Liverpool 3, Bournemouth 0: Recap - Díaz Shines In Another Liverpool Victory
A look back at the key moments in Liverpool’s clean sheet victory against Bournemouth.
Liverpool 3 - 0 Bournemouth
Liverpool: Díaz 27’, 29’, Núñez 37’
Pre-Match
The last week has been a mixed bag for Arne Slot and Liverpool. They lost their first league game to Nottingham Forest, but then went on to win the opening Champions League fixture again AC Milan in midweek. Let’s hope for that Italian energy to be with them at Anfield today.
The only change in the line up from Slot is Caoimhín Kelleher in goal, who replaces the injured Alisson Becker.
First Half
The game started off on a shaky foot with Semenyo sneaking in a deflected shot past Kelleher. Luckily, the offside flag went up and the goal was disallowed. Hopefully that early near miss will light a fire under the Reds in a way we didn’t see last week.
Minutes later, Robertson boots it into the side netting from a sharp angle. Right after that, Díaz gets off a banger of a strike from the center of the 18 yard box that’s barely pushed over the crossbar by the Bournemouth goalkeeper for a corner.
The chances kept coming for Liverpool. Salah beat the offside trap and was away for the Reds, but his shot was once again blocked for a wasted corner. Anfield was in full voice, cheering on their players, and it felt like the players could feel the energy as they continued to push for the first goal. In the first 15 minutes, aside from that disaster in the beginning, the ball hasn’t left the Bournemouth half.
At about 20 minutes on, Bournemouth got another burst of possession. A through ball came into Semenyo, but his shot was saved by Kelleher for a corner.
Díaz showed incredible ball handling skill on the wing, coasting around several Bournemouth players to get a free run to the goal. However, instead of doing the smart thing and sliding it to one of his onrushing teammates, he instead tried his luck on a shot from a tight angle. It was saved, and the chance went begging. That was disappointing, and probably the closest the Reds had gotten so far.
On the other end, a defensive mix-up from Ibrahima Konaté sent the ball needlessly out of play for a Bournemouth corner. Luckily, nothing came of it, and the game played on.
Konaté forewent the fancy midfield passing and blasted a ball over everyone to reach Díaz, who was comfortably onside. The keeper made the mistake of rushing out of his box to help, and it gave Díaz the room to shoot it into the far corner.
Literally a minute later, Díaz made it a double. Another delightfully wide open midfield led to Trent Alexander-Arnold strolling through and picking out Díaz on the wing. He got struck true once again and it was quickly 2-0. Well, that certainly made up for his bit of selfishness earlier.
The intensity lulled a bit, and Bournemouth took advantage, giving Semenyo another run at the goal.
Here we go! Darwin Núñez is the next player to get on the goal sheet. A lovely flick on from Salah got him free on the wing. He cut in and go the ball on his left foot and sliced it into the back of the net. The look of joy and relief on Núñez’s face was quite something. He looked near tears. It was a wild 10 minutes in the game where the Reds came alive and made the most of it.
Second Half
The second half began without any changes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bournemouth came out with the most energy. Who else but Semenyo got another shot off which was once again saved by Kelleher.
A powerful run down the other direction ended with Ryan Gravenberch getting a long distance shot off that was easily caught by the keeper.
Alexis Mac Allister was very smart to find Salah. As much as he twisted and turned in front of the goal, he couldn’t find a way to sneak the ball in the goal.
60 minutes in, Slot made his first change, bringing off Dominik Szoboszlai for the returning Curtis Jones.
Salah really wanted his goal. He looked hungry to add on, but despite that, he chose to make the unselfish and tried to pick out Núñez in front of the goal. The cross was intercepted, and the counterattack came to nothing.
Goalscorers Díaz and Núñez came out at 70 minutes. Cody Gakpo came on, and notably, Federico Chiesa made his Anfield debut to excitement from the crowd. He took no time to get a shot off from distance with his first touch. Would have been magical, but the shot it easily blocked.
Liverpool were let off as Bournemouth have a ball ricochet off of the post after some good work by Kelleher to deny him.
Jones nearly scored a sneaky fourth at the end of the match, but his shot was deflected out for a corner.
Final Thoughts
That’s four lovely clean sheets in four league games for Liverpool. They’ve picked up 12 out of 15 possible points and bounced back from a disappointing post-international break loss against Nottingham Forest.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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