Jurgen Klopp makes ‘deserved’ claim after Liverpool’s shock defeat to Bournemouth

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was ‘absolutely disappointed’ with his side’s performance after Bournemouth pulled off a shock 1-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.

A first-half goal from Phillip Billing was enough to secure all three points for the home side but the Reds squandered a great chance to fire back in the second half as Mohamed Salah fired uncharacteristically wide. Klopp’s side toiled in the second half but struggled to create anything of note as they missed out on the chance to go level on points with Tottenham in fourth place.

Speaking after the game to BT Sport, Klopp expressed his disappointment in his side’s performance but also complimented Bournemouth, who he claimed were ‘deserved winners’.

“Absolutely [disappointed], absolutely. I think the spaces we had to play in were super clear, super open, and we didn’t use them often enough - the spaces next to their two midfielders, the rest was more or less busy with covering other spaces.

“But we didn’t use that often enough, didn’t enjoy the challenge enough to face a deep, compact side.

“Bournemouth deserved all three points today. Bournemouth are fighting to stay in the league, wonderful club, wonderful city, they want to stay in and they do really well. Results were not going in the right direction in the last few months but the performances look different and so they deserve the three points today, that’s it.”

That loss means that Liverpool have won just one game away from home in 2023 and that was their 12th defeat in all competitions this season. Furthermore, having played five times at 12:30pm this season in the league, they’ve failed to win in any of those five games - drawing three times, losing twice and only managing two goals during that time.

Next up is the trip to the Bernabeu in the Champions League as they look to overturn a 5-2 deficit from the first leg.