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Eddie Howe Points to Lack of Creativity as Cherries' Achilles Heel in Opening Day Defeat

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Eddie Howe has said that he is "disappointed" that his side were unable to create the chances to score on the opening day in the Premier League.

Bournemouth suffered a 1-0 defeat to West Brom thanks to a goal from Baggies new boy Ahmed Hegazy, with Howe unhappy at the defending his side showed at set pieces, according to Sky Sports.

"I'm disappointed," Howe said. "I thought with the set-plays we obviously didn't deal with that well. It's unlike us to have so much possession and not create, what I felt, was a really good chance. [That] was probably the most disappointing thing.

"I was disappointed with the build-up to it [Hegazi's goal], which - against West Brom - puts you under pressure so that's disappointing.

"They defended very well and very deep with numbers. It's very difficult to expose them with their shape. We had plans for that, we didn't deliver that and that's a frustration."

Despite a disappointing result, Howe was keen to state that there were positives to take from their opening day defeat.

"We've had enough football during pre-season to be ready. There wasn't a problem there," he continued. "The pitch was slow which was difficult for us to create with our possession. We wanted a quicker game.

"All our subs came on and gave us a bounce effect. We looked better towards the end than at the beginning, so hopefully [we have] some positives to leave with."

Bournemouth return to Dean Court next week for the first time this season, hosting a resiliant Watford side that fought back to claim a 3-3 draw with Liverpool on match day one of the new season.