Liverpool were beaten 3-2 by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday night as they failed to return to winning ways in the Premier League
(Image: PA)
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Liverpool have reportedly already contacted Xabi Alonso to enquire about his availability. The Reds are now without a win in their last five Premier League games following a last-gasp defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday evening.
The reigning Premier League champions fought back from two goals down at the Vitality Stadium, only for Cherries winger Amine Adli to score the winner with virtually the last kick of the game. And now, according to Spanish publication AS, Liverpool have contacted Alonso’s representatives to enquire about his availability.
However, not only is it worth pointing out that there has been no suggestion that Slot’s job is under threat, but the report from AS also claims that Slot has been told by the Liverpool hierarchy that he will remain in charge until at least the end of the season.
Speaking following the game on the South Coast, Alan Shearer was not only left less than impressed by what he saw from the Reds, but he also believes Slot has some big problems.
“From Bournemouth’s point of view, they would have looked at Liverpool and thought, ‘Why can’t we beat them?’ – Arne Slot’s side look miles off the team we saw last season,” he said.
“Liverpool just don’t look right in all areas. They’re making too many errors and are weak defensively, as we saw with the winning goal. While they scored two goals from set-pieces, they didn’t create anywhere near enough from open play.
“Their aim has to be salvaging the season by qualifying for the Champions League with a top-four or perhaps top-five finish – but that’s a big drop-off from what we saw last season.”
While Slot said: "It is a cruel game if you lose in extra time after coming back from 2-0 down at half-time.
"I think it was only 5-10 minutes in the first half where we didn't have total control, we played through them nicely a few times, but we conceded twice and we went down to 10 men, so that doesn't help.
"It felt to me that if we were able to make up the 2-1, we would have been back in the game. We were a lot of the time in promising positions, but we were 2-0 down and it did feel to me that we were going to score and get back in the game.
Alex Jimenez of Bournemouth scores against Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker
Alex Jimenez of Bournemouth scores against Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker(Image: Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
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"It is fair to say that in the last 10 minutes it was more open, but I could see that my players were tired because we only had two days in between each game."
In a seperate interview with Sky, the Dutchman said: "Although we were 2-0 down at a certain point, but it's a good comeback although it didn't feel to me that we deserved to be 2-0 down at the moment we were, but the players reacted really well.
"We came back to 2-2 and then I thought it was a very open game where both teams had their chances. They probably [had] even more than us which shouldn't come as a complete surprise to me knowing that we've played two days before in Marseille and for the last four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 games we've had to play with the same players for the players we had available and then sometimes a few of them could be at the end of the game a bit tired. I think that's what you could see at the end today as well."