Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth
by James Nalton
at Anfield

LIVERPOOL began to turn around a stuttering start to the season with a record-equalling 9-0 win at home to Bournemouth on Saturday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side had failed to register a win in their opening three games of the season, drawing in underwhelming fashion against Crystal Palace and Fulham before losing to rivals Manchester United last Monday night.

Responding with a result that equals the record for the biggest win in the Premier League was a good way to begin a revival.

In the aftermath of such a high, Klopp mentioned the recent lows and how his group had worked their way out of them.

“We had to prove a point,” said the Liverpool boss. “We had to prove a point to ourselves.

“I know how it sounds when you lose a game and then you try to explain why; it’s always the same — each manager in the world is a fantastic entertainer when you win football games, but when you have to answer questions when you lose a game you try to find explanations, and obviously they sound like excuses.

“And that's why the public part of my job is not important, it’s just ‘what's the conclusion for us?’ and that’s why I said we had to prove a point — for us.”

The point began to be proved with two goals within the opening 10 minutes. Roberto Firmino was heavily involved in everything Liverpool did. He assisted the first three goals, scored by Luis Diaz, Harvey Elliott, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, before netting two for himself, one in each half.

A Virgil van Dijk header put Liverpool 5-0 up at half time. It was the first time since 1958 they have led by this margin at the interval in a league game.

A Chris Mepham own goal, a second for Diaz and another from substitute Fabio Carvalho made up the nine.

The Kop shouted “we want 10,” but Liverpool will have been more than happy with the display that brought them nine.

“We showed things we are strong at and other things where we have to improve, and that's what we had to do today,” said Klopp.

“You have to give the game a proper direction, and that's why I loved the start today so much.

“We didn't hesitate. We didn't hold anything back. We just went into the game flying.”

Liverpool will hope they continue to soar as they face Newcastle on Wednesday, looking to secure back-to-back wins and recover some of the early ground they lost on title challengers Manchester City and, apparently, Arsenal.