AFC Bournemouth headed to the Etihad on Sunday afternoon hoping to force their first ever positive result there in the Premier League, but yet again came away empty handed. Here are five things we learned in the Cherries’ second league defeat of the campaign:

1. The Etihad curse continues

I’ve just touched on it there, but that is now 9/9 defeats in the Premier League at Manchester City’s home for Bournemouth. If there was ever a time to get a result, it felt like it might have been yesterday, given City’s more modest start to the season and AFCB only losing one game in the league so far. But yet again, City were too strong for Andoni Iraola’s side. That is now 16/17 wins against Bournemouth in the PL for City – despite the game falling on the same date, there was no repeat of last year’s win for the Cherries. Will the team ever manage a result at the Etihad? It sure doesn’t feel like it – perhaps good to have that game out of the way now.

2. You live by the sword, you die by the sword

Two years ago, around this time of year, Iraola’s men travelled to the Etihad and lost 6-1, and after the game Iraola vowed never to play a back five again. Lots of people were surprised to see such a high line against City (and especially Erling Haaland), but Iraola knows no other way than to be aggressive. No one was complaining when Bournemouth dominated City at Dean Court last season by playing such an aggressive style of football. A team such as City are always going to create chances – communication breakdowns meant they came too easily (more on that next), but I’d rather watch my team going for it to try and force a result than sit back and lose anyway.

3. Defensive errors prove costly

Erling Haaland is a robot. Had the defence made those mistakes against other strikers in the league, they may not have been punished. But there is a reason he now has 13 goals in 10 PL games this season – he is so good at punishing mistakes. Lots was made online of Bafode Diakite’s performance, much of which I believe was over-reactionary. No doubt he could have done better, but Marcos Senesi did not help his partner for the first goal, wandering into no-man’s-land and leaving all sort of space behind him for Haaland to exploit. Quite why Adrien Truffert was sat so deep for the second goal, by far beyond his other defenders who probably would have kept Haaland offside, I’m not so sure. The third goal came with Alex Jimenez just re-entering the pitch after injury – he looked to mark Jeremy Doku, but he was already being picked up by David Brooks. Jimenez should have gone to Nico O’Reilly, who was given plenty of time and space to convert City’s third. All goals were very much avoidable, and frustrating to watch. Whether the line needed to be that high is another question, but it might have been alright if these players hadn’t made such needless errors.

4. To win points against these teams, you have to be clinical

Despite those defensive errors, there is another timeline were AFCB very conceivably get something from this game. Junior Kroupi had the ball in the back of the net after just 50 seconds after brilliant work from David Brooks, but he had just strayed offside. This wasn’t necessary from Kroupi, who could easily have looked along the line and held his run. It might’ve been a very different game had we led so early on, much like last year’s win. In the second half, AFCB came out firing, and again the best two chances at 2-1 fell to Kroupi. He dragged one into the side netting when he was likely trying to go across goal, but his biggest chance came minutes after. A beautiful, deft touch from Alex Scott saw Kroupi have a clear attempt on goal from just inside the area, but his effort was a comfortable height for Gianluigi Donarumma. Had he gone hard, low and into the corner, Iraola’s side would have been level, making for a very different game. It was encouraging to create these chances, but those are the types of moments you need to go in to stand a chance of forcing results against such good sides.

5. How do the team get Evanilson more involved?

This isn’t something we’ve learned, but something I wonder. Evanilson returned from injury after a couple of week’s absence, coming on in the 62nd minute. He managed just one touch in that time. Chances were created for Kroupi, but no such luck for the Brazilian. But why is that? Is Kroupi finding himself in better positions to find these chances? Or is it just a coincidence that we didn’t manage to create anything with Evanilson leading the line? It will be interesting to see who gets the starting berth at Villa Park next weekend, and how those minutes are shared. When those minutes are shared, will it continue to be the case that Kroupi finds himself having more chances created, or will Evanilson finally be able to go on a scoring streak this season?

Despite the result, AFCB still remain in the Champions League after 10 matches, a phenomenal season so far. But it is so tight in this league, and there is a very long way to go, so for now, it’s all about bouncing back and claiming a positive result against Aston Villa next Sunday. UTCIAD.