Howe tells Bournemouth to tighten up at the back

Howe's side thumped 10-man Watford 4-0 at Vicarage Road last weekend for their second clean sheet of the campaign with the victory lifting them to sixth in the standings with 16 points from eight games.

Bournemouth have fired on all cylinders in attack to score 16 goals but they have struggled at the other end of the pitch, letting in 12 goals.

"It is the area we have to improve more than any other. Even when we have dominated this season, we have ended up conceding one or two goals," Howe told the Bournemouth Echo.

"We were not at our very best at Watford but we kept a clean sheet and there were a lot of good defensive performances within that, so that was really pleasing."

Bournemouth host local rivals Southampton on Oct. 20 after the international break.

"Ideally, you would want another game quite quickly but it is what it is. When we have a setback, we pride ourselves that we can come back better after two weeks of working with the team so the same should work after a good result," Howe said.

"You have momentum and a really good atmosphere. We will try to build on that and make sure we are good in our next game." (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)