Liverpool's head coach Arne Slot admitted his side ran out of energy as Amine Adli's 95th-minute winner condemned them to a first loss since November. The Reds had pulled level from 2-0 down through Dominik Szoboszlai's free-kick, but Bournemouth responded impressively and Adli struck from a long throw with almost the last kick.
Slot felt referee Michael Salisbury should have added more stoppage time but conceded he feared a Bournemouth winner. 'I think it is safe to say they could have scored 3-2 a little bit earlier,' Slot said, alluding to chances for Evanilson and Ryan Christie. 'A few of our players ran out of energy and I cannot even criticise them for that because two days ago we had to play an away game. We're the only team that played in the Champions League that has two games in between.'
At full time, Slot told officials he was unhappy that only four minutes of stoppage time were allocated. 'For me, four minutes of added time was not enough but in the end that didn't matter because they scored,' he said. 'There was a free-kick that took two or three minutes, there were VAR moments, there were substitutions. That's what I said to them.'
Slot refused to criticise captain Virgil van Dijk for his error in the buildup to Evanilson's opener and would not be drawn on whether Andy Robertson would remain at the club. Tottenham are pursuing a deal for the Scotland captain, who replaced Milos Kerkez at half-time. Robertson was at fault for Bournemouth's second goal, scored while Liverpool had 10 men after Joe Gomez was forced off injured.
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola expressed delight that his side were rewarded for shifting their mentality. 'Normally we go full gas from the beginning, we keep our energy until the end,' he said. 'But now, probably because we don't have the numbers and need to adapt a little bit, we are choosing our moments a little bit more and knowing we might need to save a little bit of energy.'
