Bournemouth manager Scott Parker has described his side's 9-0 defeat to Liverpool as the most damaging day of his career within football.
The 41-year-old enjoyed a 20-year professional spell as player for the likes of Fulham and West Ham United before accepting his first coaching role with Fulham in 2019, though admitted he has not experienced adversity quite like Saturday afternoon at Anfield.
Picked apart from the moment referee Stuart Attwell sounded his whistle for the match to start, the Cherries had simply no reply to Liverpool's attacking onslaught. Jurgen Klopp's men ended the match with nine goals to their name, and it could well have been double figures on the day.
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Bournemouth have now shipped 16 goals in their opening four matches of the season and were already the favourites for relegation before a ball had been kicked at the home of the Reds. Watching on as fellow newly-promoted sides Fulham and Nottingham Forest have spent heavily on new recruits, Parker's side have a reported outlay of £24m upon their return to the top-flight.
Aware his group are faced with a huge task ahead, Parker said: "It goes without saying, it is a real humbling experience and one which was pretty shell-shocking in the sense of the result. I am not surprised in terms of the level we are playing against here and the quality is just far greater than what we have at this present time. It is not me making an excuse because there are some goals in that game which were down to our doing: the set-play goals were really poor and we could do something about that. I feel sorry for the fans, I feel sorry for the players because we are just a bit underequipped at this level from where we've come from and what we have. It has been difficult.
"It [the result] doesn't shine a light on it [what's going wrong] for me because throughout the summer that's exactly where I've seen it. There are players playing in this team with huge quality but this is the first time they are experiencing Premier League and we are where we are. Of course, I never would have thought we would come here and get beaten 9-0 but I expected and saw things I knew this season would be a real challenge for us in certain moments, in certain games.
"This is the toughest day as a player and certainly as a coach, this is the most painful day that I have experienced. I could sense it was painful for the players on the pitch as well. I felt for every single one of them because they need some help and the levels were just too great."
Asked if he had a message to send to the Bournemouth fans after the humiliating result witnessed by those in attendance, Parker added: "Yeah, I have. It was painful and, to be fair to them, every single one of them stuck behind the team and they probably understood where we currently are. I am immensely sorry for that result but I would like to think the general fan will understand what it was. They see a team were trying everything they possibly could. The levels were just far too great for us.
"Tonight will be a long, sleepless night and I'm sure the players will reflect and it will be a difficult one to process. We're learning real, real harsh lessons and, at times, it's probably not fair. The lessons you learn at this level, and not just against Liverpool or the other three fixtures we've had, this division is ruthless and that's why I feel for these players. It can leave some scars in terms of the experiences they're facing.
"Liverpool are ruthless and my boys were flat to the floor. I don't think I could look at one of them and say we lacked here and there. At times, we were searching for oxygen and trying to breathe. It was a tough, humbling experience."
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