Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool (war communiqué)
Liu Chuan, titan sports correspondent in Britain.
Liverpool, who had just beaten Manchester United by seven goals in the last round, was beaten 1-0 away by Bournemouth, the vice squad leader, in the early Premier League game on Saturday. The latter was just 2-0 ahead in the last round, and was defeated by Arsenal in the last second of the game. The sharp contrast between the two teams’ two rounds of leagues has also made the outside world once again feel the "hell level" difficulty of the Premier League.
Bournemouth took the lead less than 10 seconds after visiting the Emirates Stadium in the last round, so just after the kick-off, some parochial fans joked that Liverpool’s opening performance was far superior to the top team. However, this joke didn’t last long, and the performance of Liverpool players began to worry fans. It seems that the players of the Red Army are still in the hangover effect of the last round’s fierce victory over their sworn enemies. Bournemouth’s counterattack repeatedly threatened and finally took the lead in the 28th minute.
It was Billing, the protagonist of the "blitz" against Arsenal in the last round, who scored for the home team. The loose defense of Liverpool’s defence allowed Ouattara to successfully get a long pass in the backcourt with three defenders around him, and then his breakthrough was strangely released by Van Dyke’s hand. Ouattara’s cross was finally unmarked by Billing, who easily pushed the goal in the restricted area, 1-0!
Jenas, a commentator in the BBC, said that the collective sleepwalking of Liverpool’s defense contributed to Bournemouth’s simple goal: "At first, I thought Bournemouth’s goal was offside, especially the reaction of Liverpool players made you firmly believe this. However, from the slow-motion replay, you can only feel how slow and dull the Red Army’s defense line is, and their energy seems to be focused on complaining to the referee. This should have been a potential danger that was immediately dealt with, but Ouattara, who assisted, went all the way like nobody’s business. What’s even more incredible is that all the Liverpool players who returned to the defense seemed to turn a blind eye to Billing, who was outflanked in the middle. Considering that he had just caused huge trouble to Arsenal in the last round, you can only say that some preparations for the defensive side before the game were not in place. "
In the last round, Bournemouth was killed by Arsenal, so the four handballs in the restricted area did not become the focus after the game. The defensive action of Bournemouth defenders in the penalty area was still bold. In the 67th minute, jota’s header in the penalty area hit adam smith’s open arm. At first, this handball was let go by referee Brooks as a close-range unintentional handball, but after VAR started the review procedure, he personally watched the slow-motion replay on the sidelines and finally decided to take a penalty. It’s just that Salah, who has always performed steadily at 12 yards, played badly this time and kicked the penalty away. Liverpool’s morale and confidence also gradually faded after this penalty banquet, and the score of 1-0 was kept to the end.
Adam smith, who was awarded handball after the game, said that referee Brooks’ penalty was a bit harsh: "Just now, some Liverpool players told me that the penalty was too harsh. I was in a jumping state and my back was turned to the ball. I couldn’t see the situation behind me. I don’t know how this situation could be regarded as a deliberate handball penalty in the penalty area, so it was a fair result for me that Liverpool didn’t take the penalty."
Liverpool, on the other hand, will have to face a penalty kick and an unexpected loss of points. Coach klopp looked a little helpless after the game, even smacked of "fatalism": "What can I say? We didn’t get into the game all the time. We kept control of the game in the first half, but under the condition of intensive defense, we didn’t grasp the opportunity of attack most of the time. As for Salah’s penalty, I have to say that it was too early to remember that we won the penalty in the league last time. If this penalty is scored today, we may even reverse it, but this is life. Sometimes you can score easily, but sometimes you can’t even grasp the penalty opportunity. "
However, for the performance of the Red Army general, the post-match criticism of the famous mcmanaman was even more ruthless. He said that this team obviously got slack in the recent rebound of league record: "If you beat Manchester United at Anfield last weekend, you will feel that Liverpool did everything right, so today their situation is completely opposite to last week. The team kept five clean sheets in the league, and then today’s defense gives people the feeling that they don’t need to go out to work and the other team won’t score goals, and the team’s attack is also slow and lack of creativity. Although Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto made six saves statistically, in fact, only jota’s attack was a real threat. At halftime, I also said that this Liverpool team played like Nottingham Forest, which was ranked at the bottom some time ago, but at least there was no lack of fighting spirit in the forest during that time. Today, whether Liverpool is a starter or a substitute, it gives people the feeling that they don’t care much about the game. "
Bournemouth temporarily jumped out of the relegation zone with these three points, while Liverpool stood still in the standings. The Reds could have taken advantage of the early victory and the goal difference to temporarily push Tottenham, who kicked off later, out of the top four. In the case of an unexpected 0-1 loss, the Red Army may be pushed to sixth place this weekend, provided that Newcastle United, which has two games less, can beat Wolves on Sunday. What’s more, Liverpool will visit the Bernabeu in the middle of the week. In the first leg of the Champions League knockout, they were scored by Real Madrid with two goals at home. In the middle of the week, they need a miracle to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals.
