Talking points from AFC Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool

After an end-to-end and equal first period, Liverpool made their quality count in the second half leaving Cherries to pick up the pieces following their first Premier League game of 2024.

We have taken a look at the talking points stemming from Sunday’s match.

Finding a new source of width

James Hill was thrown into the deep end on his return to Cherries following his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers.

Not only was the defender asked to face the league leaders, but Hill did so in the unfamiliar position of left-back due to Cherries’ injury woes at full-back.

The former Fleetwood Town man acquitted himself well despite the level of opposition whilst getting to grips with a new role, but it did impact the way Cherries played.

Milos Kerkez and his recent replacements, Dango Ouattara and Marcus Tavernier, can frequently be seen bombing down the left-flank, but with Hill out of position it was decided that the natural centre-half would focus purely on defending.

This meant Cherries would be slightly lopsided in attack, with right-back Max Aarons still getting forward on the opposite flank.

In order to combat this, Iraola had Justin Kluivert, operating more centrally as the 10, aggressively overlap and underlap left-winger Luis Sinisterra.

Justin Kluivert (No. 19) frequently drifted to the left to support Luis Sinisterra (No. 17) (Image: WhoScored.com)The number 10 in the Cherries system largely has some freedom to roam across the front line, especially when it is Kluivert occupying the role.

However, on Sunday there was a concentrated effort for the Dutch international to support Sinisterra down the left, providing Cherries with the width they were missing without the left-back advancing down the flank.

This also allowed Marcus Tavernier to drift centrally both on and off the ball, effectively at times forming a three-man strikeforce with Kluivert and Dominic Solanke.

Outpouring of support for Anthony

The sad news that winger Jaidon Anthony’s mother Donna had passed last week was announced prior to kick-off, with Cherries donning black armbands in remembrance and support of Anthony and his family.

Anthony is currently on a season-long loan at Leeds United, who similarly wore armbands in their victory over Preston on Sunday, but despite the academy graduate being miles away from Vitality Stadium there was an outpouring of love and support from the Dean Court crowd.

After 32 minutes, the Cherries faithful started chanting Anthony’s name in reflection of his shirt number at the club.

Full-back positions cursed with injuries

When it rains, it pours. That old adage could be applied to Cherries’ injuries woes this season, where it seems afflicted players all play in the same position.

At the start of the season injuries appeared to be concentrated on central midfielders, with summer signings Alex Scott and Tyler Adams rehabbing issues on arrival.

Now, injuries are piling up at the back, with Max Aarons picking up another issue.

The former Norwich City man had recovered from a hamstring injury in recent weeks, only to pull up late on against Liverpool with an issue in his other leg according to boss Iraola.

That means Aarons joins fellow full-backs Milos Kerkez, Ryan Fredericks, and Adam Smith in the stands.

Left-back Lloyd Kelly made his much-awaited return from injury off the bench on Sunday, but Iraola urged caution by stating that the defender is not yet fully fit.

Even makeshift options at full-back are not safe from the curse, with winger Dango Ouattara picking up an ankle issue whilst operating at left-back against Tottenham Hotspur.

The Burkinabe is nearing a return from injury but will still be unavailable as he is with his national team at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Liverpool's clinical nature the difference

Anybody that watched the first half would have known that Cherries were well in the game, and even after the large discrepancy in the final scoreline the underlying stats show that it was not plain-sailing for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.

But those stats also show how clinical Liverpool were and how they punished Cherries for their inability to get shots off.

Cherries head coach Iraola has often spoken about his slight distrust of the Expected Goals model (xG) that has come to dominate post-match discussions.

Not only do differing websites and sources use different models to calculate their own xG tallies, but Iraola correctly points out that most calculations do not take into account situations that do not lead to a shot, such as dangerous cutbacks into the box that are narrowly missed.

Cherries’ first-half performance was littered with such moments, the final pass always seemingly to be slightly wayward or just off in timing.

Sunday’s xG totals were far closer than the final scoreline, with Liverpool edging Cherries 1.57 to 1.37 according to Fotmob.com.

The shot count was also close, Cherries’ 11 attempts to their guests’ 14, but the most glaring difference was the amount of efforts on target.

Liverpool managed to get seven of their efforts on target, whilst Cherries could only muster the one. In a era of football dominated by differing statistics, the most important factor triumphed yet again – the ability to stick the ball in the back of the net.