Liverpool fans all knew that winning 7-0 against Manchester United would be very quickly forgotten if we couldn’t record another positive result in our next game against Bournemouth but that didn’t happen and Peter Crouch was on the mark to share his thoughts on why that was the case.
Speaking on BT Sport, the 42-year-old said: “It’s easy to get up for a Manchester United game, it’s a lot harder to come to Bournemouth, bottom of the league, for the early kick-off.
“100% [it was] complacency, you saw it in a lot of the play. Some of the passes were sloppy, some of the defending was really lax – trying to play offside, doing the lazy things, not going with runners.
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“We saw it with the goal – people switching off, not tracking back with the same intensity that they had last week. Top teams don’t play like that. Also a top, top team, when they come to Bournemouth, you expect them to have 20 shots on goal, have some cleared off the line, some luck here and there. But in all honesty Bournemouth deserved it today.
“The best chances for Liverpool today were some set pieces, Van Dijk headers, there was nothing really clear cut. I think [Diogo] Jota came on and made a difference, but other than that there were no clear-cut chances.”
It does seem a sensible comment to make from the former Red, as he will know better than anyone that some games don’t need extra motivation whereas early starts against sides at the bottom of the league do.
It’s a big issue that we can’t get results against the teams situated in lower places within the Premier League and when we score seven past teams sat in third place it shows it’s a mentality issue and not one of quality.
You can watch Crouch’s comments (from 2:17) via @btsportfootball on Twitter:
"They were lethargic, they were slow… There was no urgency to go forward."
Steve McManaman and @petercrouch were not impressed with Liverpool today 😤 pic.twitter.com/3Kjw6bhRG8
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 11, 2023
Spot on Crouchy