BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - Sunday, April 17, 2016: Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge celebrates scoring the second goal against Bournemouth with team-mate Jordon Ibe during the FA Premier League match at Dean Court. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

BEFORE the game everyone just wanted to talk about Thursday. Saw our mate James Cutler and he said he wasn’t over it. That was the general feeling. We won and then we drank and now we’re here.

It must have felt like that for the players, too, so Jürgen was right to change so many. Lads with points to prove, desperate to get in the Thursday night team offered much more value than better players jogging about with their heads in a daze.

Even when nothing was happening, we looked more likely. Better forwards will do that. Passes for show, goals for dough. Liverpool had more threat and therefore more goals and therefore won. Sometimes it’s that easy.

Let’s get the Derby done and see them go again against Newcastle.

Danny Ward: 8

Shame for him we conceded late because he deserved a clean sheet. Can be rightly proud of his debut. Good distribution, too.

Connor Randall: 6

Quiet but fine. Makes you feel we can play anyone full back if we have Sturridge up front.

Brad Smith: 6
Can be more of an asset going forward than we managed to make use of. But nothing wrong with a solid 90 at this stage of his career.

Lucas Leiva: 7

Lost a lot of foot races in the channels, but stuck at his task well. Positions himself perfectly on crosses and knows when to step out.

Kolo Toure: 6

Shame to see him go off. Dependable in these situations.

Kevin Stewart: 7

Bit more confident in his passing today. Defensively solid as always.

Joe Allen: 8
Almost captains this scratch side now. Brilliant moment when he won it high up and then played a reverse pass for Sturridge to hit the post. Sign him up.

Jordon Ibe: 7

Having seemingly been so far out of favour he played maturely. Involved in lots of our good play and both of the goals.

Sheyi Ojo: 6

Quiet-ish but then has a magic moment first half. Still getting to grips with himself and the standard, but the flashes show his potential. Worth remembering he is 18 years old.

Roberto Firmino: 6

Still not convinced he is a 10. Wants to decorate games rather than run them. Knows where the goal is though, doesn’t he?

Daniel Sturridge: 9

Oozes class, can create or score out of nothing. Gets one, but unlucky not to go hone with the ball after hitting the woodwork twice.

SUBS

Mamadou Sakho: 6

Tough to come on cold at centre half, but to his credit that it wasn’t really noticed.

Divock Origi: 6

Had a nice jog around.

Adam Lallana: 6

Had a nice jog around.