How the national media reacted to Liverpool's 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday evening
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: A dejected looking Mohamed Salah of Liverpool after Amine Adli of Bournemouth scored for 3-2 during the Premier League match between Bournemouth and Liverpool at Vitality Stadium on January 24, 2026 in Bournemouth, England. (Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Liverpool players look on dejectedly after Amine Adli scores Bournemouth's last-gasp winner(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
View Image
Zzzzzzzz. Liverpool reverted to the same old story of earlier in the season when they saw their 13-game unbeaten run ended in a dramatic Premier League defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
After Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai had drawn the Reds level having fallen behind to a quickfire brace from Evanilson and Alejandro Jimenez, they leaked another late, late, late winner when Amine Adli bundled in from a long throw after a succession of deflections and richochets.
It made for an ultimately tedious night. And while the ECHO was in attendance and provided our usual level of coverage, here's how the national media viewed a negative result for Arne Slot's side.
Author avatar
Author avatar
Author avatar
Author avatar
Writing in The Times, Jonathan Northcroft believes the Reds were deservedly beaten in the end.
"Virgil van Dijk complaining, Arne Slot with his arms crossed, Mohamed Salah looking up at the heavens in the rain — and scenes at the Vitality Stadium," he says. "At the death, with almost the last kick, Bournemouth had done it. And Liverpool’s season was back in reverse again.
"It was some denouement, some picture — but no more than both sides, and the game itself, deserved. Liverpool were predictable, risk-averse — they defended erratically and squandered the momentum gained by a great result in Marseille in midweek, while Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth were… well Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth: indefatigable, forthright and a thorn in the side.
"It was Liverpool’s first defeat in 11 games and only Bournemouth’s second victory against them in 16 games but you wouldn’t have known it."
Ben Fisher of The Guardian praised the contribution of one Liverpool player in particular.
"Dominik Szoboszlai cannoned in a stunning free-kick to haul Arne Slot’s side level from two goals down," he pens. "Where would Liverpool be this season without the Hungary midfielder?
"Slot clenched both fists and gave his assistant Giovanni van Bronckhorst a high 10, but it was Andoni Iraola, beaming from ear to ear, who departed the pitch high-fiving his staff, only a second win since October secured.
"For Liverpool, this was another sobering experience. Virgil van Dijk made amends for presenting Bournemouth the lead and [Milos Kerkez](http://Milos Kerkez), who was exposed when Alex Jimenez doubled the hosts’ lead and struggled on his return to the south coast, was hooked at the interval.
"On this evidence Liverpool would be naive to allow Andy Robertson to depart for Tottenham. Mohamed Salah was anonymous, his greatest contribution backheeling the free-kick to Szoboszlai for his goal."
Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail was back to calling Liverpool embarrassing and compared them to a team from another sport.
"Liverpool are the Premier League’s answer to Bazball," he opines. "One minute, they are a joy to watch and look like a team ready to conquer the world and win trophies galore. The next, they are anything but and their performance makes one think another root-and-branch inquest is necessary.
"For the unacquainted to Bazball – sorry to hear that if so – it refers to the current rendition of the English men’s cricket team and its brash style led by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
"When it is good, it is really good. A thrill-ride that sparks thoughts over just how far this team can go. When it is bad, it is really bad and downright depressing. The narrative around it seems to change almost every match, just like Arne Slot’s Jekyll and Hyde Liverpool, who flit between the excellent and embarrassing match by match."
Finally, the tall man Paul Gorst thawed himself out sufficiently to write in the ECHO about the main flaw in this Liverpool team.
"When the great carve up of Liverpool's season begins in May, when Arne Slot, his staff, and perhaps sporting director Richard Hughes, sit down to assess the good, the bad and the ugly of it all, it will be this soft underbelly that will go some way towards explaining how a title defence disintegrated so quickly and why the champions were left with little but a dog-fight for the fourth spot in the second half of the campaign," he scribbles.
"This is a Liverpool team who have demonstrated on more than a handful of occasions this season they don't handle setbacks well and a chastening period between minutes 26 and 33 here cost them the game.
"It was a few minutes that they bafflingly attempted to navigate with just 10 men. It was the sort of game-mismanagement you wouldn't expect at schoolboy level."