Liverpool exhausted their efforts in a late defeat against Bournemouth.
BOURNEMOUTH, England — Arne Slot acknowledged that Liverpool “ran out of energy” during their 3-2 loss to AFC Bournemouth and stated that his team can only hold themselves accountable for the additional points dropped in the Premier League.
The Reds rallied from a two-goal deficit at the Vitality Stadium, but Amine Adli scored a decisive goal in the 95th minute, securing all three points for the home side.
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This result leaves Slot’s team winless in five league matches, having garnered only four points from the last 15 available.
Liverpool sits in fourth place — 14 points behind leaders Arsenal — but could potentially drop to eighth by the end of the weekend.
“It’s frustrating because conceding a goal is always disappointing, especially when there is no time left to recover,” the Liverpool manager remarked. “However, I think it is fair to say they could have scored the third goal a bit earlier. After we equalized at 2-2, we were still pushing, but it is fair to say that some of our players ran out of steam.”
“I can’t even fault them because just two days ago we played away in Europe, and we are the only team that participated in the Champions League on Wednesday with only two days between matches, facing another away game against one of the most intense teams in the league.”
Slot made a single alteration to the lineup — Cody Gakpo replaced Hugo Ekitike — following their 3-0 Champions League victory in Marseille on Wednesday night.
Liverpool’s injury roster includes defenders Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni, along with forwards Alexander Isak and Federico Chiesa.
“As you can see, I primarily played the same players due to our available options,” Slot noted.
“Thus, what should not have occurred if you aim to secure a win in the end, as that complicates matters. This was evident in the final 10 minutes because we dominated the game for the rest of it.”
Liverpool allowed two goals within a span of seven minutes in the first half, during which they also lost defender Joe Gomez to injury.
Slot’s team was briefly down to 10 players when Álex Jiménez scored Bournemouth’s second goal seven minutes later, as substitute Wataru Endo was still waiting to come on for the injured Gomez, who had collided with goalkeeper Alisson Becker while attempting to block the initial goal.
When asked if that period influenced the outcome, Slot replied: “There were only seven minutes where I wouldn’t even say we were struggling, but where the other team was also part of the game, and in those seven minutes, we conceded two.”
“Certainly, the second goal came when we were down to 10 men because after the first goal, Joe Gomez had to leave the field due to injury. He wanted to continue. He believed he could, but ultimately he couldn’t.”
“And perhaps that encapsulates our season. It’s always something different. It’s always a unique way we concede. But we concede, and the only ones to blame are ourselves.”
PA contributed to this report.
