ANDONI Iraola feels his side were “starting to get tired” during the closing stages of their defeat to Atalanta.

Joakim Maehle put the Serie A side ahead early on, before Teun Koopmeiners pounced on a Marcos Senesi error to double the lead.

Senesi then made amends with a goal at the other end, before Emmanuel Latte Lath sealed a 3-1 win in the final minutes.

Reflecting on the defeat, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “I think it was a tough game. We knew, because the opponent work, they know each other very well.

“But I think we did quite well for the first 60 minutes. I think we had more time on the ball than the other day. We had to be more patient to attack, because they were well structured.

“But it is true every time we made a mistake in the build-up, they made us pay because they were clinical, especially in the first half.

“But overall pleased, for the first 60 minutes. From there, we were not so good on the ball. Some players were starting to get tired and we couldn’t maintain this intensity for the last 30 minutes.”

Discussing the goals Cherries conceded, Iraola added: “The first two goals, especially the second goal is a very clear mistake in the build-up.

“But we have to cover. It’s obviously Marcos makes the mistake, but we have to cover him, we have to be ready if our teammate loses the ball.

“Because we were not bad in the build-up in the first half. We were good, but the two times we lost the ball, they finished by scoring. So these are things that we need to improve.”

Asked if Atalanta was a step up in level of opposition, having previously played Hibernian, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Southampton this pre-season, Iraola said: “Not only the level, the type of game we needed to play was the complete opposite.

“They didn’t give us so many chances to press high, because they were playing a lot of times long balls straight to their forwards, smart balls.

“We had more possession than the other day, but there were less spaces to exploit. It wasn’t easy to find them.”