Klopp ‘nearly vomits’ as Liverpool denied

by Mike WHALLEY

Klopp’s side looked set for a crucial victory in their chase for Champions League football on Wednesday, having recovered from Benik Afobe’s early goal to lead 2-1 through finishes from Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi.

It was a sign third placed Liverpool could still find goals in the absence of injured top scorer Sadio Mane.

But there was a setback for Klopp as Coutinho, who was sick in the dressing room at half-time, had to come off with 25 minutes to go.

And the manager said that he felt ill himself after Joshua King scored for Bournemouth with three minutes to go at Anfield.

Klopp said: “We had to change Phil because he felt sick at half-time. He said he feels better now, so that is good, but it was clear when he made a signal that we had to make a change.

“There’s no joy when you have to take off your best player. He played really well.

“We could have closed the game in one moment, but we didn’t, we left it open,

“Then they scored from the second ball after a set-piece and it made me nearly vomit.

“We have to recover. It’s one point more than before. It’s not what we wanted but we could have been worse. We have lost already games like this this season and today we didn’t so maybe that is a positive.

“We have to take it. It is my responsibility all of this, I have to be more clear but we will find a solution. Our set-pieces tonight I thought were really good.”

– Defensive errors –
Liverpool have made a habit of committing defensive errors this season and did so again, as Georginio Wijnaldum’s under-hit back pass allowed Afobe to give Bournemouth a seventh-minute lead.

Klopp insisted that he took responsibility for any mistakes his players make, adding: “When my son does something that is not right, probably I have some part of the responsibility. I should have explained better.

“The bad things are my responsibility, the good things are the responsibility of the players. I think that is a good deal because I have the age to get it.”

Bournemouth’s point extended their unbeaten run to five matches, and they look increasingly likely to survive in the Premier League.

Eddie Howe’s side have recovered well from a poor run that brought them just two points from their first seven league matches of 2017.

Howe was particularly pleased with the midfield displays of Harry Arter and Jack Wilshere in frustrating Liverpool.

The Bournemouth manager said: “There were two huge performances from them. If you’re loose in your shape, Liverpool will punish you. They were very disciplined.

“I thought we defended very well, that is my first starting point. It’s very difficult coming here. “Everyone knows how precious every point is. To restrict them to long shots was a signal that our defensive display was very strong.

“We tweaked what we would normally do. Tactically, if you watch us every week away from home, we were a little bit more passive. We withdrew our strikers in the middle of the pitch.

“With the quality Liverpool have, if you switch off for a second, they punish you. Fortunately we never gave up and were able to salvage an equaliser.”