DOMINIC Solanke insists “we’re all in it together” as Cherries look to find a way out of their recent rut, admitting: “We’re not in the best of spots right now.”
Since the World Cup break, Cherries have been in wretched form, losing all five of their fixtures. That has seen them slip to 16th in the Premier League table, just one point above the relegation zone, as well as being knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
The latest loss was perhaps the most concerning, falling 4-2 at home to Championship Burnley at Vitality Stadium to exit the FA Cup at the third round stage.
The results and performances have seen some fans questioning if Gary O’Neil is the right man for the job, despite having only been installed as permanent boss in November.
Prior to that, he had 12 games as interim head coach following the sacking of Scott Parker in August, presiding over four wins, four draws and four defeats.
Discussing the idea of O’Neil likely taking the brunt of the spotlight for the recent results, Solanke told the Daily Echo: “As a collective we’re a team, we’re a club.
“Manager or players, we’re all in it together.
“There’s no blame on either side.
“We just all need look what we need to do better and use that to improve.”
Solanke was one of two scorers for Cherries in the loss to Burnley, heading in his fourth goal of the campaign shortly after half-time.
But the hosts continually shot themselves in the foot whenever they looked like getting back into the cup tie, with individual errors leading to three of the Clarets’ four goals.
Reflecting on the latest loss, Solanke said: “Another difficult one to take.
“We’re not in the best of spots right now.
“Obviously (on Saturday) we made a few errors which resulted in goals, which can happen in football.
“We know, especially the position we’re in right now, we need to cut those out as soon as possible.
“It’s another game that we’re going to have to just look back and work towards next weekend.
“We know they (Burnley) are flying at the moment, so they were always going to come here with great confidence.
“They capitalised on our mistakes.”
Asked if a lack of confidence among the team was a factor in the individual defensive errors, Solanke added: “Maybe, but these things happen in football. Anyone can make mistakes.
“We know that we need to cut the mistakes out.
“It’s not where we want to be.
“Especially in the Premier League, we know that we can’t be doing that. We’ll look at it back and work to cut them out.”
He continued: “We know Burnley are in the Championship, but like I said, they’re flying. When you win a lot of games, you’re always confident.
“We see this stuff happening in the cup all the time, lower league teams beating higher division teams. That’s just part of football.
“But the cup is the cup. We need to focus on the Premier League now.
“We know that in the next game we need to get some points and that’s what we’ll be looking forward to do.”
Cherries head to Brentford on Saturday (5.30pm).
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