Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool
by Gene Sylvester
at Dean Court 

BOURNEMOUTH fans would have been looking to the footballing gods for a favour following last weekend’s results, but it turned out that Liverpool were the ones looking for divine intervention going into the closing stages of this match.

The Reds’ prayers were most certainly not answered as the Cherries earned a well deserved 1-0  win at Dean Court courtesy of a 28th minute Phil Billing winner, giving them only their second win in the last 13 league and cup matches.

Despite the result, the early stages of the game were dominated by the away team with chances falling to Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, but both efforts were easily thwarted by Neto in the Bournemouth goal.

Bournemouth winger Ouatarra may have been left wanting in tracking Robertson back at times but he was a constant thorn in Liverpool’s side in a first half going forward where he continuously found space in behind the Liverpool back line.

Klopp was quick to address this issue after the match. 

“We didn’t cover each other good enough in moments where they found spaces behind our back line.”

And that issue ultimately led to Liverpool’s downfall.

Ouatarra had fired a couple of warning shots across the bows, with his best chance to score coming in the 8th minute of the match following good work from ex-Liverpool player Dominic Solanke in the middle of the park.

The former Red outfoxed Van Dijk in the middle of the park with quick feet before threading a ball into the run of the Burkina Faso international winger and he burst through onto the Liverpool goal but was only able to find the side netting after rounding Brazilian Alisson in the Liverpool goal.

Ouatarra’s head did not drop however and in the 27th minute, he was again found in acres of space down the right-hand side by right-back Adam Smith and despite the close attention of Van Dijk, he was able to put in a slide rule cross that was met in the centre of the goal by the unmarked Billing who tapped home from eight yards out.

“We decided to play Phil [Billing] a bit higher up the pitch. We were very pleased with his performance along with the other players today.” Beamed the Cherries boss Gary O’Neil.

He was also quick to point out that this was not a performance out of the ordinary for his boys.

“We’ve had good performances against top opposition in last three games but haven’t got the results. We deserved that win today.”

Liverpool struggled to create any clear-cut opportunities to draw level in the second half, but were awarded a penalty following a VAR check for handball on Adam Smith.

The ever-dependable Salah inevitably stepped up to take the penalty but the Egyptian’s composure deserted him for once and he fired his penalty wide of the target.

Reds manager Klopp bemoaned his team’s performance after the game.

“We played the way Bournemouth wanted us to play and they showed their quality. We are in the situation that we are because of setbacks like this.”

The German went on to say: “This game was a massive knock. We have to look how big the scars are and see where we go from there.”

O’Neil was visibly beaming after the game and was keen to point out that recent games against Man City and Arsenal could have also gone their way.

“We lost previous games on fine margins. Those fine margins couldn’t continue to go against us.”