Howe demands Carabao Cup response

By Jonathan Nagioff (@jonathannagioff)

Eddie Howe has urged a response from AFC Bournemouth against Championship side Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup third round clash on Tuesday night.

The Cherries were taken to the sword by Burnley on Saturday, suffering a shock 4-0 defeat at Turf Moor.

The Bournemouth boss described the defeat as ‘painful’ but believes it will provide his side with added motivation to bounce back.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Howe told the media: “It’s painful. It doesn’t matter where you go or what competition you’re playing in, as a group we take it hard because of the expectations we place on ourselves.

“But we’re looking forward to getting back into action tomorrow (Tuesday) and the chance to respond.

“What you have to do, I think for me personally, is use it as a driving force, use it as a motivator and work as hard as you can, be as dedicated to your sport as you can and make sure you have those feelings as rarely as possible.”

Howe is expected to rotate his side for the visit of Tony Mowbray’s men, with Jermain Defoe set to start for only the second time this season; his last being in the 3-0 victory over MK Dons in Round two.

But Howe is wary of rotating heavily and after agonisingly missing out on a semi-final spot last year, following Alvaro Morata’s injury time winner for Chelsea, he is hopeful of another memorable cup campaign.

He continued: “We’ll look at the team and try and make the right calls. We have players who are desperate to play, desperate for an opportunity.

“There is a train of thought where yes, you might ask one or two to go again to see if they can react well to the disappointment of the game against Burnley.

“But I think we have to make the right call for this game, we want to progress and go through in the competition.

“It’s a home game and we want to give our supporters a really good show. All things considered, we need the balance of the team to be right as well.”

Kick off at the Vitality Stadium is at 7.45pm.