STRAIGHT-TALKING Tokelo Rantie vowed to take inspiration from his critics after admitting he had struggled to adapt to the complexities of the English game.

Rantie’s record-breaking switch to Cherries from Swedish club Malmo, reportedly worth in excess of £2million, has been questioned by sections of the Dean Court crowd on the back of one goal in 12 Championship outings.

But the South Africa international insisted he was “way too strong” to “let it destroy” him before explaining the “opportunity to know every aspect of the game” in England had proved “a little distraction” to his goalscoring exploits.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Echo, Rantie lifted the lid on his “struggle” to adjust before reaffirming his belief that the thorough nature of pre-match preparations would improve his game.

Rantie told the Daily Echo: “Sometimes you can tell when you have played badly. People come to you and say you played well but I believe people need to be honest with me.

“It would be nice if people were honest and set the record straight so I can rectify my mistakes. That is the only way I can develop and grow as a player.

“I am way too strong to let it (criticism) destroy me. I don’t know where I get it from but I don’t get affected by anything.

“People might think I am arrogant but I don’t have it in me to feel sorry or ashamed for myself when I do these things (play badly), I just always want to try to get better and better.”

Rantie is no stranger to playing abroad after an initial stint in Sweden with IFK Hassleholm was followed by representing South African giants Orlando Pirates and then Malmo.

However, the Bafana Bafana star revealed he had never experienced the intensity of Cherries’ training schedule and pledged to become a better player under Eddie Howe’s tutelage.

Rantie continued: “It has been a struggle and it is strange because I didn’t struggle anywhere else, things just turned out for me, but this is the first team where we have worked on different aspects of the game.

“Everywhere else, we just trained how we were going to play at the weekend, but here they focus on defensive things, attacking things and tactical things.

“Because I have always wanted to learn from a young age, there is a little distraction there.

“There is so much information to absorb and everything has come so fast. I never had the chance to learn these things before.

“It’s a whole new set up, a whole new venture but it will help me going forward.”