SKIPPER Simon Francis is convinced Eddie Howe's man-management skills have been a key ingredient in Cherries' success.

But while revealing his admiration for Howe's handling of players, Francis also admitted the Cherries boss knew the time and place to dish out a dressing-down.

Francis was speaking after both Alan Pardew and Mauricio Pellegrino publicly criticised their respective teams following heavy Premier League defeats on Saturday.

In the aftermath of West Brom's 4-1 beating by Leicester, Pardew said: "I said to the players they have to fight to the end and I'm criticising them for the last 20 minutes because they weren't fighting.

"They have to fight to the end. I don't care whatever job or workplace you're in, if you're under pressure and you don't want to fight, don't bother turning up."

And Pellegrino, in his final press conference before being sacked as Southampton manager on Monday, said he felt some of his players "gave up" during their 3-0 reverse at Newcastle.

In an interview with the Daily Echo ahead of West Brom's visit to Vitality Stadium, Francis said: "I think it shows signs of trouble in the camp if a manager is coming out and criticising his players.

"You don’t want to hear that from a manager and you don’t want players doing it either.

"If our gaffer thinks we are not doing the job correctly or if he feels we are not pulling our weight, he will let us know. But he will do it in the privacy of the changing room and that is the place he needs to let us know.

"Either the changing room after a game, during the week in training or in the presentation room ahead of a match.

"We have a lot of one-on-one meetings where we look at what we can improve on and what we have done well.

"It is not just the negatives and he highlights the positives as well.

"He is so meticulous. He will watch games over and over and look at where we went right and wrong and tell us.

"I don’t think you will ever hear him come out and criticise his players in public, that is just not his style.

"It is one of the reasons he has been so successful for us and why the players respect and rate him so highly."

Francis, who made his 600th career appearance against Tottenham on Sunday, added: "I think his man-management skills are second to none and he has every player down to a tee.

"He knows exactly how to treat them, which can be differently at times. Players need different treatment, whether it is a telling-off to try to get a response or whether it is an arm round their shoulder.

"Players can react in different ways. He knows his squad inside-out, he knows the bunch of players and knows how to get the best out of them. You see that week in, week out."