Bournemouth can reboot their season with win over Liverpool

Liverpool have always provided highly entertaining games with Bournemouth and there is no reason to think that this next encounter will be anything different with both teams displaying an appetite to win games. Liverpool may have had to score late on in recent games against Everton and Burnley, but they are keeping in the heels of Man City, having not lost in the league and only drawn two games.

Simon Francis and Jordan Henderson last season at Dean Court.

For Bournemouth to get something from this game they have to be at their very, very best. But recent away performances for Klopp's side have not been particularly smooth, despite six second half goals against Burnley and Watford. At home against Everton it was even more of a struggle with a 90+6 minute winner from Divock Origi.

Mo Salah has not been quite such dazzling form as he was last season but he has still scored seven goals, just one behind Callum Wilson while Mané is on six goals. It is the form of their midfield players like James Milner and summer signing Xherdan Shaqiri that have helped Liverpool stay on course for a title challenge. Liverpool are still averaging two goals a game, but there are plenty of options for Klopp. AFCB have not seen Naby Keita yet, and he could be up against Jefferson Lerma if Klopp doesn't play Henderson, Wijnaldum or Milner.

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At the back they have been the hardest defence to play against conceding just six goals in 15 games. But Jurgen Klopp will have to make a change on Joe Gomes, who was injured in their last match against Burnley and is out for six weeks. So Dejan Lovren could be asked to step in. Meanwhile, Trent-Alexander Arnold and Andrew Robinson have been excellent in the full-back positions and along with Virgil van Dyke in the defence it is hard to see a weakness, even Alisson in goal has looked more assured in recent weeks.

For AFCB I'm predicting an attacking formation with perhaps a swap for Tyrone Mings and Charlie Daniels and a four-man midfield after the injuries to Dan Gosling and Lewis Cook.

Liverpool Away Form
DWDWW

AFCB Home Form
WDLLW

Possible AFCB line-up

AFCB Subs: Boruc, Daniels, Rico, Simpson, Stanislas, Mousset, Defoe 

AFCB TV

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.

Have AFCB the players to overpower this Liverpool side?

If Eddie Howe wanted any clues about how to get on top of this Liverpool side he will have learnt valuable guidance from last night's amazing match against Borussia Dortmund. The German side played with power and fast accurate passing in the opening minutes, while their finishing in those first 10 minutes was simply lethal. It was breathtaking and somewhat unexpected, despite the reputation of the Bundesliga side, as the first leg has been reasonably comfortable for the reds. The comeback for Liverpool was a repetition of their famous Champions League final win over AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005. Klopp fist pumping though is something I don't want to see at Den Court on Sunday!

Liverpool play with a lot of pride and they are a hard side to beat
 these days. I only hope they are tiered from their midweek exploits.

AFCB might not have quite the experience of player as Dortmund, but there are some signs that a quick start is what the Cherries will need to unsettle the Klopp's side. The back four of Clyne, Lovren, Sakho and Moreno were fully stretched by the movement of Dortmund's forwards and their failure to get close to the German side made it all too easy for Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan early on. I can't say that Mignloet in goal fills me with confidence in goal either.

So the Cherries can look to get at Liverpool, but it was through the middle that the German's got on top and for that side of the game AFCB really need Harry Arter back in the side. I still expect him to sit out this game though - apparently AFCB are waiting on a specialist report on his injury. AFCB have usually looked light in midfield when taking on the top sides but having seen last night's game, Eddie Howe might well feel that sticking with four in midfield early on at least is the way to go. It means the Cherries will need Surman and probably Gosling to keep their work rate supremely high and supply King and Grabban with the kind of passes into pockets of space where they can get shots off early.

Harry Arter at Liverpool earlier this season. This game is made
for a player like Harry but is he going to fit enough yet?

If AFCB lose the midfield battle though it will be a testing game for them. Liverpool don't make it easy for teams to get down the sides of them and  to get into those positions AFCB will need to bring their A game or passing. We saw Marco Reus ride tackles and get his pass away against Liverpool on Thursday, but have the Cherries got a player that is equally strong and determined not to get pushed off the ball?

Probable AFCB side:
Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, Ritchie, Gosling, Surman, Gradel, King, Grabban

Subs: Federici, Distin, MacDonald, Stanislas, Iturbe, Pugh, Wilson

Cup Special: Cherry Chimes talks to Anfield Online

Rival Lines
Capital One Cup Quarter Final
AFCB v Liverpool
Blogger Interview: Anfield Online

Cherry Chimes had the pleasure this week of having a quick chat with John Dowling who runs the popular Anfield Online website for Liverpool supporters. It has not been an easy time for the Reds as they go into this quarter final, but the magnitude of the match for Liverpool has probably escalated to quite a high level now even though such a game would usually seen as a regular fixture for the Anfield faithful who have won this competition a record eight times. That should kind of give AFCB fans a bit of a reality check having just reached the quarter final for the first time, but let's see if John think Liverpool fans should be confident of reaching the semi-finals this time around.  

CC: Bournemouth play brave passing football as Brendan Rogers has commented on, ie we won't kick lumps out of your players, so are the Cherries an ideal team for Liverpool to play mid-week considering the League fixtures you have on either side of this Capital One tie?

AO: Liverpool are struggling this season against every type of football. More direct sides have had plenty of joy mainly based on weaknesses at set-pieces and errors from Simon Mignolet. He has been dropped now in favour of our reserve keeper. Teams who play passing football are equally likely to build on errors from our defenders on the ground. Chief culprit in these situations being Dejan Lovren a defender who had a good first half in the first game of the season and has been generally hapless since.

CC: Any ideas on who you think might be in the starting line up for Liverpool against AFC Bournemouth?

AO: Jones is a definite starter currently. The Liverpool manager appears to be choosing favourites on a day to day basis at present. The side chosen away at Real Madrid looked more like a League Cup line up so it is increasingly difficult to choose a team. Rickie Lambert has sat out the last two so could make a return. Balotelli also returned for 45 minutes against Man Utd.

CC: The Middlesbrough match was quite something with 27 penalties I think to decide the tie, but did you feel Liverpool should have finished off the Championship side earlier that night considering how dominant they were in possession?

AO: The Middlesbrough game was a long night at Anfield. The reds showed promise early on - youngster Jordan Rossiter grabbing a debut goal in the 10th minute (before disappearing off the face of the earth from the first team). Our manager is a big believer in possession being an important factor in winning a game - but that game was typical of our inability to keep clean sheets. Boro showed tremendous fight but the game should never have gone to penalties - we just switched off in the final minute of extra time.

CC: You also had a late goal surge against Swansea to go through to the last eight so do you feel the League Cup has been one of the few areas where the team has been able to get a confidence boost this season?

AO: Swansea did have a man sent off just before Liverpool scored that final winning goal so that may have been a help. I don’t think many Liverpool fans think all our problems disappear in the League Cup. With 8 league cup titles it’s clearly been a special competition for the reds. Good fortune and weaker opposition/rested players on opposing sides facing us (at Anfield too) is probably the major factor for our wins so far.

CC: How good are Liverpool's back up strikers - Borini and Markovic?

AO: We haven’t seen a lot of Borini this season. He was Brendan Rodgers’ first signing at Liverpool but was being forced out of the club in August. He hasn’t even been involved on the bench in recent weeks as the club try to force him out in January. Markovic has shown flashes of pace and skill, but his sending off in the Champions League was a sign of his disciplinary problems. Again - he hasn’t been trusted much by Rodgers so far - although he did play away against Real Madrid - arguably Liverpool’s best performance in the 6 games of the group. Many Liverpool fans would like to see more of Markovic and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t start against Bournemouth.

CC: I was impressed by Emre Can when I saw him earlier this season in the Champions League, is he close to getting more starts?

AO: I was impressed too. He played against Real Madrid and Chelsea in the same week and performed well both times - scoring the opening goal against Chelsea. Since then however he too seems to have disappeared off the radar. He looks strong and he has already shown his eye for goal but in Liverpool’s league games he is behind the less creative Joe Allen in the pecking order. I’d like to see him start on Wednesday.

CC: Do you think the addition of so many Southampton players over the summer was a mistake?

AO: Huge mistake. Much was made of Lallana and Lambert’s link up play last season - but at Liverpool they’ve usually been played without the other. Lallana has been the most promising of the trio but has been in and out of the side more than most players. Lovren in defence has been an unmitigated disaster - it’s been some years since I’ve seen a defender at Liverpool making such simple positional mistakes. Lambert was being used for 10 minutes at the end of every games and then suddenly played 5 times in a fortnight. He has managed to score a couple however.

You pay a premium for buying players from within your own league and Southampton have taken our owners to the cleaners.

CC: What do you think of Eddie Howe as a manager?

AO: Certainly at Liverpool there is always a special connection with long serving players and staff going on to become manager. I also believe that a manager who has played in a defensive role has a lot more to offer as a manager - having spent most of their career seeing how play builds up in front of them.

As a young manager he has a pretty impressive record already and I’d imagine he would become an even hotter property if you secure your 2nd promotion in 3 years. The advantage to Bournemouth may be his young age, which may deter other sides attempting to lure him for another few years. It will be interesting to see if he can adapt quickly enough if you are promoted in May.

CC: Bournemouth played Liverpool in the FA Cup last season and lost 0-2, but can you see this match being tighter?

AO: I can see it being significantly tighter. The thought of us keeping a clean sheet and scoring two goals, at present, looks unlikely. Both at Anfield and away. Coupled this with the fact Bournemouth are a side averaging more than 2 goals a game and it’s fair to say not many Liverpool fans are looking forward to this one.

CC: Thank you John for your very intelligent answers. AFCB fans will be relishing some of your words, although AFCB fans know that Liverpool players have lots of pedigree and will be no easy opposition for whatever team Eddie Howe plays. I am hoping that some of Liverpool's big names feature but it is also perhaps a chance for players like Emre Can and Lazar Markovic that they have a real future at Liverpool. As for Brendan Rodgers I wonder how he will be feeling when he shakes Eddie Howe's hand on Wednesday night? They are great appreciators of each other's game, but Brendan probably has more riding on this game than Eddie Howe. If AFCB's players can play without fear or pressure though, I predict that we'll be in for one of the games of the season. Make sure you take a look at Anfield Online where you can get more of John's wise words about the current plight of Liverpool and their trip to Turkish club Besiktas in the Europa League.

Finally, it was brilliant news yesterday to hear it confirmed that AFCB had passed the Financial Fair Play regulations for the 2013-14 season, even though it will be difficult news for fans of Forest, Blackburn and Leeds to have received having failed the test.