Liverpool unwrap Bournemouth before Christmas 0-4

Match Report

AFCB 0 v 4 Liverpool

17 December 2017

Attendance: 10,780

Bournemouth welcome Liverpool.

There was lots of Christmas cheer around Dean Court, but it was Liverpool that had good reason to be celebrating and not the Cherries. Liverpool are a good side but they didn't have to work overly hard for this result. Slack tackles and open invitations to score soon saw Liverpool rack up the goals in the first half with Coutinho, Lovren and Salah putting Liverpool in an unassailable lead before the break. Bournemouth might have nipped one goal back by Jerman Defoe but his shot came off the inside of the post when Bournemouth were 0-2 down and they didn't rally after that. Instead Roberto Fermino added to the lead with a fourth goal to give Liverpool a comfortable away victory. 

Liverpool prepare for kick-off.

It was quite a shake up from the team that lost narrowly at Old Trafford. Out went Harry Arter, Junior Stanislas, Dan Gosling, Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson. In came Jordan Ibe, Marc Pugh, Lewis Cook, Andrew Surman and Jermain Defoe.

More pictures are on Match Day Gallery.

Bournemouth were alert from the start with the runs of of Fermino who Francis shadowed. Charlie Daniels had to be constantly aware of Mo Salah on his shoulder as well.

Aké was less fortunate to be given a yellow card when trying to get to the ball ahead of Fermino. Referee Paul Mariner shocked the home crowd though by not only giving a free kick but by booking Aké for what seemed an accidental collision. Coutinho sized  up the wall and bent his shot that struck the post and rebounded  harmlessly out. Salah was not to shoot having made a turn inside the box but he lent back and shot over the bar.

King was then fouled but there was no yellow card for Lovren - a bit of double standards from Andre Mainer. Bournemouth tried their best to come forward and Defoe laid off a pass to Ibe who shot straight at Mignolet.

But Liverpool would soon take a firm grip on the game. Coutinho hugged the left wing before coming inside and turning Francis inside out. A further dropped shoulder and Coutinho opened up a shooting chance which he took with great skill to beat Begovic and put Liverpool 0-1 up on 20 minutes. Robertson was used well as a decoy, but Francis and Lewis Cook will be horrified when they watch this one back. They should have kept Coutinho out wide as he is devastating when he cuts in.

Mo Salah was not having quite such an easy task in passing Daniels but he had a shot go wide before Liverpool's second goal came after some hapless defending. A Liverpool corner was knocked on by Wjnaldum and at the far post Fermino managed to keep the ball in and headed it back to the six yard area where Lovren stooped low to head in. Eddie Howe will have nightmares about how Bournemouth failed to get the ball away. 

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Worse still Josh King appeared to hurt his hamstring and was subbed for Junior Stanislas on 30 minutes. For Bournemouth just to get a corner seemed a minor victory. But Lewis Cook and Stanislas got Bournemouth in a good position and Defoe took over finding himself in the clear only to shoot against the post, when he had beaten Mignolet. The ball span out though and along the goal line rather than nestle in the net.

Bournemouth then had more defending to do as Coutinho put Salah in and Begovic had to come out. The former-Chelsea keeper made a fantastic save with the ball almost going underneath him. Salah was completely stunned that he hadn't scored.

Salah was not to be denied for long though. A darting run up the right and he finally beat Daniels and even though he was held up for a second he soon recovered to turn and fire across Begovic for Liverpool's third just before half time. Marc Pugh was caught by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but again no yellow for the Liverpool player.

Stanislas and Gomez walk off at half time with Liverpool 0-3 up.

Second half

Bournemouth subbed Marc Pugh and put Ryan Fraser on for the second half. Bournemouth still could not get on the right wavelength with Stanislas and Ibe seeing their counter-attack break down. 

A good move from Bournemouth did see Stanislas link well with Ryan Fraser on the right and the wee-man got in for a shot but put it into the side netting.

Cahrlie Daniels game was run and he was replaced by Steve Cook on 56 minutes. Begovic then had to save well from Oxlade-Chamberlain after Ibe had lost the ball.

Defoe made Mignolet work as well with a well hit sot but Liverpool's keeper made a fine full stretch save to his left and Stanislas could not get to the rebound. Nothing came of Bournemouth's corner.

It summed up Bournemouth's afternoon when a long pass from Stanislas went right under Ibe's foot and out of play. 

Liverpool were intent on scoring more goals and they managed it when Coutinho put in a cross from the left and Fermino got his head to the ball to make it 0-4 on 65 minutes.

Bournemouth still tried to make blocks but it was damage limitation now.Even with Mo Salah coming off Liverpool could put Adam Lallana on. Lallana was perhaps not fully up to speed when he fouled Ibe and picked up a yellow card. At least Mariner had levelled up the scores on the yellow cards.

Fermino was replaced by Solanke before Oxlade-Chamberlain put another shot wide. Danny Inges came on to applause as he replaced Coutinho with three minutes to go and immediately had a chance to score but fired wide of the left post.

Three minutes of added time could not go quick enough for Bournemouth and it was a relief when the final whistle blew.

A thumping for Bournemouth.

Summary

This was not a great time for Bournemouth to get pummelled at home. They were never really in the game and as soon as Liverpool got the lead there was a deflating feeling that fell on the home crowd and it was hard for the players to respond. Bournemouth were not winning their individual battles and Liverpool were given far too much space to deliver balls into their forward players. Henderson must have felt like it was his birthday as he'll find it hard to get many games with such an incredible amount of time to make his passes. The tackles didn't come in and it was not long before Liverpool's front players cashed in. Bournemouth will do well just to forget about this as quickly as possible as there were very few positives about this Sunday game.

AFCB Subs: Boruc, S Cook, Fraser, Arter, Gosling, Stanislas, Afobe

AFCB Ratings

Begovic 6, A Smith 4, Francis 4, Aké 6, Daniels 6, Ibe 5, L Cook 4, Surman 4, Pugh 4,
King 5, Defoe 6

MoM: Charlie Daniels had the hardest job in keeping Sala quiet and he did well up to the Salah goal and it was a shame he had to come off in the second half.

Liverpool
Mignolet, Gomez, Lovren, Klavan, Robertson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Wijnaldum
Salah (Lallana), Firmino (Solanke), Coutinho (Ings)

Liverpool Subs
Karius, Milner, Mané, Lallana, Ings, Solanke, Alexander-Arnold

Referee Watch: Andre Mariner - 2/10 should never have booked Aké in the first half and was lenient on fouls from Liverpool that deserved equal treatment if he really thought Aké's challenge was a yellow.