Liverpool suffered a 1-0 defeat away at Bournemouth on Saturday, with Mohamed Salah missing a second-half penalty. Philip Billing’s goal lifted the south-coast side out of the Premier League relegation zone.
Liverpool started well, with Salah scuffing an early shot on goal and Cody Gakpo having an effort ruled out for offside. Bournemouth defender Jefferson Lerma also cleared a Virgil van Dijk header off the line. However, the visitors’ wheels quickly came off.
Bournemouth’s Dango Outtara fired wide after a one-on-one with Alisson. But Liverpool didn’t heed that warning and paid for it in the 28th minute when Outtara outpaced Van Dijk and squared the ball for Billing to steer home.
Former Liverpool player Dominic Solanke almost added a second just before the break, and Billing went sprawling in the box, but his appeals for a penalty were waved away.
Diogo Jota came on for Harvey Elliot at halftime and quickly made his presence felt, forcing a save from Neto with a stinging shot four minutes after the break. Jota then won a penalty for Liverpool as his goal-bound header struck the arm of Adam Smith. However, Salah blasted his spot-kick high and wide of the goal in the 70th minute, deflating Liverpool entirely.
They did precious little to threaten the Bournemouth goal, with Gakpo flashing a late opportune effort over the bar as their attack came up short again.
The home fans cheered every tackle and clearance, erupting in joy at the final whistle as their side put some daylight between themselves and the rest of the clubs at the bottom of the table.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was left to pick over the remains of another poor performance from his side in a season that has never really got going for them. Klopp said, “The spaces where we wanted to play were super clear, they were super open… we didn’t use that often enough, we didn’t enjoy the challenge of facing a deep, compact side,” declining to blame the defeat on Salah’s penalty miss.
»Liverpool suffers defeat against Bournemouth as Salah fails to score a penalty«
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