ASTON Villa boss Steven Gerrard described his side’s opening day defeat to Cherries as “extremely disappointing”.

Jefferson Lerma’s second minute goal was added to by Kieffer Moore late on in the second half, allowing Cherries to pick up three points with a 2-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.

Gerrard’s Villa team bossed possession but found the hosts extremely hard to break down, leaving the former Liverpool star frustrated at his side’s inability to deal with Cherries at set pieces.

However, the Villains boss admitted that Cherries were well worth their win.

He said after the game: “It's extremely disappointing, certainly not the result we came here for but I don't think we can have any complaints in terms of the outcome of the game for a couple of reasons.

“I think a lot of focus will be on our set-plays, we've conceded two goals in that area today so I understand a lot of focus being in that area but we've also had of possession, a lot of control, we got into a lot of decent areas and we've had a lack of quality, so the focus should be on that as well.

“We've conceded really early on, we've worked on set-plays all week.

“We spoke about the profile in the opposition team and we said it's very important we don't give silly set plays away.

“We concede a set-play very early on and then it allows them to sit in, it allows them to be a low block, it allows them to frustrate.

“I thought Bournemouth defended extremely well but we allowed them to be in that low block by conceding such an early goal.

“We've had enough possession, enough control in the game. We've got to enough areas, we've had enough quality players on the pitch but our last pass, our last cross, our last inventive spark was off today for sure.”

Villa go on to host Everton next Saturday, whilst Cherries face the daunting trip to Manchester City at the Etihad.