Match Review: Liverpool 3 – Bournemouth 1

A Liverpool South-American player sent off during his home league debut one week after the Reds drew in West London.

Sounds familiar? Astonishingly, this has now happened for two seasons in a row. But the superstitious should not see much of an ominous sign that we are going to repeat the underwhelming campaign which was last season.

One week after drawing at Chelsea, Liverpool won their Saturday inaugural home match of the season against Bournemouth after Alexis Mac Allister harshly saw red for a tackle that should have normally warranted yellow.

Last season, it was instead a draw against Crystal Palace during which Darwin Nunez was given his marching orders for a head butt. One week before that, the Reds were held to a draw at Chelsea’s close neighbours, Fulham.

If Anfield was stunned into silence when ref Thomas Bramall controversially flashed red to Mac Allister on the 58th minute, what followed was the complete opposite.

The Merseysiders were galvanised after being reduced to 10 men. They surged to their best spell of the match and scored a third goal 4 minutes later to put some daylight between themselves and the South Coast team.

Diogo Jota scored on a rebound from close range at the Kop end after Noberto Neto had blocked a long-range shot by Dominik Szoboszlai.

The Hungarian himself was not fazed by his Anfield debut. He bossed the midfield with incessant surging runs as Liverpool kept knocking at Bournemouth’s door only to be denied by some finishing that could have been better.

It should not be surprising to see the Number 8 running at the opposition with boundless energy throughout any game. During pre-season training, he made the much-dreaded lactate test look like a stroll in the park, contrasting with the other players who huffed and puffed through it.

If our engine room last season appeared to be running out of steam under the weight of ageing midfielders, Szoboszlai will likely be its fresh spark plug this time around.

In fact, he also won a penalty on the 36th minute, being hacked down on the edge of Bournemouth’s penalty box.

Mo Salah made no mistake this time. He atoned for his missed penalty last March at the Vitality Stadium even though it took him a follow-up on the rebound after his initial spot kick was blocked.

This was Liverpool taking the lead for the first time in the match. They had equalized some 10 minutes before by a one-of-a-kind Luis Diaz overhead kick from a Jota cutback from the right. Two in two for the Colombian who looks determined to catch up the time lost last season because of injury.

Woeful start

Until then, the Reds did not have the best of starts. The initial periods were shockingly atrocious for the home side.

Jaidon Anthony had the ball at the back of the Liverpool net in less than 60 seconds. He pounced after taking advantage of Iboue Konaté and Alisson Becker getting in each other’s way while dealing with a long searching pass from Marcos Senesi deep in the Cherries defence.

Thankfully Anthony was offside but as you would think Liverpool would take heed of the warning signs, his fellow midfielder Antoine Semenyo opened the score less than 2 minutes later.

Trent Alexander-Arnold was dispossessed in midfield and former Reds Dominic Solanke ended up as beneficiary. His attempt to have a go ran into a wall of Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson and the ball bobbled to Semenyo who struck from 15 yards out.

The pressing game

If Anfield is a hotbed of the pressing game, it was the visitors who were exulting in it during the first 20 minutes.

Even our Egyptian King was at the receiving end, being similarly dispossessed on the 19th minute before Solanke shot just over Alisson’s goal posts.

The saving grace of Liverpool conceding so early was the plenty of time left to come back.

It was not really a surprise that they did and bagged all the 3 points at the end. But would they be able to do so against an opposition of a different calibre?

Being dispossessed in midfield and Mac Allister seeing red, showed how crucial the Merseysiders need a recognised defensive midfielder.

The signing of Wataru Endo from Stuttgart merely 24 hours before this match was all significant as his introduction just after Liverpool had gone 3-1 up helped to put a reassuring mature presence in that anchor role. The Japanese looks like a most probable starter at St James’ Park next weekend.

Bournemouth could have reduced their deficit but defining saves from Alisson denied Kieffer Moore and Hamed Traore during the closing stages. Again, our Brazilian keeper contributed immensely to earning the points.

Perhaps this action-packed encounter surprised with only 4 goals in aggregate especially after we had 9 last season when Bobby Firmino memorably ran the show.

Well, if Saturday was only the beginning of how Szoboszlai can run into the opposition, The Kop will soon want you to know about him.

Mike Chung.
YNWA