AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe gave his assessment to afcbTV after the 2-2 draw with Napoli.
Howe talked about his side’s second-half fightback and also talked about Nathan Ake and Jermain Defoe’s fitness.
On the game as a whole…
It was a tough test against a very good team.
In the first half they were technically and tactically excellent, it was real test.
It was everything we needed ahead of West Bromwich Albion next and I was really pleased with how we responded in the second half, that was pleasing.
On the quality of the two sides…
We obviously aspire to be like teams like Napoli and domestically at the top of the Premier League. We constantly work towards that aim and it was good for the players to come up against that tonight.
We learnt so much tactically and we will take that into our league campaign.
On the second half response…
We made subtle changes but the players showed that never-say-die attitude we always have. I felt there was no difference between us in the second half and we showed real technical quality that we didn’t show in the first half.
We didn’t create many chances tonight but when they came, we were clinical and caused them a few problems.
On any potential injuries…
Nathan Ake’s fine, he played against Yeovil in midweek. Jermain felt his groin slightly so we didn’t risk him but we anticipate he’ll be fine for West Brom.
We took Steve Cook off as a precaution so we'll wait and see.
