Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola waves to the fans after the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. _(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)_
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ANDONI Iraola was pleased with how his [Cherries](http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/cherries/clubnews/?ref=au) side performed at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday – but they weren’t ‘flawless’, which was needed to get a result against Manchester City.
Bournemouth were beaten 3-1 by their hosts after an Erling Haaland brace either side of a Tyler Adams goal gave them a 2-1 lead at the break, before a Nico O’Reilly goal confirmed the points for the home side.
Iraola pointed to a lack of coordination at times between the centre back pairing of Maros Senesi and Bafode Diakite that was exploited by City.
He said with the way they play the game, with a higher line and an aggressive press, if this is not spot on, you can be punished.
“I'm quite pleased of how the game has developed, but it's true that when they beat you 3-1, you know, it sounds like, okay, it's a disaster or you haven't been playing the way you wanted,” Iraola explained.
_(Image: Martin Rickett/PA Wire)_
“The way we play, you can accept if you sit deeper and maybe Haaland scores two headers in the second post because they've had 25 crosses.
“They punish you if you go higher. You have to assume the risk that he will break to the space. I think we should have done better what we were doing.
“It's a matter of the coordination between the centre backs especially. But we have quite clear our idea how we are more efficient I think, how we can improve our chances.
“But we have to be very, very good and almost flawless if we want to take something against City here, it’s the truth.”
He continued: “City, they will try to push you, they will try to keep the possession of the ball. I think we've done good things today, but we've made also mistakes and here they don't allow mistakes, at this kind of level.
“So I think we can take good things from today, but it's not enough for this level, this opposition, this is not enough.”