Liverpool served up some more embarrassment for their supporters on Saturday after a terrible last-second defeat against Bournemouth.
The Reds are without a Premier League win in 2026, and continued their poor form as they shipped two goals within half an hour at the Vitality Stadium before conceding a late winner.
It had actually been a decent start to the game from Liverpool, but things quickly unravelled after a diabolical Virgil van Dijk mistake gifted Bournemouth the opening goal of the game.
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Who was Liverpool’s worst player as they fell to a pathetic loss against Bournemouth?
Mohamed Salah chases the ball during Liverpool's Premier League match against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium
Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images
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To make matters worse for the Reds, Joe Gomez collided with Alisson Becker and was forced off the pitch with an injury.
Bizarrely, it took Liverpool seven minutes to replace Gomez with Wataru Endo, allowing Bournemouth to score again while playing against 10 men. Arne Slot was rightly furious at the inability to get Endo on the pitch quickly, and was seen taking out his frustration on Alisson.
Arne Slot fuming as Liverpool pay for naivety
There is no excuse for Liverpool taking seven minutes to get a substitute on in any scenario. It simply should not happen.
On Saturday, it cost them, and Slot seemed to put at least some of the blame on Alisson, who had the chance to put the ball out and allow the change to be made, but failed to do so.
Alex Jimenez scores for Bournemouth during their Premier League match against Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
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Journalist Lewis Steele spotted Slot and assistant coach Sipke Hulshoff ‘screaming’ at the Liverpool goalkeeper as he prevented made the substitution impossible.
“Arne Slot and Sipke Hulshoff were screaming at Alisson and Liverpool to kick the ball out of play to let them make the substitution but they didn’t,” said Steele on X.
“Game went on for several minutes and Bournemouth score for 2-0.”
Liverpool lose. What went wrong at Bournemouth?
Virgil van Dijk passes the ball during Liverpool's Premier League match against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium (Credit: Getty Images/Liverpool FC).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Liverpool FC
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Alisson not to blame for Slot failure
Perhaps Alisson should have kicked the ball out of play when he had the chance to do so, but that could then have led to problems of its own during the match.
To ask a professional footballer just to cede possession deliberately is never going to go down well and some would agree with Alisson’s decision to ignore his manager’s instructions.
Instead, the blame here surely has to lie with Slot, Hulshoff and the rest of the Liverpool coaching staff who failed to have Endo ready sooner.
As Sky Sports highlighted at half-time, Liverpool did have the chance to get the Japanese on the pitch, with a gap in the play happening several minutes after Gomez’s exit.
But Endo was not yet ready, and that is where Liverpool came undone.
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