Liverpool boss Arne Slot says his side have only themselves to blame for the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth despite citing the wind, congestion and post-match injuries.
Amine Adli bagged a last-gasp winner with almost the final kick to end Liverpool’s 13-match unbeaten run with a seventh defeat of the Premier League campaign.
Liverpool remain fourth after the defeat – 14 points adrift of leaders Arsenal – and could slip out of the Champions League places when Manchester United and Chelsea play on Sunday.
The loss came three days after the Reds beat Marseille 3-0 away in the Champions League, and despite Slot saying “the only people to blame is ourselves” during his post-match press conference, the Reds boss was quick to criticize the short turnaround between games which left his players “running out of energy” on Saturday.
“Maybe that sums up our season. Every time something different, every time it’s something special, how we concede, but we concede. The only ones to blame is ourselves,” he said.
Slot added: “I think it’s safe to say they could have scored 3-2 a bit earlier. Some of our players ran out of energy and I can’t fault them for that.
“Two days ago we had to play an away game in Europe. We are the only team that played in the Champions League that has two days in between.
“After an away game, another away game against one of the most intense teams.”
Why Slot and Van Dijk blamed wind for loss
As well as piling up on his injury-riddled squad, Slot also referred to the wind in the wake of the defeat alongside captain Virgil van Dijk.
Van Dijk had an afternoon to forget after failing to clear the ball for Bournemouth’s first goal from Evanilson, playing in Alejandro Jimenez for the second and then tripping team-mate Curtis Jones in the chaos for Adli’s late winner.
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Amine Adil grabbed the most dramatic win for Bournemouth over Liverpool.
speaks to Sky Sportssaid Van Dijk: “The first goal I think it was a difficult ball to judge in the circumstances. The wind was difficult.
“I take full responsibility, even though it was a difficult ball to judge.”
On the late winner, Van Dijk added: “What I felt on that pitch was that I was clearly blocked. The referee gives that and VAR doesn’t.
“We’re going to have to accept it. I can stand here and say it shouldn’t be given, but it was. It is what it is.”
Slot was also asked about Van Dijk’s mistake for the opener, defending his player and agreeing that the wind played a role.
He said: “It’s not entirely fair to Virgil to blame him for the first goal. You could see throughout the game how much the wind had an effect.
“He wasn’t the only one fighting the wind.”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk complains about Bournemouth’s late winner
Outnumbered or outclassed?
The mountain created for Liverpool to climb after the first goal stretched further than just the goal line.
While trying to prevent the opener, Joe Gomez suffered an injury that Slot has since confirmed as a blow from “bone-to-bone contact” with Alisson Becker.
With Gomez injured, Liverpool were forced to play with 10 men for nine minutes and opted not to kick the ball out to make a substitution, which led to Bournemouth scoring their second.
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Jamie Redknapp criticized the time Liverpool took to replace Joe Gomez as Bournemouth doubled their lead while the defender was injured, branding it ‘amateur’
“The second goal was when we were down 10. After the first goal, Joe Gomez had to go off. He wanted to try, he thought he could, but then he couldn’t,” Slot said.
“I tried to scream at them to punch the ball out, but we were pretty comfortable. When we lost it, it was the opposite. But even if you’re down 10, the way we closed that goal out wasn’t specifically because we were down 10.
“It’s just a winger surprising our back in a situation where we could have done better.”
Another game, another injury for Liverpool
Gomez will now join a growing list of players on the sidelines for Slot, with Conor Bradley, Federico Chiesa, Alexander Isak, Ibrahima Konate, Giovanni Leoni and Stefan Bajcetic all missing the game.
Slot’s initial comments suggested he did not want to make excuses, but the Liverpool boss then explained that injury problems plaguing his side explain why they have been unable to replicate the successes across all competitions of last season.
Slot continued: “I have to credit my players. You go down 2-0 but we showed the mentality and fitness to come back against one of the strongest teams in the league – and they only have to play once a week.
“It’s not an excuse; a club like Liverpool is used to playing three times a week. But we do it mainly with the same players.
“Last season we didn’t have three long-term injuries. As you can see in the line-up, I decided not to play Hugo [Ekitike]. It’s not that I don’t like him,” Slot said.
“That’s because I have a No. 9 available for the coming weeks and months. With so many games to play, you have to manage his minutes.”
So they only have themselves to blame – plus the wind, fixture overload and damage.