I think Bournemouth played really well - high-energy, seem to be well coached defensively and unlike the Bournemouth teams we’ve easily beaten in the past they had a genuine attacking threat and outlet in Ouattara. That a bottom of the league team can field such quality in attack is a testament to the purchasing power of the Premier League (especially evident this season) - the likes of PSG, Bayern and even Real/Barca have it much easier in their leagues. Also Billing needs a shoutout - having a physical player like him in a #10 role, working as hard as he did, is genuinely unpleasant to face; he made Fabinho’s life very difficult.
Back to our team. Most of us didn’t think that 7:0 over United meant all of our problems were solved - that game showed how good we could be, that’s all. We still need a midfield overhaul in the summer, as even Klopp now admits. No one has a divine right to go to a team like this Bournemouth, with some genuine quality in the side and fighting for their life and brush them aside - this was a type of game that was always going to be hard-fought and close and you win this kind of game only if your own team is fine-tuned and knows exactly how to approach it. We started with a lot of confidence and could have easily been ahead if Van Dijk’s header wasn’t cleared off the line. Gradually Bournemouth started posing problems with their physicality and energy and this is where a well-functioning experienced team would have understood the challenge and pivoted to slowing the game down, focusing on control rather than trying to score immediately, trying to tire the opponent out gradually and wait for a decisive moment or a mistake. We needed Thiago, but instead in midfield we had Elliott and Bajcetic who both don’t have that skill developed yet - there was one moment in the 1st half when Bajcetic took control of the ball and made a nice run across the field before offloading the ball securely to the full-back; this was exactly what was needed, but it only happened once in the entire half. Even on the bench, Klopp had no options to bring the kind of player who could do what the game needed at the moment - Hendo for all his experience is not exactly a “slowing the game down” player and Keita and Arthur are no more than ghosts at this point. And up front, Nunez in particular is still some way away from learning how to be patient and small pitch generally made defending easier.
I think Klopp’s subs were all correct; Jota added more guile in tight spaces compared to Nunez and Firmino was the closest thing to a “Thiago” we could field in the middle of the pitch. Salah missing the penalty was obviously the key - I had a feeling that we’d miss the first penalty we get after such a long drought; this is what happens when you’re out of practice. After that, it was always a difficult task to score against 10 men defending in a tight space.
So what does it all mean? We didn’t use our game in hand, but we’re still very much in the hunt for top 4, regardless of the results today. This was not nearly as bad as the abject defeats at Brighton and Wolves, but it still shows how much we need to improve to get back to the top. Finish this season the best we can and get ready for an overhaul in the summer.
Back to our team. Most of us didn’t think that 7:0 over United meant all of our problems were solved - that game showed how good we could be, that’s all. We still need a midfield overhaul in the summer, as even Klopp now admits. No one has a divine right to go to a team like this Bournemouth, with some genuine quality in the side and fighting for their life and brush them aside - this was a type of game that was always going to be hard-fought and close and you win this kind of game only if your own team is fine-tuned and knows exactly how to approach it. We started with a lot of confidence and could have easily been ahead if Van Dijk’s header wasn’t cleared off the line. Gradually Bournemouth started posing problems with their physicality and energy and this is where a well-functioning experienced team would have understood the challenge and pivoted to slowing the game down, focusing on control rather than trying to score immediately, trying to tire the opponent out gradually and wait for a decisive moment or a mistake. We needed Thiago, but instead in midfield we had Elliott and Bajcetic who both don’t have that skill developed yet - there was one moment in the 1st half when Bajcetic took control of the ball and made a nice run across the field before offloading the ball securely to the full-back; this was exactly what was needed, but it only happened once in the entire half. Even on the bench, Klopp had no options to bring the kind of player who could do what the game needed at the moment - Hendo for all his experience is not exactly a “slowing the game down” player and Keita and Arthur are no more than ghosts at this point. And up front, Nunez in particular is still some way away from learning how to be patient and small pitch generally made defending easier.
I think Klopp’s subs were all correct; Jota added more guile in tight spaces compared to Nunez and Firmino was the closest thing to a “Thiago” we could field in the middle of the pitch. Salah missing the penalty was obviously the key - I had a feeling that we’d miss the first penalty we get after such a long drought; this is what happens when you’re out of practice. After that, it was always a difficult task to score against 10 men defending in a tight space.
So what does it all mean? We didn’t use our game in hand, but we’re still very much in the hunt for top 4, regardless of the results today. This was not nearly as bad as the abject defeats at Brighton and Wolves, but it still shows how much we need to improve to get back to the top. Finish this season the best we can and get ready for an overhaul in the summer.
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