BOSS Eddie Howe called for a show of strength after admitting Cherries were in a “difficult situation”.

Howe was speaking after Cherries’ chastening 4-0 defeat by Premier League big guns Liverpool at Vitality Stadium today.

Cherries were put to the sword by goals from Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino during a rampant Reds display.

Defeat, coupled with yesterday’s results, left Cherries a point above the relegation zone.

Howe said: “You are never going to get me criticising the players in public or losing the faith in them – that will never happen.

“We are in a difficult situation. That has been the same in the first two years in the Premier League and we are now in our third year.

“The only thing that has changed slightly is the perception and the expectation from everyone around us.

“We are well aware of what we have to do and we need to be very strong internally to make sure that happens.

“There is a misconception, people have short memories. We were in a relegation battle in our first and second seasons and it is the same in the third. I think that goes for the majority of the teams which aren’t in the top six or seven places.”

Howe added: “We didn’t perform individually and collectively so that is going to be an issue for us and something we will have to fix.

“The key thing from this moment is how we respond, as always, but it was a disappointing watch.

“It was difficult but not many times since I became manager have I felt quite like this after a match. But when you are in football management it happens.

“When you don’t perform well against the top sides with the quality they have, it becomes very difficult. That has always been my past experiences.

“Certainly, we were below what we needed to be and Liverpool were very good. They have players that can hurt you and we didn’t keep the ball well enough against them.

“When you turn over the ball like we did with their counter-attacking threat, it is always going to be difficult.

“I was so disappointed with the performance because you want to give so much more to the supporters and to the club.

“It was a very high-profile match and we didn’t perform so naturally the whole squad and myself feel responsible.

“We changed systems a couple of times to try to change the flow of the match but it didn’t help us. It was one of those games where we just never got going so there is plenty to look at.”

Speaking immediately after the game, Howe said it was too early to give an update on injuries to Josh King (hamstring) and Charlie Daniels (groin), who were both forced off.