Howe pleased with performances

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe continues to be pleased with his team’s performances, but knows results must follow after a loss at Liverpool.

A controversial first-half goal from Christian Benteke saw Liverpool secure a 1-0 win at Anfield on Monday against their impressive visitors.

Howe’s men had a goal ruled out and Benteke’s should not have stood after Philippe Coutinho was in an offside position for Jordan Henderson’s cross.

Having gone down 1-0 to Aston Villa in their Premier League opener, Howe said results were needed – but he is pleased with how his team have performed.

“We know that we need points and results. It’s a tough league, it’s an unforgiving league, we’ve seen that already,” he said.

“Ultimately, I think the performances and the general aspects of our play have been very, very good.

“We were very good against Aston Villa and arguably should have won the game and tonight we feel aggrieved that we haven’t come away with at least a point, possibly more, in terms of our overall play.

“I’m very proud of the players tonight and overall pleased with the performances, but hopefully for me the bigger picture is that it gives the players confidence that they can succeed at this level, we can play our style of football and still be successful so hopefully there’s long-term gain there for us.”

Howe was upset by the decision to let Benteke’s goal stand, with Coutinho clearly offside under the new rule, and the 37-year-old said it was one of the more obvious decisions.

“The problem for us as managers was we felt it was a little bit grey in terms of the decision,” he said.

“We were assured that it wouldn’t be and the rule would have been adhered to correctly. The problem is tonight if that’s not offside then that’s the clearest example you’ll see of the new rule for me.

“It’s a yard and a bit offside and he’s clearly impacted on the goalkeeper so there it is. I don’t think it’s a tough one with the new rules. I don’t think that’s a tough decision. That makes it even more greyer.”