Eight changes last week and we won 4-1 at home to Stoke. Ten changes this week and we win away at Bournemouth. It’s not just that we made so many changes and won that’s so impressive, it’s that three of the back five (I’m including the keeper in that, obviously) were making their first Premier League starts while we had two other players with just three starts between them. Bournemouth, on the other hand, were at full strength. This was a pleasantly surprising result for us all things considered.
Klopp’s selection was clever. When he says we would have no chance if he’d fielded the same eleven that beat Dortmund, he’s right. Bournemouth run more than any other team in the league, if you face them with heavy legs then it’s going to be a long day. He made changes and introduced a lot of young legs to ensure we could match Bournemouth's work ethic, but he also picked an experienced spine and had Sturridge and Firmino in attack. He got the balance just right.
We started well, pressing the ball with real intensity and putting Bournemouth on the back foot. They like to play out from the back which suited us, and we could have scored very early on when Firmino made a challenge and the ball broke to Sturridge, who struck his volley well but put it straight down the throat of Boruc. Not sure why he took the shot that early as he had time there to do whatever he wanted.
I'll be honest, Sturridge was pissing me off in that first half. It looked like he was playing for himself at times as he was a right greedy bastard, but no sooner had I sent a message to some mates ripping him and Firmino (who was contributing nothing), they combined to break the deadlock. It’s incredible how many times that reverse jinx thing happens to me, although it usually involves Coutinho. I'm going to start doing it deliberately from now on I think.
It was a great goal. Ojo fed Ibe, who carried the ball into the box before picking out Sturridge. The chance looked to have gone as he had his back to goal and was being closed down, but out of nothing he produced a back heeled thunderbolt that took everyone by surprise. How do you get that kind of power in a back heel? Boruc saved it but Firmino was in the right place at the right time to tap in for his 8th goal in his last ten league games.
Rather than immediately celebrate the goal, Sturridge put his head in his hands, Ronaldo stye. Not that I blame him, I'd have been exactly the same I reckon. That would have been one of the goals of the season had Boruc not kept it out so I don't blame him for being a bit gutted. I remember playing in a game once where I thought I'd scored a glorious lob from the edge of the box but a defender ran back and punched it out from under the bar. One of my team-mates scored the penalty but I didn't celebrate it and spent the rest of the game giving the ref shit for not sending the defender off. We won but I was in a twat of mood because I'd been denied my goal, so I'm not in any position to judge Studge.
Soon after it was 2-0 as Ibe floated in a free-kick and Sturridge rose like Andy Carroll to plant a header in the bottom corner. That was the most un-Sturridge like goal I think I've seen him score. He’s never shown that kind of ability in the air. Hell of a goal that though. Two quick goals just before half time must have been a real killer for Bournemouth.
We’ve been 2-0 up at half time on the south coast before and not seen it through, so we couldn’t completely relax. The main difference this time was that this was a team that wasn’t going to run out of gas like they did at Southampton. That’s why Klopp made so many changes for Stoke last week and even more for this one. It’s probably the reason why the head of fitness suddenly quit with just six weeks left in the season. Klopp probably went mad after the Southampton game.
He's changed his approach since then and obviously believes the team aren't able to play at the same intensity Thursday/Sunday so he's no longer even going to try it. Not bringing Skrtel on this time didn’t do any harm either.
Funnily enough, I thought we actually played better in the second half than we had in the first but we didn’t get the goals to show it. Sturridge had annoyed me until he created the first goal, but I can’t fault him afterwards as he was absolutely electric. He should have made it 3-0 when the exceptional Joe Allen robbed that Dan Gosling jabroni and played a great ball to set him clear. Sturridge’s chip was impudent and had it been six inches to the left would have been a glorious finish, but instead it hit the post. It should have been a goal but the confidence - arrogance even - in the attempt was good to see and bodes well for the derby this week.
He was later denied by the bar after substitute Lallana had found him in the box, and again it was a fantastic strike. This was the best he’s looked in ages, and it’s probably not a co-incidence that he’s got his act together just as a credible threat to his first team place has emerged. An injury free run has obviously helped too.
Klopp got majorly tetchy when asked about him afterwards though didn’t he? The journo who asked the question (Darren Lewis) is a massive helmet and probably had an agenda. Never underestimate the politics that often goes on behind the scenes in football. Journalists getting info from agents and returning the favour by writing articles that are helpful to them and their clients, and often the reverse, where it’s the club doing the briefing.
What Lewis was doing I don’t know, but Klopp’s apparently over the top reaction to it suggests he knows something we don’t. It wasn’t that unreasonable a question but Klopp seemed to be waiting for it and jumped on him immediately….
The thing is, if that question had been about, oh I don’t know, say Firmino, Kolo or Lucas for example, he wouldn’t have reacted like that. No doubt he’s sick of Sturridge being the main topic of conversation at every press conference, but this felt like it was more than just that. This summer is certainly going to be interesting between one thing and another.
Anyway, Bournemouth made a fight of it in the second half and their substitutions definitely helped them. Josh King had toiled away manfully but didn't have much support until Grabban and Wilson were brought on to help out. They looked a lot more dangerous after that and unlike in the first half there were chances at both ends.
King had given Lucas a few problems in the first half with his pace and strength and when Sakho replaced the injured Toure the Frenchman quickly found himself in trouble too. Instead of clearing the ball he dallied and King robbed him and closed in on goal. Sakho did get back to make a partial block and Ward did the rest, clawing away the danger.
Ward was impressive throughout. His distribution was good, he made a few decent saves and although he had some difficult moments on crosses, in fairness to him the two that he didn’t deal with looked to be obvious fouls. He made one great save to keep out a header from Grabban and really deserved a clean sheet. It looked like he’d get it too, but then King shrugged off Lucas far too easily and drilled a shot into the bottom corner.
It shouldn’t have stood because seconds earlier Ward had been fouled but the referee gave nothing. Thankfully there was only a minute left at that point otherwise we could have been in trouble. There was enough time for Bournemouth to create one more chance that Cook headed just over.
We deserved the win and when you look at the table it’s hard not to lament those points thrown away at Southampton and at home to Sunderland. Points we had in the bag, points that would now have us level with the Mancs and four points off third with a game in hand. So frustrating, but if we win the Europa League then will any of us really care?
I want to finish above United but not because of the rivalry. No, it's because we’re clearly better than them and it's ridiculous that we're below them. We know we're better than them and they know it too, but the league table currently disagrees. I’d like us to put that straight, but even if we end up finishing below them it doesn’t change the fact that both clubs appear to be headed in different directions. Would you swap our immediate future for theirs? Or Arsenals even? We’ve got Klopp, both of them wish they had.
It’s remarkable how well we’ve played any time Klopp has fielded a weakened side. It hasn’t mattered who he’s put out there, whether it’s Smith, Stewart, Ojo, Chirivella, Brannagan whoever, they’ve done the club proud and looked like a Klopp team. I don’t think that means they’ll all have a future here, or even that they are all top level players, I just think it shows how great Klopp is. Bournemouth will no doubt have seen that line up and expected to win. A week earlier Stoke will have felt the same.
I like Bournemouth and them staying up as comfortably as they have done is a real achievement. Yes, they did spend quite a bit of money last summer, but they didn’t really get the benefit of it as their big money signings got injured and have hardly played. They’ve survived with more or less the same group that got them promoted and they’ve done it by playing football. Eddie Howe is a proper gent too, I don’t think I can ever remember seeing him acting like a twat, which is rare in his line of work.
Credit to them as a club too, playing YNWA before kick off to pay their respects to the 96. That was a nice gesture that not many others would have done. They booed Lallana which seemed a little bit petty given that he was only 12 when he left them for Southampton and they got to wet their beaks when we bought him, but I can look past that given their otherwise dignified behaviour.
There were plenty of positives to come out of this. Ward looks a far more capable understudy than Bogdan ever did and showed no sign of nerves. The inexperienced players all acquitted themselves well and Ibe looked much more like his old self after a couple of months of poor form. Joe Allen was class once again and Sturridge has responded in the perfect way to being left out of both Dortmund games.
The Europa has to be the priority now but hopefully we can keep churning out wins while giving opportunities to some of the younger players as that should stand us in good stead for next year. I can't wait for the derby now, but the confidence I'm feeling is probably not a good thing as any time we start to get a little bit chesty the players shit the bed. I'm trying not to get sucked in by them again, but after the fortnight we've just had it's becoming increasingly difficult.
Star man is Sturridge just ahead of Wee Joe.
Team: Ward; Randall, Toure (Sakho), Lucas, Smith; Stewart, Allen; Ojo, Firmino (Origi), Ibe (Lallana); Sturridge:
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