It was a Premier League opening day classic as AFC Bournemouth headed to Anfield last night, but The Cherries unfortunately came out on the wrong end of the scoreline, despite sensationally coming back from 2-0 down late on. There was a lot of positives to take, and some negatives too – so here are five things we learned from the first game of the season:

1. Antoine Semenyo is an incredible human being (and footballer)

It’s heartbreaking to have witnessed such a brilliant game of football and that somehow be overshadowed by something which happened in the stands. I have to be careful what I say given the investigation is still ongoing, but the alleged racist abuse at Antoine Semenyo is an absolute disgrace. For him to have gone through what he did, and then have the mental strength to not just put it to the side during the game, but to have produced the goals he did, tells you everything you need to know about his incredible character. I said in my season predictions that he would be our player of the season, and it may only be one game in, but that was an outstanding start. It wasn’t just the goals, he had his old teammate Milos Kerkez on toast before Kerkez got dragged off, and Andy Robertson similarly had no answer to Semenyo’s pace and power. It has been great to see the footballing world rally around to support Semenyo, and I hope he is as okay as he can be. I hope this is the last time I ever have to write about something like this.

2. Adrien Truffert looks a fantastic Kerkez replacement

Last night was the first official chance to look at Adrien Truffert in a Bournemouth shirt following his £14M move from Rennes in the summer, and he absolutely looked the part in his first taste of English football. As it goes, he had a much more comfortable debut than his counterpart Kerkez, who looked rash and was ran ragged by Semenyo, getting hooked at the hour mark following a first half booking. Truffert carries much less aggression than Kerkez, which I’m sure throughout the season will come with it’s positive and negatives throughout the course of a long season, but for his calm demeanour whilst defending, he showed exactly why he was signed going forward. Truffert was right up there for Semenyo’s equaliser following a lung busting run from left-back, he and Tavernier’s decoy run took away Ibrahima Konate, allowing the space for Semenyo to fire into the bottom corner. Truffert created a chance, won 100% of his tackles (including a great last ditch challenge on Salah at the end of the first half) and covered a LOT of ground – 10.6km. Should he keep this form up, that fee will continue to look like an absolute bargain. Very encouraging.

3. It was unsurprisingly shaky at the back – Marcos Senesi in particular needs to step up

Marcos Senesi can consider himself a very lucky man to have not been sent off early on in this one, somehow escaping a VAR check despite obviously hand balling on the halfway line when Hugo Ekitike would have been through on goal. And it didn’t get much better for Senesi, his half hearted challenge ricocheting off Ekitike to allow him to score, which should have been dealt with much better. Alongside debutant Bafode Diakite, who had only been training with the team for a few days, Senesi needed to lead by example, but unfortunately that was not the case. He did get better in the second half, none of those goals were his fault, but the manner of all four goals will have frustrated Andoni Iraola. The second goal happened in slow motion, it was far too easy for Cody Gakpo to cut inside and pass it into the bottom corner, and Federico Chiesa’s late winner was extremely avoidable, the ball falling to him after Diakite and Ben Wintebrburn got in each other’s way when trying to head clear. Mo Salah showed incredible pace to add a late fourth, catching substitute James Hill off guard, who was perhaps not up to speed with the game. These are all things that can easily be fixed, but it’s hard not to shake off the feeling that these goals would not have happened with last year’s central defenders. Hopefully, partnerships continue to grow at the back and those errors get eradicated.

4. Adam Smith led by example as captain

I thought Adam Smith came out and spoke very well after the game, not something he would have had to do before in the circumstances. His anger at the situation was clear, and he raised interesting points about taking the knee and other gestures which clearly are not working – so what do we do now? That is a question for higher-ups, but it was an important point well raised by our captain. On the pitch, he showed his quality, putting in a performance which I feel has gone under the radar, but one that I felt was very impressive. No matter how many right backs have been signed over the years, no one has ever been able to displace Smudge. That’s a testament to his quality, and there was no doubt in my mind he would be starting this weekend. Smith won five duels and showed great desire going both ways, winning a yellow card from a drive up the pitch causing Kerkez to fly in, and showing his pace and desire to constantly go both ways throughout the game. An AFC Bournemouth legend, and one we need to appreciate whilst he has still got it.

5. This team will be just fine

The overwhelming feelings after the game are of positivity and pride. That goes for everyone, the character to have dealt with what Semenyo went through as a team, and the mental strength to have come from 2-0 down at Anfield and then be just minutes away from claiming what would have been a very deserved point. We should have been in front before the hosts struck, Marcus Tavernier and Semenyo guilty of missing big chances, but they never gave up – this team’s spirit can never be questioned under Andoni Iraola. It was the best performance against Liverpool in the Iraola era, and there will be a sense of great frustration that there wasn’t a point gained to back that up. But as previously stated, the problems that Liverpool exploited can easily be fixed. And above all, this was a stellar performance put in with major players missing – who knows what might have happened had Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert been fit, or had deals already been wrapped up for Ben Doak and Amine Adil to bring a spark off the bench. It was nice to see Hamed Traore come off the bench and grab an assist, but whether his future lies here or elsewhere remains to be seen.

All in all, given the low expectations heading into the game, it was a fantastic performance, and the pain that comes with not gaining a point at such a tough place to go is a nice feeling to have, compared to the usual feeling of it not really ever having been close. Reinforcements will be here next week – and we go again. Up the Cherries.