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It was just another day at the office for Jurgen Klopp and his men at the Vitality Stadium as Liverpool drubbed hosts Bournemouth 0-3, extending their unbeaten Premier League record to 33 games.
Ex-Arsenal man Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scoring for the visitors in the 35th minute, thanks to an exquisite long ball from captain Jordan Henderson. Naby Keita doubled their advantage, marking his first start in a league fixture this season with a cool finish minutes before the first-half whistle. The Guinean midfielder later set up striker Mo Salah's first away goal of the season in the second half, as the Reds extended their lead over reigning champions Manchester City to 14 points.
Klopp made as much as seven changes to the squad that thumped Everton 5-2 in the Merseyside derby in the midweek fixture. They earned just their third clean sheet of the campaign in a fixture in which Alisson returned to the squad but remained untested between the sticks by the opposition frontline.
Bournemouth displayed resilience at the back during the initial moments of the game, but as the game progressed, their integrity at the back went on the wane and the loss of centre-back Nathan Ake due to injury dealt a severe blow to their defensive measures.
So, as the runaway league leaders continued their marauding run in the English top flight, here is our analysis of the match, as it happened.
#1 Jurgen Klopp reverts to his trademark 4-3-3 formation
Jurgen Klopp has enjoyed huge success due his emphasis on a strong front-three in his time at the Anfield. Thus, his preferred formation has always been 4-3-3.
After making five changes to the squad for the Merseyside derby, he deployed an uncharacteristic 4-2-3-1 formation in that fixture. Though it yielded the desired results, in today's match he went back to his tried and tested tactic and started Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Chamberlain up front.
His decision to start Salah and rest Sadio Mane proved to bea smart one, as the Egyptian went on to have one of his best games of the season, netting his first away goal and also notching up the assist for Keita's goal.
The visitors had a whopping 22 attempts on goal, with nine shots on target, most of them coming from the front three.
#2 Liverpool possess the depth in their squad to contest for both the Champions League and the Premier League
In the last two matches, there has been a massive reshuffling in the starting XI for Liverpool. Klopp was forced to make a combined total of 12 changes in the playing XI for these two fixtures.
The Best FIFA Football Coach 2019 award-winner was forced to experiment with his squad because of the unforgiving run of fixtures they have been scheduled to play in December. They still need to play seven more games in the last month of the year, spanning across three competitions - the Premier League, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
An excellent display by his players in the two games this month so far, in which he rested key players (Salah and Firmino in the Merseyside Derby and Mane in today's game) is a testament to the quality and depth of the current Liverpool squad.
If he can rely on fringe players like Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi to get the job done in easy fixtures while resting his main players, we can bet on the club being a strong contender for conquering the Premier League-Champions League double this season.
#3 Bournemouth's young and inexperienced defense was no match for a rampant Liverpool attack
Eddie Howe fielded a back four with an average age of 26 years, with captain Simon Francis the only seasoned top-flight defender. As it became evident midway through the first half, the defense struggled against the visitor's pinpoint passes as well as their elegant link-up play.
Though the defensive line did not give away much space to the rampant Liverpool attackers in the initial stages of the game, they started to lose their grip as the opposition started to pile on the pressure, leaving goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale exposed.
In the second half, the visitors seemed to be rolling the ball around deep into the Cherries' half at will with no resistance at all. As a result, the Reds managed a total of 22 shots on goal, with nine of them finding the target.
The home side's attackers also did not do their defenders any favor as they failed to take the pressure off from them throughout the game and had a disappointing showing, in which all of their three shots on goal were off target.
#4 Nathan Ake's injury proved to be the turning point in the game
Nathan Ake has been the sole performer for a poor Cherries side this season and his injury did not look good. He put in a brave tackle to deny Salah a clear scoring chance in the 33rd minute, but it seemed to have done more harm than good, and proved to be the last touch of the game for the Dutch defender, who was taken off shortly after the incident.
Manager Howe was visibly distraught at the sight of yet another first-team joining the lengthy list of injuries and his demeanour took a turn for the worst as if he already knew that the game was lost at that point.
Liverpool drew blood almost immediately after Ake's departure for the day when Oxlade-Chamberlain coolly finished off Henderson's fine long-range pass into the near corner.
It was Ake's replacement Jack Simpson who gave away the ball cheaply in his own half to Keita, who wasted no time in passing it to Salah, who put it past the incoming goalie to score Liverpool's third of the game and his first away goal of the campaign.
Howe's headache increased further as he had to take striker Callum Wilson off the pitch in the 64th minute.
#5 Liverpool's exquisite passing won them the game
Though the Reds have become known for their high-pressing game over the past two seasons, tonight it was their passing that stood out.
They completed 850 passes in the game and maintained a decent 88% passing accuracy. The linkup play between the players was flawless and played a vital role in all of their three goals.
Keita had a great game in the midfield and was one of the visitors' standout players and had a pass accuracy of 94.7%, took 110 touches, attempted one dribble, and made three tackles and two interceptions.
Coming back to the passing extraordinaire that Liverpool displayed, the first goal resulted from an intelligent ball from the back by Henderson, almost similar to the one Origi scored against Everton in the midweek when Lovren lifted the ball over the defense for the Belgian to finish.
The second goal was all about Salah's immaculate skills with the ball and the deftest of backheels to find Keita free, having drawn three Bournemouth defenders to himself. Finally, the third goal was a result of a perfectly weighted ball for Salah that he only had to guide past Ramsdale.
