FRUSTRATED Eddie Howe revealed his “damning verdict” on Cherries’ disappointing start to the season after watching Arsenal ease to success at Emirates Stadium.

Howe insisted his team had failed to hit acceptable performance levels in three of their four Premier League outings against West Brom, Watford, Manchester City and the Gunners.

Cherries were uncharacteristically passive during the 3-0 defeat to Arsene Wenger’s resurgent side, with Howe shouldering responsibility for the display and promising an improvement.

He said: “I’m worried about the performance. Of the performances we’ve had, I will accept one of them. I won’t accept three of them. That’s a pretty damning verdict so I have to do better to solve the issues we have and make sure we put on better displays.

“From my perspective, watching it, it was hugely frustrating. But I think when you see so many players play well below their best, I think you have to take responsibility for that yourself, rather than blaming them.

“That was really disappointing to see and I vow to try to put it right.”

After Danny Welbeck bagged a double and Alexandre Lacazette fired home in between, Howe insisted the defeat had not made him question his principles

He said: “It doesn’t make me question my belief in what we do and how we do it.

“In fact, if anything it strengthens it because that’s not what we want to see from our team. That’s the opposite of what we want to see from our team.

“We know if we can do that and deliver that, we will be fine.

“Of course, you question yourself and your methods and what it does do is give you a chance to grow and improve and come back and give better for your players.”

Asked whether the performance was as bad as he had seen, Howe said: “It’s up there, I’m not going to hide from that.

“We’ve had some disappointing days, many of them, the one thing we have always shown is real character to bounce back from those very quickly and I think that’s what we have to do.

“The next 24 hours are certainly not going to be an enjoyable spell for me but sometimes these are the moments where you find the most beneficial things for your future learning, so I’m prepared to meet it head-on and make the improvements I need to.”

Cherries were quickly under pressure in north London when Arsenal broke through in the opening minutes. Sead Kolasinac’s beautifully floated cross met the shoulder of Welbeck and dropped in at the near post.

Howe added: “Arsenal have world-class players and they are an outstanding team. The one thing you need to do in this situation is be good early on, get a foothold in the game and try to build confidence from that point.

“To concede in the way we did, so early, gave us a very difficult challenge.”