Matchweek 2 of the Premier League saw Liverpool taking on Bournemouth in the first game at Anfield of the season. When the Reds faced the Cherries at home last season, it ended in a spectacular 9-0 victory for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but the reverse fixture at the Vitality Stadium back in March saw an abysmal Liverpool suffer a 1-0 defeat – their first loss against Bournemouth in over six years.
After both sides secured a point in their respective opening fixtures, Saturday’s 15:00 contest presented them both with the opportunity to secure their first victory of the season, and to get an important 3 points on the board.
Jurgen Klopp felt it would be important to produce a much more assured and dominant display, after only achieving 35% possession against Chelsea. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he told reporters “35% possession is an absolute joke […] we were with the ball, too much in a rush”. “Finding rhythm and finding direction is one of the questions we have to answer for tomorrow”, he continued.
Both Jurgen Klopp and Andoni Iraola anticipated a fast-paced match, with Klopp insisting that Bournemouth would not be easy opposition. “They really press, they really go for it”, the German said when discussing Bournemouth’s style and approach. Iraola echoed these ideas when discussing Klopp’s side: “the game will be very demanding because they are very fast players […] with high tempo, attacking the spaces”, the Spaniard told reporters in his pre-match press conference.
Klopp’s press conference also gave him an opportunity to discuss new signing Wataru Endo, whom the club secured for £16.2 million from VfB Stuttgart on a four-year deal that week. “I’m really happy that we finally can announce that we have an agreement with the club and the player” he joked, making an obvious allusion to his press conference the previous week, in which he had announced an agreement between Liverpool and Brighton for Moises Caicedo, who ultimately ended up at Chelsea. “A really good footballer […] tactically really smart […] I’m really happy about it”, Klopp said when asked about the 30-year-old Japanese captain.
Klopp’s expectation that Bournemouth would press from the start proved correct, as the Cherries dominated the Reds in the opening part of the game, hitting the back of the net in the first minute after a long ball that Alexander-Arnold struggled to defend, although the offside flag was raised immediately afterwards – a let-off for Liverpool.
Bournemouth continued to press high up the pitch however, and Antoine Semenyo capitalised on a precarious pass from Van Dijk to Alexander-Arnold in order to put Bournemouth 1-0 up in the 3rd minute.
While for a few minutes it looked as if Liverpool’s backline had learnt their lesson and woken up, the initial sloppiness and lack of communication re-emerged, as by the 8th minute they were making lazy passes across the back, one of which Alisson failed to control and in turn gifted to Jaidon Anthony, who was swiftly tackled by the Brazilian goalkeeper. Alisson received a yellow card for the tackle and luckily Bournemouth did not double their advantage, but it had been a fairly worrying opening 10 minutes for the Reds.
For the next 15 minutes or so, the Reds dealt with defensive threats fairly well, with Robertson and Szoboszlai both making a crucial clearance each, although the team still struggled to advance successfully up the pitch, and lost a number of second balls.
In the 26th minute, Anfield stood up to applaud Michael Jones, the 26-year-old Evertonian who had died in a construction accident at Everton’s new stadium. On their pre-match walk earlier that day, the first team and staff visited a memorial for Michael, where they had left a wreath in memory him. It was a nice touch from the team and all the fans to commemorate his tragic passing in this way.
Moments later, Liverpool levelled the scoring in style courtesy Diaz, after Alexander-Arnold delivered a perfectly weighted ball to Jota. Once Diaz had received the ball from the striker, he controlled it impressively before whipping it in with his back to goal.
In the 35th minute, Alexander-Arnold delivered Szoboszlai a stunning ball, with which he successfully won a penalty when Rothwell made contact with him in the box. His dive was certainly disproportionate to the contact made, but the decision was ‘penalty’ nonetheless, albeit a soft one.
And so, Mo Salah had the chance to score from the spot in a moment reminiscent of the previous game against Bournemouth, in which his penalty shot was off-target. Would he be able to make amends this time? At first it appeared that the answer was ‘no’, as Neto Murara got his hands to the ball and deflected it away from goal, but Salah quickly hit the back of the net from the rebound, putting Liverpool ahead for the first time in the game.
In the final few minutes of the first half, there were a few scares for the Reds as Bournemouth chased an equaliser. However, the team worked hard to successfully close the Cherries down on numerous occasions in order to maintain their 2-1 lead at half-time.
In the second half, Liverpool came out of the traps with much more intent than they had in the first half, and Jota had a couple of promising scoring opportunities in the 50th and 51st minutes, but was unable to hit the back of the net on either occasion.
In the 58th minute, Jota had another shot on goal, which was blocked by Illya Zabarnyi. Ryan Christie then attempted to carry the ball away from Bournemouth’s box, before he was fouled by Mac Allister – a challenge which saw the Argentine player sent off in his Anfield debut. While Mac Allister’s challenge was late with a high boot, it seemed to lack the intensity required for a straight red card, and Liverpool made a successful appeal against the decision yesterday, meaning that Mac Allister will not have to serve a 3-game ban, and will be available for the Reds’ visit to St James’ Park on Sunday.
Nonetheless, the Reds had to see out the remainder of the game with ten men – a daunting prospect against a fast-paced Bournemouth side. Their hopes of walking away with 3 points were massively boosted just 4 minutes later however, when Szoboszlai’s shot on goal was deflected by Neto Muraro into the path of Jota, who finally secured a goal in this game.
Liverpool were 3-1 up, and Endo was subsequently brought on for his Liverpool debut, in which he and his nine new teammates had the task of maintaining their lead for the remaining half hour. This was a task that Liverpool completed successfully, despite some scruffy moments, with Van Dijk in particular making some crucial tackles and interceptions. Despite the promising attempts that Bournemouth had on goal, Alisson delivered an impressive display of his goalkeeping prowess in order to deny the Cherries the chance to leave Anfield with a point. The Cherries’ inability to score once Liverpool went down to 10 men frustrated Iraola, who later claimed that his side “weren’t really productive” with their opportunities in the closing stages of the game.
The Reds’ 3-1 victory saw them finally re-enter the top 4 in the Premier League for the first time in 454 days. While it wasn’t a game that they dominated as much as they may have been expected to, the overall performance offered glimmers of hope for the season ahead. Being 1-0 down against Bournemouth in the 3rd minute and down to 10 men in the 58th minute would most likely have caused last year’s Liverpool to crumble, but the resilience and problem-solving ability that the team demonstrated on Saturday suggests that this season they are much better-equipped to deal with adverse circumstances. Klopp seemed to reflect this sentiment somewhat in his post-match press conference. “The boys played really well. They all worked really hard”, he stated. This attitude could prove invaluable as the season progresses.
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