Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe: Benteke goal for Liverpool was clearly offside

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was left fuming from his side's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, claiming that Christian Benteke's winning goal was "clearly offside" and that throughout the match the big decisions went against them.

The Reds triumphed over the newly promoted Cherries thanks to a controversial 26th-minute goal from new striker Christian Benteke.

The £32.5m ($51m) signing from Aston Villa scored from a Jordan Henderson cross while Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho was interfering with play in an offside position, meaning that the goal should have been ruled out by referee Craig Pawson and assistant Harry Lennard for offside.

Howe said that the new rules made it obvious that the referees got the decision wrong. "It's a clear offside under the new rules. We were sat down in front of the referees and told the new rules. I was very surprised at the time, even from my poor angle, that the goal was given. Our goalkeeper's clearly impacted by the player in the middle of the goal," he said.

Howe added he would seek guidance and feedback from the officials on what he described as a "grey area". The incident came after Bournemouth defender Tommy Elphick's header was ruled out for a foul on Dejan Lovren, another decision which Howe had grievances with.

"It's hugely frustrating really, after the goal being disallowed as well. So that's basically a two-goal swing against us. Tommy's [Elphick] won the ball fairly for me. He's been aggressive but if that's a foul then we'd be having fouls every time a corner is put in the box for me. It's two big decisions that have gone against us," he said.

The result means Bournemouth have lost both of their first two games 1-0 in their debut Premier League campaign, following their defeat by a single goal at home to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season. Their next match will be away to West Ham on 22 August.