ANDONI Iraola says he regretted the decision to substitute Ryan Christie in Cherries’ defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, admitting: “We were worse I think from that point.”

Cherries fell to a 2-0 defeat to Spurs, with goals from James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, either side of half-time.

Shortly before Kulusevski’s goal, Iraola made a double change with Jaidon Anthony and Hamed Traore replacing Justin Kluivert and Christie, the latter having impressed in the first half particularly.

Reflecting on the defeat, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “After the game you think and probably I shouldn’t have taken Ryan out from the game.

“Especially without the ball, he was pressing really well. He was doing a good amount.

“Probably I wanted to go a little bit more offensive, but we were worse I think from that point.

“I don’t know if it’s after the subs or after the 2-0, because it was just one minute later. But probably until the 62nd minute, we were playing well against a very good team.

“We were having our chances, I was quite happy with the performance.

“From there, we couldn’t keep the intensity and they were controlling the game much easier.”

He added: “I was disappointed with the end of the game, after 2-0.

“I think until 2-0, the team was playing well. It looked like in this moment we had the chances to score for 1-1, but from there we lacked a little bit of intensity.

“They were more comfortable on the ball and we didn’t finish the game well.”

Cherries are still searching for their first win, with one point from their opening three fixtures.

They head to Swansea City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, before travelling to Brentford in the Premier League next weekend.

“We knew from the beginning we had a really tough schedule to start,” said Iraola.

“But now we also have some important players out with injuries.

“But we have to keep competing and try and take points from every game.”