t buy into that. This is it and this is where we want to be. Yes, it is incredibly tough and with all reality we are probably looking at consolidation every season rather than winning the league, achieving success that way which is very difficult to get your head round. But I will take that every day because this is the elite level, this is where you want to be tested against the very best.
‘I have never said we are an established Premier League club. I do not think at this stage in our journey we ever will be because the competition is so high and it only takes one knock to your system, whether that is injuries, form, whatever that may be for you to be in trouble and lose seven or eight points that would have made the difference.
‘That is the world we are in at the moment and that is why we are in this fight to stay in this league.’
Southampton were struggling at the wrong end of the table when they met back in September when Bournemouth won 3-1 and Ralph Hasenhuttl’s prowess was in question at St Mary’s.
Saints are now safely mid-table and poised to go unbeaten for six league matches for the first time under their Austrian coach.
Bournemouth have key injuries in defence with Nathan Ake, Chris Mepham, Charlie Daniels and Simon Francis all ruled out.
Southampton, meanwhile, are boosted by the brilliant form and goals of former Bournemouth striker Danny Ings and have no new injury problems.
And Hasenhuttl believes they have gone from a team of no-hopers to one every rival club now respects.
He said: ‘You recognise that when you go into a game that the opponent is a little bit, I don’t want to say scared, but… I normally see Brighton playing much more football than they did in our last match. In the end, it gives you a message of, “OK, you did a good job in the last weeks”.
‘But it’s not only to know this, we have always to play again good so this momentum keeps at this level. When you stop playing good, it’s gone.
‘I don’t know if they’re scared about us. Nobody should be scared about their opponent. But you can see they have respect and that is normal when you play well.’