Jurgen Klopp admits Bournemouth defeat was a ‘huge blow’ for Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp admitted the defeat at struggling Bournemouth was a “huge blow” for Liverpool and pointed to poor away form as the reason behind their inconsistent Premier League campaign.

The Reds were brought back to earth when Philip Billing scored the only goal of the game that gave the Cherries a 1-0 win, six days after Liverpool’s 7-0 win over bitter rivals Manchester United.

Mohamed Salah fired a second-half penalty wide to round up a poor performance on a wet and windy south coast afternoon, with Liverpool missing a chance to finish in the top four ahead of the second leg of their Champions League game against Real Madrid .

“There’s a lot to do, but today isn’t the moment to talk about it,” said Klopp after the game. “This game was a massive hit. You know how it is with punches, you have to take them and see how big the scars are and go from there.

Only Arsenal and Manchester City, the league’s top two teams, have better home records than Liverpool – but they have won just three of their 13 games away from Anfield and lost seven.

“Affected? Yes, I see it,” Klopp said of his side’s performances on the road. “In home games we’re in the top four, but in away games we’re not even in Europe, there’s always a reason and ours Away results are certain (the reason).

“That was a big strength for us last year, it made a big difference, but that’s the way it is.

“We get a penalty, miss the penalty and it looked to me a bit like we were going to get a decent boost there but we didn’t and then you could see we were in a bit of a rush, us have done not create enough. We lost the game and it’s very, very, very frustrating.”

Bournemouth were two goals clear of leaders Arsenal last week only to suffer defeat in added time but their reaction here was admirable.

Billing converted a lively Dango Ouattara cross just before the half-hour mark to put the hosts ahead, who staunchly defended their advantage.

“We absolutely deserve it and I’m really happy for the boys,” said head coach Gary O’Neil.

“The performances in the last three games against top opponents were very good. The stuff that’s been going against us lately, we should definitely move a little bit in our direction.

“To concede the late goal at Arsenal and show what they’re made of, I was asked if they had a hangover from what happened at Arsenal, that (performance) was your answer.”

O’Neil’s side were undoubtedly boosted by the return of David Brooks to a matchday squad for the first time in 525 days. The Wales midfielder was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2021.

“I felt privileged to be able to sit down with him yesterday and tell him,” O’Neil added.

“For him and his family and the journey he’s been on and going through, I was absolutely happy for him.

“We still have to be realistic about how much he can do at the moment. I really wanted to try to sign him at some point, but the game didn’t really go that way.”