BOSS Eddie Howe reiterated his full focus was on Cherries amid managerial speculation and insisted: “I am 100 per cent committed to this club.”

The Cherries boss had been heavily linked with the position at Everton, who on Thursday parted company with Marco Silva.

But with his team having lost four Premier League games in a row, Howe insisted his concentration was completely on turning around the Dorset club’s fortunes.

Quizzed on the speculation ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Liverpool (3pm), Howe said: “I feel very disappointed for Marco. Whenever a manager loses his job I think that’s the first place to start.

“Secondly, I am 100 per cent committed to this club. I’m a little bit embarrassed by the transfer speculation to be honest, with our recent run of results.

“It’s coincided and all come at a bad time because people will then question ‘is your work being effected by what’s being said outside?’.

“I don’t read all the nonsense that flies around, I don’t concentrate on it. I focus on my players and my training and that is all there is to say on it.”

Howe is the longest serving manager in the top-flight, having returned from Burnley in October 2012.

Asked whether he felt he could be sparked by a fresh challenge, the boss replied: “No, I am invigorated and energised to get results here. There is no problem with my energy levels, my enthusiasm, anything.

“This is a tough, tough league and we are in a tough moment but those challenges are what inspire me.

“There was no bigger challenge than when I first took the job here in my first managerial appointment and we found a way out of that situation, so we can find a way out of anything.

“But we all need to collectively come together and show the unity and the fight for that challenge, that is what I’m asking my players to do.”

The poor run of form has seen Cherries slip to 14th in the division, just two points off the bottom three.

“If you are not hurt and disappointed by results, if they are bad, there’s a problem,” said Howe.

“I’ve always reacted that way. I self-analyse, self-reflect, then rebuild and go again and make sure for the next game the players are in a different frame of mind.

“That’s always been my way of dealing with things, is to be disappointed. I was the same as a player, the same as a manager and that’s the right emotion.

“I can’t sit there with a big grin on my face if we don’t perform in the way I want the team to perform.

“But the minute the next game is on the horizon I think your energies have to change and I am confident the team will hopefully show the fighting qualities needed with position we are now in.”