MANAGER Eddie Howe insisted Cherries’ League Cup exploits had given him “food for thought” ahead of the start of the busy festive campaign.

Howe made no fewer than six changes for Cherries’ quarter-final against Liverpool and said a number of players had impressed during the 3-1 defeat.

Adam Smith, Baily Cargill, Junior Stanislas, Eunan O’Kane and Dan Gosling all starred in Cherries’ cup run but have been used sparingly in the Championship.

But with three games in the space of eight days – starting with the visit to Blackpool tomorrow – Howe could utilise his squad.

He told the Daily Echo: “The lads who got us to the quarter-final are good players and there were some outstanding performances during the League Cup run.

“They deserved their platform to play against Liverpool. Some did better than others and it certainly gives me food for thought going forward as we move into an important part of the season. In that respect, it was a good night for some of the guys and very important we keep everyone in the squad ready to play.

“That is part of the reason why we are where we are in the league. We have people fighting for places and scraping to get in the team. That competition is what you want in every position.

“We have a very evenly balanced squad. We have several players who can consider themselves very unlucky not to be starting every week but that is the game and the guys with the shirts at the moment need to keep performing to keep them.”

Discussing the festive period, Howe added: “It is always important with the number of games you have and we are looking forward to this one with the position we are in and the way we are playing at the moment.

“I think we have a difficult festive campaign with Blackpool, Fulham and Millwall. Blackpool have improved, Fulham were a Premier League team last season and we know how tough it is to beat Millwall from the game against them recently.

“Lee Clark has done a good job in inspiring an upturn in results at Blackpool and it is always a difficult place to play. They had a difficult start to the season because of the turnover and lack of players but they have added and slowly and surely have got better and harder to beat.

“Nothing is ever taken for granted and you have to earn every win and every point. They have picked up some good results of late so we are going to have to get every aspect of our game working correctly. We will go there full of confidence despite the League Cup result.”