Liverpool’s fantastic run came to a grinding halt and how.
Cruising at two-nil and then at three-one, we capitulated from the moment Ryan
Fraser began to assert himself to the pace of the game. It was embarrassing, nothing more, nothing
less.
Without Joel Matip we appeared rudderless once Bournemouth
began to apply pressure in the last third.
The midfield, so dominant for an hour began to leak and the defence which
previously had looked granite like started to look ponderous and Bournemouth
led by the impish Fraser started to pour through.
One defeat doesn’t suddenly make us a bad team or suddenly
derailed our Premier League challenge, but what it does do is throw up
questions. Early days, but is Karius a
top keeper or just a kicking machine with gloves on? Why is Lucas, a midfielder
playing ahead of Ragnar Klavan an international centre-half and is Joel Matip
so intrinsic to Liverpool that without him the spine of our defence loses its stability?
Make no mistake the loss was devastating. Devastating in that for seventy-five minutes,
even after giving a way a trivial penalty, we purred along as if there were
gears aplenty to go through. Mane,
Firmino and Origi terrorised the Bournemouth backline with Liverpool pressing
to such an extent that it only seemed a matter of time before the breakthrough. When it came it was not the intricate
football we’ve become accustomed too, but a long, but cultured through ball
from Emre Can from the left touch line which saw Mane running through into the
area almost on top of the goal keeper to prod home.
The home team were being carved open as if Liverpool had a
fleet of surgeon operating in midfield.
We were soon two-nil to the good. With time and space to work in Henderson
found Divock Origi streaking down the right-hand channel unchallenged. Inexplicably, goalkeeper Artur Boruc flew out
of his area making it easy for Origi to go around him. What was not easy was the finish. From an
acute angle and with defenders rushing back to cover the gifted striker lifted
his head to gauge what was required before hitting a well struck curling effort
inside the far post. The strike was so
good it looked easy.
It wasn’t a case of if Liverpool would win, but a case of by
how many. Game management seemed to kick
in with Klopp’s team coasting through the rest of the half allowing Bournemouth
to get a foothold, so much so that a penalty claim was waved away and on
another day it could have been given.
If that was a warning of things to come Liverpool fail to
take heed. Fraser, just warming up it
seemed was upended by Milner after surging past the left-back and into the
area. Callum Wilson dispatched the
penalty with assurance.
Even so, there seemed very little to worry about especially
when we soon regained our two goal advantage.
Mane robbed Ake and rolled the ball to Can at the edge area. The German international with transcendent technique,
squaring up to the ball arched his body to magnificently curl the ball into the
top corner of the net. It felt and
appeared job done. It wasn’t.
Liverpool almost made it four. Milner’s corner curled in from the left was
almost taken over the line by Boruc as goal-line technology showed the ball was
within millimetres from assuring another away victory.
From the seventy-sixth minute onwards Liverpool proceeded to
throw away their advantage. Stuck in
game management mode and with Bournemouth sensing the possibility of a comeback,
the chance came which Fraser grabbed with relish slamming home the ball which
bounced into his path after a goalmouth scramble.
Worryingly, even with 14 minutes left the energy of the
first half was missing and the resurgent home team sought parity and looked
dangerous at every turn with Liverpool being pushed back.
Two minutes after
Fraser’s star turn Bournemouth drew level with a top quality strike. With his back to goal, Cook brought the cross
down brilliantly, before swivelling and smashing home his shot pass Karius.
With time running out Origi almost pulled off a superb
winner, controlling the ball on the turn in the area he volleyed over. The ebb and flow of the game was now at a
level which one would not have expected during the half and with five minutes
added time, the final minutes were suddenly being played out in Liverpool’s
half.
And then suddenly calamity.
A long range shot by Cook was mishandled by Karius, doing a passable
impression of anyone of Liverpool’s most recent keepers, before Ake popped up
to deliver the game winning goal.
Critical eye:
Interesting to see that as soon as Bournemouth turned up the wick of
opportunity without the poise and power of Matip in the backline Liverpool fell
apart (where was Lovren?). Without
Philippe Coutinho we scored three, but it the heat of battle we lacked leaders
and the defence was in capable of withstanding the home team’s direct running.
With the defence and midfield under the cosh, it was
inexplicable to understand why Klavan or Ejaria weren’t used to bolster the
defence and instil fresh running power in the midfield respectively. With Lucas Leiva continually picked ahead of
Klavan it begs the question what role the Estonian fills at the club.
It also begs the question just what does Dejan Lovren brings
to Liverpool? In the absence of Matip
and the enforced absence of Sakho he should have been the de facto leader in
the defence, but appeared as paralysed as Lucas when the heat hit the fan.
Karius was tested for the first time in a while and failed
ingloriously and although a player cannot be judged on one game. His previous weakness was thought to be from
crosses, yet here he seemed slow to get down to one shot and fumbled another. The jury is well and truly out and it would
be no exaggeration to say that Liverpool have the weakest goalkeeper of any
team in the top six.
Manager’s thoughts:
“We opened the door and they ran through and scored some wonderful goals. So that’s the deserved result.
“It doesn’t feel too good right now but sometimes we need
it. Of course this can help us. No
roadis without rocks and stones.
“It’s three points, no more. You cannot be champions in
December.
“We are not ice stating, it’s not about how it looks. I know we can lay football. Nothing is decided at 2-0. The boys know now we gave it away – only
because of us Bournemouth came back. It was our mistake to let them back in the
game.”
Teams:
Bournemouth: 1
Boruc, 2 Francis, 3 Cook, 5 Ake, 15 Smith, 8 Arter, 4 Gosling (Afobe -75 mins),
17 King (Ibe – 45 mins), 32 Wilshere, 19 Stanislas (Fraser – 55 mins), 13
Wilson
Subs: Pugh, 9
Afobe, 14 Smith 23 Federici, 24 Fraser, 26 Mings, 33 Ibe
Liverpool: Karius,
2 Clyne, 21 Lucas, 6 Lovren, 7 Milner, 5 Wijnaldum, 14 Henderson, 23 Can, 19
Mane (Lallana – 69 mins), Origi, 11 Firmino
Subs: 17 Klavan,
Moreno, 20 Lallana, 22 Mignolet, 53 Ejaria, 58 Woodburn, 66 Alexander-Arnold
Referee: Robert
Madley
Attendance: 11,
183
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