LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has insisted his side proved a point in their record 9-0 Premier League win over newly promoted Bournemouth on Saturday, a game that he called it “the perfect game of football”.
Having entered the contest without a win in their opening three games at the start of the season, Liverpool kicked off their campaign in style and it was the fourth time a side had won by a nine-goal margin in league history. Premier League.
The thrashing was also the third time Liverpool have won by a nine-goal margin after beating Crystal Palace 9-0 in 1989 in the old Premier League and Rotherham Town 10-1 in 1896.
“We had to prove a point for ourselves,” Klopp said. “We weren’t happy with the way we’ve played so far this season.
“We had shown things we were strong on and other things we needed to improve on. We just had to give the game a good direction, which is why I liked the start so much (against Bournemouth).
“We didn’t hesitate, we came into the game flying and had bodies in the box, around the box, second balls and off we went. In the end, it was the after Perfect football afternoon for us and lots of different scorers, wonderful goals and we all know we needed something like that.”
Roberto Firmino had a particularly successful afternoon, scoring twice with three assists – becoming the third Liverpool player to score five goals in a Premier League game after Mohamed Salah against Watford in March 2018 and Luis Suarez against Norwich in December 2013.
The Brazilian could once again find himself behind signing Darwin Nunez in the pecking order when Liverpool’s new signing returns from suspension, but Klopp remains happy with Firmino’s contribution to the team.
“He makes all the difference,” Klopp said. “I know it’s not the time to talk about individual performances when you lose at Old Trafford (2-1 defeat on Monday) but he played very well there too. He was everywhere.
“Today was a tough game, he played very high up the pitch, going between the lines. The timing (of his performance) couldn’t have been better.”