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Beth Lindop
BOURNEMOUTH, England — Arne Slot acknowledged that Liverpool “ran out of steam” during their 3-2 loss to AFC Bournemouth, attributing the result to their own shortcomings in securing necessary points in the Premier League.
The Reds fought back from a two-goal deficit at the Vitality Stadium, only for Amine Adli to score a dramatic winning goal in the 95th minute, securing all three points for Bournemouth.
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As a result, Slot’s team has now gone five league games without a win, accumulating just four points out of the last 15 available.
Liverpool remains in fourth place, trailing leaders Arsenal by 14 points, but could drop to eighth by the end of the weekend.
“It’s disheartening, especially conceding a goal with so little time left to respond,” the Liverpool manager remarked. “However, I believe it’s fair to say some of our players were fatigued.” He noted that the team had just two days to recover after playing an away match in Europe.
Slot made a single change to his lineup, bringing in Cody Gakpo to replace Hugo Ekitike after they achieved a 3-0 Champions League victory in Marseille a few days earlier.
Liverpool’s injury woes currently affect defenders Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni, as well as forwards Alexander Isak and Federico Chiesa.
“I had to rely on the same players due to our limited availability,” Slot remarked, emphasizing that such a situation should not have led to a defeat. “Our performance was generally strong, but it became challenging in the last 10 minutes.”
Liverpool conceded two goals within seven minutes of the first half, during which they also lost defender Joe Gomez to injury.
Slot’s team briefly found themselves down to ten men when Álex Jiménez scored Bournemouth’s second goal just minutes after Gomez’s departure due to injury, which occurred as he collided with goalkeeper Alisson Becker while attempting to defend the first goal.
When asked if that critical period affected the outcome, Slot responded, “There were only seven minutes where I wouldn’t say we struggled, but the other team started to perform. Unfortunately, in that time frame, we conceded two goals.” He added, “We always seem to find a unique way to concede at crucial moments, but the blame lies solely with us.”
Contributions from PA were included in this report.