Slot on Bournemouth Loss: “[We are] Only Ones to Blame”

Liverpool’s loss to Bournemouth on Saturday is a emblematic of the frustrating ride that this whole season has been to this season. In it, we saw the Reds fall behind due to bizarre individual mistakes,

wasted chances, and even a last minute goal conceded. It was, in a word, maddening.

That feeling, I imagine, is only compounded for the players and staff. I mean, in between matches, I can and usually do turn my attention to things that are wholly separate from Liverpool Football Club. The squad, though, have no such luxury.

And for club leaders like Arne Slot, the scrutiny must feel all-consuming, from the questions that you face in the build-up and post-match press conferences, to the endless stream of articles written about you that really not very many other folks will ever have to face. No one’s really as invested in what’s happening at the desk of a program coordinator for a local city’s parks program than it is in the minutia of the happenings at LFC.

So, it’s no surprise that Slot’s post-match press conference reads as a bit spikier than most press appearances over the past few weeks. In particular, when asked to asses the state of the team given the result, there was clearly an edginess mixed into the boss’s characteristic bluntness.

“It’s not the first time this season where it has only been seven minutes where I wouldn’t even say we were struggling, but the other team was part of the game as well. In those seven minutes we conceded two. Of course, the second one was when we were down to 10 because after the first goal Joe Gomez had to go off with an injury. He wanted to try, thought he could but then he couldn’t. Maybe that sums up our season. It’s every time something else, it’s every time something special how we concede. But we concede and the only ones to blame are ourselves.”

Slot’s lament that “every time, something else” feels so apt. When Joe Gomez went down injured, my initial reaction was that we really can’t buy any luck. With the rest of the league besides Arsenal unable to hold onto something approaching consistency, it feels even worse because we can’t take advantage of the topsy turvy results across the league. Just some luck, in this moment, would be so appreciated.

Liverpool will next face Qarabag in the Champions League mid-week. A chance, then, to turn the page on this moment and, hopefully, see another step towards improving broadly.