Liverpool blew a two-goal lead late in the game and lost away to Bournemouth which again laid bare the problems with the defence. The Reds were looking to close a four-point gap that Chelsea had opened up after their victory over Manchester City and looked good after a 2-0 lead at half time.

Sadio Mane and Divock Origi had given the Reds a comfortable lead but it all went pear-shaped in the second half. James Milner gave away a daft penalty after a mistake from Dejan Lovren and Callum Wilson scored to make the score line 1-2 for Bournemouth.

Emre Can then seemed to have sealed all the three points with a sumptuous strike in the 64^th minute but Bournemouth substitute Ryan Fraser scored to make it 2-3. Things got worse for the Reds as Steven Cook scored to level the game and a late mistake by Loris Karius saw Nathan Ake bundle the ball in the last minute.

Post-game, Jurgen Klopp was left a little confused as to how his side lost but gave credit to a battling Bournemouth side. The loss will be a demoralizer for the Merseyside club and we present the player ratings for Klopp’s men.

Loris Karius – 4/10

Karius had a game to forget, his two big saves were more or less hit straight at him and when it came to saving a couple of shots that went in, he couldn’t do justice to his number one spot. This has been a fear for Liverpool fans and the German didn’t provide any confidence in his keeping today.

Nathaniel Clyne – 6/10

The English defender was not the worst player in the defence but didn’t really have a game to talk about when it comes to helping out the attack.

Dejan Lovren – 4/10

The Croatian was poor in the second half and it was his mistake which led to the penalty. The former Southampton defender couldn’t keep hold of the Bournemouth attackers and it could have been more than four that the Reds conceded.

Lucas Leiva – 3/10

It was a surprise seeing Lucas start ahead of Ragnar Klavan as a replacement for the injured Joel Matip. While the Brazilian was decent in the first half, he was horrible in the second and should not play as a defender anymore.

James Milner – 6/10

The former Manchester City man did give away the penalty to Bournemouth and had a poor game overall. He could have done more to help out his defence but will want to forget about this game soon.

Jordan Henderson – 6/10

Even the captain had a poor game and didn’t really do much for the side in keeping the attack going. Henderson wasn’t the one to be blamed for the loss though as his back four capitulated in the final 20 minutes.

Emre Can – 6/10

Can did pretty well in the first half and even scored a fine third goal for the Reds but it was not enough as they lost the tie thanks to some rather horrible defending.

Georginio Wijnaldum – 5/10

The former Newcastle man had a quite game, even though he tried to link with the attack a number of times. He was also another player who had a game to forget and hopefully will perform better in the next match.

Divock Origi – 6/10

The Belgian had a chance to win the game when the scores were tied 3-3 but he did get his name on the scoresheet in the first half with a near finish. Origi was invisible in the second half and that must have hurt many Liverpool fans and Klopp too.

Sadio Mane – 6/10

Mane got the scoring going with a smart finish to beat Boruc but apart from that moment of genius, he didn’t really do much in the game. He was like a number of players who took their foot off the gas as the Reds lost the tie.

Roberto Firmino – 6/10

The Brazilian had an off day in the game and barely contributed to the side. It just went to prove that playing Firmino out wide (in a Coutinho position) does not bring out the best in him.

Substitutes:

Adam Lallana – 5/10

The Englishman was brought on with 20 minutes to go and barely did anything noteworthy. The good news is he is back and Liverpool need him.