Arne Slot: Liverpool boss cites atmosphere, match pressure and injuries after shock loss to Bournemouth | Football news

Liverpool boss Arne Slot says his side have themselves to blame for their 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth despite pointing out the atmosphere, congestion and injuries after the game.

Amine Adli scored a last-minute winner with a last-gasp kick to end Liverpool’s 13-match unbeaten run with their seventh defeat of the Premier League campaign.

Liverpool sit fourth after the defeat – 14 points clear of leaders Arsenal – and could drop out of the Champions League places if Manchester United and Chelsea play on Sunday.

The defeat came three days after the Reds thrashed Marseille 3-0 away from home in the Champions League and despite Slot saying “we’re the ones to blame” in the post-match press conference, the Reds boss was quick to criticize the short change between games, which left his players “burned out” on Saturday.

“Perhaps that sums up our season. Every time there is something else, it is always something special, how we agree but we agree. We are to blame,” he said.

Slot added: “I think it’s safe to say they could have made it 3-2 early on. A few of our players were out of steam, and I can’t blame them for that.

“Two days ago we had to play an away game in Europe. We are the only team that played the Champions League with two days in between.

“After the away game, another away game against one of the most intense teams.”

Why Slot and Van Dijk blame the wind for the loss

Despite a backlog of games for his struggling team, Slot also pointed to the spirit after the defeat, along with captain Virgil van Dijk.

Van Dijk had an afternoon to forget after failing to clear Bournemouth’s first goal from Evanilson, playing Alejandro Jimenez in the second half and tripping over teammate Curtis Jones amid the chaos of Adli’s late winner.

Talking to Sky SportsVan Dijk said: “The first goal I think was a difficult ball judging by the situation. The atmosphere was intense.

“I fully commit even though it was a difficult ball to judge.”

Regarding the late winner, Van Dijk added: “All I felt on that pitch was that I was being blocked. The referee and the VAR didn’t give it to me.

“We have to accept it. I can stand here and say that it should not be given to us but to those who are there. This is what it is.”

Slot was also asked about Van Dijk’s mistake in the opening game, where he defended his player and admitted that the wind played a role.

He said: “It is not fair for Virgil to blame him for the first goal.

“He wasn’t the only one struggling with the wind.”

Are there more or more?

The mountain that caused Liverpool to go up after the first goal stretched more than just the goal line.

While trying to prevent the opener, Joe Gomez took an injury, which Slot has confirmed was knocking from “bone to bone contact” with Alisson Becker.

With Gomez injured, Liverpool were forced to play with 10 men for nine minutes and opted not to kick the ball for substitutions, which led to Bournemouth scoring their second.

“The second goal was when we reached 10. After the first goal, Joe Gomez had to come out. He wanted to try, he thought he could, but he couldn’t,” said Slot.

“I tried to shout at them to get the ball out but we were relieved. When we lost, it was the opposite. But even if you are 10 years old, the way we scored that goal was not intentional because we scored 10.

“Just a defender who surprised our defender in a situation where we could have done better.”

Another game, another injury for Liverpool

Gomez will now join a growing list of players left out of the slot, with Conor Bradley, Federico Chiesa, Alexander Isak, Ibrahima Konate, Giovanni Leoni and Stefan Bajcetic all missing games.

Slot’s initial comments suggested he did not want to make excuses but the Liverpool manager then explained that the injury problems plaguing his side explained why they were unable to repeat the success in all competitions like last season.

Slot continued: “I have to thank my players. You went 2-0 down but we showed the mentality and being in a position to get back to the strongest team in the league – and they have to play once a week.

“That’s no excuse; a club like Liverpool usually plays three times a week. But we do it with the same players.

“Last season we didn’t have three long-term injury problems, as you can see from the schedule, I decided not to play Hugo. [Ekitike]. That’s not because I don’t like him,” said Slot.

“That’s because I have one No 9 available in the coming weeks and months. With so many games to play, you have to manage his minutes.”

Therefore, they have only themselves to blame – along with the atmosphere, the congestion and the injuries.