Liverpool had a tough opening first 45 minutes at the Vitality Stadium and it was fair to say that Jurgen Klopp wouldn’t have been too happy with the performance of several players from within his team, especially two midfielders – it would seem.
As reported by journalist Artur Petrosyan: ‘Duels in the first half: Elliott – ground duels – 4 lost, 0 won, aerial duels – 1 lost, 0 won
‘Bajcetic – ground duels – 3 lost, 0 won, aerial duels – 1 lost, 0 won’
READ MORE: (Video) Woeful Liverpool marking as Billing opens the scoring at the Vitality Stadium
Diogo Jota was brought onto the pitch for the start of the second-half in the place of Harvey Elliott which may well show that our manager was fully aware of the poor performance level of our No.19.
It was also revealed before the match that Jordan Henderson was left out of the game against Bournemouth because of an illness he was struggling with this week and so the 18-year-old may well have only found out late that he was set to play.
There have been more than enough comments made about the quality of our midfield and the perceived need for more signing in the coming summer transfer window, with the first-half performance level of two younger players in that position being below the expected standard.
We’ve seen both youngsters shine in recent weeks though and there’s no reason why they won’t be able to bounce back from this positively.
You can view the Elliott and Bajcetic numbers via @arturpetrosyan on Twitter: