‘Rubbish’ – Owen slams three Liverpool players after Klopp’s side lose to Bournemouth

Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen was frustrated that the Reds gave away a “rubbish goal” against Bournemouth in their 1-0 loss on Saturday.

to put them three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham with a game in hand.

But and Spurs’ victory over Nottingham Forest saw them slip back with their away form proving a real issue this season.

And Owen thinks the only goal of the game from Philip Billing was very avoidable and put the blame on Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

“Virgil van Dijk ends up going in where you think he shouldn’t, but then Konate can see the whole picture. Van Dijk has gone in with his man,” Owen told Premier League Productions.

“I think it’s a 50-50, I think Konate tries to play offside when he can see everything in front of him and he needs to be sprinting back, as it is, Van Dijk gets back in, then Billing and Alexander-Arnold at the back post.

“Trent Alexander-Arnold ends up coming to the back post, totally losing his man, and then it’s a simple finish in the end. I think Konate can do better (preventing the cross). But Trent completely loses his man. It’s a rubbish goal to give away.”

Alexander-Arnold thought the lack of fight from Liverpool was “unacceptable” on Saturday and knows there won’t be an easy game from now until the end of the season.

“This is the time of the season when everyone knows what they are fighting for and obviously Bournemouth are in a relegation battle,” Alexander-Arnold told liverpoolfc.com.

“They are fighting for survival. But every team in the league is fighting for something so it means a lot to get the three points.

“I think looking back on it now, they probably wanted it more than us and that is something that is unacceptable and we need to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”

Liverpool only have Real Madrid to play in the second leg of their last-16 Champions League clash before the international break with the Reds looking to come from 5-2 down on aggregate when they travel to the Bernabeu.

“There’s only one more game before the internationals and it’s a huge one for us,” Alexander-Arnold added.

“So, it’s about throwing the kitchen sink at it and going all out and I think that’s what we’re going to do – it’s important to do that. Then we’ll get ready for an important run-in.”