Liverpool running on empty in Bournemouth defeat, says Slot

Liverpool boss Arne Slot blamed fatigue for his side’s first defeat in 14 games as Bournemouth’s Amine Adli struck with virtually the last kick of the game to snatch a 3-2 win for the Cherries on Saturday.

Slot had steadied the ship in recent months after a run of nine defeats in 12 games earlier in the campaign for the English champions.

But the Reds have now failed to win in their last five Premier League games in a major dent to their hopes of Champions League qualification next season.

In contrast to their domestic troubles, Liverpool took a giant step towards the Champions League last 16 with a 3-0 win in Marseille on Wednesday.

Slot, though, blamed the tight turnaround and his threadbare options due to a number of injuries for his side running out of steam.

The visitors had fought back from 2-0 down to level with 10 minutes to go thanks to goals from Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai.

But Bournemouth had missed two big chances to win the game in the closing stages even prior to Adli’s 95th minute strike.

“They probably had even more chances than us (in the final 10 minutes) which shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to me knowing that we’ve played two days before in Marseille.

“For the last four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 games we’ve had to play with the same players (due to) 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.”

Bournemouth’s second goal came while Liverpool were down to 10 men as Joe Gomez was forced off injured to further deplete Slot’s options at centre-back.

Midfielder Wataru Endo had to deputise at the heart of the defence with Ibrahima Konate absent on compassionate leave after the death of his father and Giovanni Leoni out for the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Slot introduced Andy Robertson at half-time despite speculation that the Scotland captain could join Tottenham before the end of the transfer window.

Robertson has just six months left on his contract and is reportedly keen for more first-team action after falling behind Milos Kerkez in the pecking order at Anfield.

But Slot insisted that he needs all the bodies he can get right now.

“I need all my players,” added Slot. “Robbo had to come in at half-time because I always knew another 90 minutes for Milos against a very intense Bournemouth side was not a possibility.

“There are a lot of games to play and with the players available I have to manage that as well because the last thing we need right now is another injury.”