Klopp hails a ‘perfect’ Reds nine-star display
LIVERPOOL 9
Diaz (3), Elliott (6), Alexander-Arnold (28), Firmino (31, 62), Van Dijk (45), Mepham (46) og, Carvalho (80), Diaz (85)
BOURNEMOUTH 0
Jurgen Klopp called it the “perfect football afternoon” after Liverpool recorded their first win of the season with a record-equalling Premier League victory against promoted Bournemouth.
Just pipped to the title last term, the Reds struggled in the opening weeks of this campaign as draws against Fulham and Crystal Palace were compounded by Monday’s galling loss at rivals Manchester United.
Klopp’s calls for a reaction were heeded in style, when nobody inside a rocking Anfield could have predicted they would witness Liverpool matching their biggest top-flight win ever.
Luis Diaz, Harvey Elliott, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk scored in a whirlwind first half against shell-shocked Bournemouth.
Chris Mepham’s own goal set the tone for the second half, with Firmino, Fabio Carvalho and Diaz scoring as Liverpool just failed to take it to double digits.
Asked to describe the win in one word, Liverpool boss Klopp told the post-match press conference: “Needed”.
“After a short pre-season with mixed results, having an absolute highlight (by winning the Community Shield against Manchester City) that early in the season, playing really good stuff and then dropping for some reason.
“I know how it sounds when you lose a game and then you try to explain it. It’s always the same. Each manager in the
world is a fantastic entertainer when you win football games. When you have to answer questions after you lose a game and try to find explanations, it sounds like excuses or whatever.
“We were not happy with the way we played. We had good moments in nearly all the games where we showed things which we are strong at, and other things where we have to improve.
“That’s what we had to do today. You get this early goal and you get the second. And we kept going, scored different goals but always with the same purpose.
“At half-time it was important that we, again, keep going because it’s early in the season. You get out of the blocks again with 6-0 and then everybody’s scored, we could bring on the kids, which deserve it so much, so we could rotate if we want at the start of the most busy period I’ve ever experienced.
“I can say it already before we’ve played it will be crazy and in the end it was the perfect football afternoon for us.”
Firmino produced a stunning first-half display, which began with Diaz heading home his clipped cross within three minutes of kick-off.
Firmino then provided the assist for Harvey Elliott’s first Premier League goal – a fizzing strike from distance that would have been goal of the day was it not for the Trent Alexander-Arnold stunner that followed.
The Brazil forward set up that goal and celebrated one of his own soon after when turning in a deflected cross – his first league goal at Anfield since December 2020.
Vigil van Dijk powered home Liverpool’s fifth on the stroke of half-time, with Chris Mepham’s own goal providing a gut punch for the Cherries at the start of the second half.
Firmino grabbed a second of the afternoon before leaving to a standing ovation.
The goals did not stop there, though, as Fabio Carvalho scored his first for the club and Diaz grabbed his second, but calls for a 10th went unanswered.
Bournemouth manager Parker had warned of a potential backlash from Liverpool in the build-up and was left rocked by a result that underlined the need for new faces ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
“This is the toughest day as a player and certainly as a coach,” Parker said. “This is the toughest and most painful day that I have experienced, for sure.
“It goes without saying it’s a real humbling experience and one which was pretty shell-shocking, really, in the sense of the result.
“And probably not surprised so much, to be honest with you, in the sense of the levels we’re playing against here and the quality is just far greater than what we have in this present moment in time at our disposal.”