The late show from AFCB was far too late

It was not so much of a surprise that a Liverpool game was going to include a bit of a late show. What the crowd might not have expected though was for AFCB to be the ones that were trying to claw back the game in such energetic style, in the last 10 minutes, against a Liverpool side who had beat Borussia Dortmund with some late finishing last week.

The game needed a Bournemouth goal to get the home crowd really pushing the players on, but it came far too late. Josh King had been the best AFCB player all game and might well have scored earlier but when he did it was almost even more frustrating as the fans knew that it was a token gift that would not really count for much with 90+3 minutes on the clock.

The Cherries found Liverpool hard to breakdown.

The question is why were AFCB slow to get going? Liverpool were said to be the reason as their young players really controlled the game. Max Gradel could not get any joy on the left and Matt Ricthie was also quiet on the right wing. Playing out through the middle also saw AFCB lose the ball far too often and the only pass that seemed to get the team going forward was the long ball up to King.

It is not quiet the way that Eddie asks his team to play usually. Yet, if the team can't get out on the wings the ball tends to come back and we saw Liverpool press high and keep the Cherries well penned in for much of the first half. In short, Jurgen Klopp had done his homework and it is something that Eddie Howe might look at come the summer in finding ways to vary the way the team gets the ball forward and make less mistakes in keeping the ball in the midfield especially where Liverpool were so strong.

While it was a late reply from King, it was great for the team that they did get a goal. Their second half performance deserved a reward and at least they have something positive to take into the Chelsea match knowing that they can hurt these sides.