Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Bournemouth 3 Liverpool 2 in the 2025-2026 Premier League at the Vitality Stadium…
It’s agonising. It’s a great galloping dog of a game in dreadful conditions which play their part for both sides and Liverpool claw their way back into it just to bring about greater, deeper agony.
And. Well. It is almost just funny.
Just funny is a bad state of affairs for a season in January. We shouldn’t end up there. It doesn’t bode well.
But if it isn’t goals struck by our lord and saviour at Fulham, it’s this mess exploding in Liverpudlian faces from a long throw of all things. Long throws that just take so, so long. Not only is your downfall horrendous, it happens in slow motion. My purgatory will be waiting to watch some footballer wind up a long throw.
This. This is my purgatory. And I probably deserve it.
What do they deserve? What do we deserve? What is to deserve really? Over and over it was a toss of a coin at the Vitality and in the end it falls down against The Reds. Over and over this season it has been a toss of a coin. Three times Liverpool have now dropped points in injury time from a set-piece goal on the road.
This is the issue. It shouldn’t be a toss of a coin. This isn’t to disrespect our opponents today, more to just group them. Liverpool are coming up against sides with half their budget and not making the gap tell as the game wears on. Liverpool aren’t settling the argument.
Liverpool aren’t good enough in this game and in so many league games this season. You can have hard lines and one of them over and over but when you do the truth ceases to be hard lines. The truth becomes not being anywhere near good enough.
The best thing about Marseille was you could see how Liverpool could settle the argument. The worst thing about this 90 odd minutes is that it felt entirely beyond The Reds from early on. They were in one and they were offering encouragement.
However, you don’t need to encourage Bournemouth. Bournemouth are the very essence of ‘game’. They constantly want to attack and showing weakness is the absolute essence of red rag to a bull – and then there is the winner which is said bull, in a china shop.
But the issue now post Marseille is that it hasn’t been built upon. Not in approach, not in focus. Liverpool end up just looking less serious when Saturday rolls round.
Some weeks ago I said that this was one of those seasons where the corner will never be turned. It’s worth remembering in 22/23 the next league game after Liverpool 7 Manchester United 0 was Bournemouth 1 Liverpool 0. Not turning the corner though isn’t the same as never putting one from in front of another.
Liverpool just can’t do that at the moment. They haven’t been able to all season.
Liverpool have only managed to have one good week all season. A good week is three good results in a week. There are reasons for that which stem from above the manager but at every opportunity he anchors himself to those people. But what this means is that he hasn’t had three good days at the office in a row.
Arne Slot and those above him have ended up with the worst case scenario after a summer gamble which opened up too many bad case scenarios. Everyone involved needs to carry that.
But Arne is in the big chair. Should it be perceived that big of a chair? Well, Liverpool don’t get to decide with their structures. The game decides – Slot will always be front and centre. The chair is as big as it gets and this year it has proven as hard as you can imagine.
His squad isn’t deep enough and his squad just is no longer injury hit beyond reasonable expectations. Two things are true: The lack of depth makes having a good week harder. He should still be capable of that with these players.
These players. A bad day at some of their offices. Goalkeeper and captain are very poor at key moments and it is reasonable to expect far better from both. Van Dijk’s error for the first goal leads not only to the ball hitting our net but to Gomez’s ridiculously unfortunate injury. It leads to Liverpool not being able to make the change. It leads to 2-0 and it leads to Liverpool being completely snookered.
The game gets shredded in the second-half in Liverpool’s desperation to get back into it and by the time they do it is fair to say nobody on the pitch is actually playing well anymore. Nobody for Liverpool, nobody for Bournemouth. There is just fucking football everywhere and Liverpool cannot tame it, their opposition, themselves. There will be one throw after another. Strap yourselves in. Slowly.
The story of the season unfolds after James Hill trots across the pitch: Liverpool are not good enough to escape their fate. They, we, us are ground down by it.
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