Maybe they should have saved some of those goals from last weekend for today. Liverpool have been utterly embarrassed by 20th placed AFC Bournemouth as the Reds lost 1-0 and blew yet another chance at the Top-4.
Ah, now all the banter can end.
As a Manchester United fan, to say that this past week was one of the most insufferable in recent memory would be an understatement as United not only got utterly trounced and humiliated by Liverpool 7-0 (at Anfield, no less), but the entire English football pyramid has been laughing at the club and the fans relentlessly.
Whether it’s the 7-up jokes, numerous references to the number 7, or the many, many, many 7-0 memes that have been circulating around the internet, Liverpool’s historic 7-0 win over United seemed like it was going to last in the memories of Liverpool fans for a long time. Well, it should have if it was not for the Reds choking big time against Bournemouth earlier today!
How does Liverpool go from beating the statical 3rd best team in England (yes, Man United were in 3rd place when Liverpool tombstone piledrived them 7-0) to then lose to the statistical worst team in the Premier League 1-0 the next week. That’s an 8-goal swing in a span of seven days!
Sure, Liverpool dominated the statical side of the game today as they finished with 70% possession, 15 shots, 6 shots on target, over 630 passes (637 to be exact), 83% passing accuracy, and 8 corners, but what did they actually create? Cody Gakpo scored a blatantly offside goal in the 12th minute, Van Dijk had a header go wide in the late in the first half, and Diogo Jota got off a good shot early in the second half. But that’s it.
Darwin Nunez wasn’t playing against Man United which caused his shooting boots to desert him, Cody Gakpo grew back into his old ways of blasting shots over the bar, Diogo Jota had a few half chances, and the subs were useless.
Obviously, there was Mo Salah’s penalty, which he hilariously skyrocketed out of Vitality Stadium (I mean, it wasn’t even close to hitting the net), but he shouldn’t have even had a penalty in the first place. Adam Smith, the Bournemouth defender penalized on the play, was in midair, his back to the ball, and was looking in the opposite direction when Diogo Jota’s goalward header struck his arm.
I don’t know what he was supposed to do as a defender in that situation? Morph out of reality?
Though, I do know what Liverpool’s defenders should have been doing today: DEFENDING! Especially Virgil Van Dijk.
This was the single-worst performance I’ve ever seen out of Van Dijk as he not only was getting beat by the likes of Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing, and Dango Ouattara on a regular basis, but he also gave up on plays. Now, I’m not trying to insult these forwards/advanced midfielders as they are good enough to be in the Premier League, but Virgil Van Dijk is a past Premier League and Champions League winner.
He’s on an entirely different level.
He should never be beaten by these players in a game once, let alone on multiple occasions. As for giving up on plays, his lack of effort directly led to Bournemouth’s (and the game) first and only goal. Van Dijk literally let Ouattara run past him IN HIS OWN BOX and get a good cross off, which landed directly in Philip Billing’s path.
And the longtime Bournemouth midfielder only had to tap the ball past Alisson to give Bournemouth the win and end all of Liverpool’s joy.
Now, I’m not too sure this result will stop Liverpool (5th: 42 PTS) from getting into the Top-4 as even though they are in 5th place and are 6 points behind Tottenham, they still have a game in hand over the London club.
As for Bournemouth, this was a huge win as they jumped three places from 20th to 17th in a weakened, keeping them just above the drop zone by 1 point now. I still think they’re destined for relegation, but this win gives them a tremendous chance of staying up with just 12 games left in the season. The Premier League relegation race is just that crazy this season for a team who entered the day in 20th place to jump to 17th and safety by the end.
So, Liverpool fans, I guess you guys got Cherryed-up by Bournemouth! Get it?
Ok…yeah, that was brutal. I’ll just show myself the way out.
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