Bad to worse for Slot's Reds as manager blames fatigue and injuries for poor form

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk protests to referee Michael Salisbury after Bournemouth score late at the Vitality Stadium. Pic: Adam Davy/PA

THIS was supposed to be the season Liverpool would pull away from Manchester United and lift the club’s 21st top-flight title.

After drawing level with their bitter north-west rivals last year by winning the Premier League by 10 points in Arne Slot’s first season at the helm, the Reds splashed out a record £415m last summer – the most ever spent by a club in a single transfer window to bolster an already star-studded squad.

But as title defences go it has been nothing short of disastrous as the Reds slumped to their seventh defeat of the season against a Bournemouth side who had won just one of their last 14 games on a calamitous evening on the rainswept English south coast for the champions.

The sight of Virgil van Dijk waving his arms and chasing referee Michael Sailsbury vainly appealing for a foul after Amine Adli had poked the ball past Allison Becker deep into stoppage time said everything about the Liverpool captain’s miserable evening.

The 34-year-old nowadays resembles an E-Type Jaguar, still occasionally easy on the eye but with question marks over reliability as shown by his mistake for Bournemouth’s opener when he failed to clear a routine long ball from Marcos Senesi and allowed Alex Scott to nip in front of him and tee up Evanilson for a smart finish.

That error was compounded by the unfortunate Joe Gomez injuring himself as he tried to bail out his skipper by attempting to block the Brazilian’s shot but instead collided with Allison and was forced off the field just 27 minutes into his first start at centre-back in the Premier League for 13 months.

Bournemouth then took full advantage of confusion on the Liverpool bench about who should replace Gomez, who was off the field following treatment, and doubled their lead when Alex Jimenez was played onside by Van Dijk as he raced onto James Hill’s pass to slot home.

Van Dijk atoned for those mistakes just before halftime with a fine header – only the second goal the Reds have scored from a corner this season – when he met Dominik Szoboszlai’s delivery at the front post.

But Bournemouth, who sold Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City earlier this month and are without several key players due to injury, defended admirably in the second half as Liverpool dominated.

Despite having 73% possession the Reds failed to muster a shot on target until another brilliant free-kick from the excellent Szoboszlai broke the home side’s resolve 10 minutes from time and seemingly rescue a point for Slot, The Hungarian’s curling finish into the bottom right corner would also have extended a 13-game unbeaten run for Slot's side – albeit with a fifth successive draw for the first time since 1980 - but like so many times this season they shot themselves in the foot late in the game.

To their enormous credit, Andoni Iraola’s side pushed on for a winner after being pegged back as Becker dived acrobatically to tip over Ryan Christie’s long-range effort.

Bournemouth's Amine Adli celebrates the winner. Pic: Ian Walton/AP

And that approach was rewarded when Hill hurled the ball into the Liverpool box in the final seconds of the game and amid the ensuing chaos Adli reacted quickest to win the game after his scuffed initial effort hit the bottom of the post.

It was the fifth time the Reds have conceded after the 90th minute this campaign and each time it has resulted in a one-goal defeat or a draw.

The beleaguered Slot blamed fatigue and injuries for his side’s limp first-half performance with Wataru Endo, who has played just 43 minutes of football all season, forced to play as an emergency centre-back following Gomez’s injury due to Ibrahima Konate’s absence following the death of his father.

But questions marks have to be asked about Liverpool’s recruitment despite the huge money spent in the summer with the failure to sign Marc Guehi, now of Manchester City, or another top-class centre-back now coming back to bite them.

The prospect of selling Andy Robertson, who came on at halftime for Milos Kerkez, who has been an underwhelming £40m signing from Bournemouth, to Spurs must now be in doubt given Liverpool’s lack of defensive options.

Slot said: “We’re the only team who played Champions League that has only two days in-between games.

“There has only been seven minutes where I wouldn't even say we were struggling, but where the other team was part of the game as well and in those seven minutes, we conceded two goals.

“For the rest of the game it was completely different, we dominated.

“Joe Gomez had to go off with an injury. He wanted to try. He thought he could but then he couldn't. And maybe that sums up our season. Every time something else.” 

Iraola, who is yet to sign a new contract with Bournemouth with his current agreement up at the end of the season, will have enhanced his stock further with this victory.

With the likes of Justin Kluivert, Marcus Tavernier and Ben Gannon-Doak unavailable and the huge hole left by the sale of Semenyo, the Spaniard continues to work wonders with the Cherries.

He said: “We are finding ways to get points against difficult opposition. I am very proud of the team and what we are doing. We are adapting and we are getting good points."

“We wanted to go into the dressing room 2-0 up. It was a good goal from Van Dijk and we knew we were going to have to push.

"But from the 2-2 we started playing better and we felt that we didn't have anything to lose."

Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Petrovic 7; Smith 7, Hill 7, Senesi 7, Truffert 6; Scott 7, Cook 7; Jimenez 7 (Toth 85, 6), Kroupi 6 (Christie 67, 7), Adli 7; Evanilson 7 (Unal 90, 6). Booked: Kroupi.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson 6; Frimpong 6 (Jones 59, 6), Gomez 4 (Endo 35, 6), van Dijk 5, Kerkez 4 (Robertson 46, 7); Gravenberch 6, MacAllister 6 (Ekitike 59, 6); Salah 5, Szoboszlai 7, Wirtz 6; Gakpo 5 (Ngumoha 74, 7).

Referee: Michael Salisbury.