“I always hate pens,” said Mohamed Salah, talking this week to Steven Gerrard. “I don’t like the feeling.”
The Liverpool supporters who made the long journey down to the South Coast only to watch their team post another truly pitiful display will no doubt have been in agreement with the Egyptian after a truly shocking afternoon for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Whatever Salah said to former Fiorentina team-mate Neto in the tunnel before the game here, it almost certainly wasn’t what ultimately transpired with 21 minutes remaining.
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Liverpool had been gifted a way back into an increasingly tortuous match when substitute Diogo Jota’s goalbound header struck the arm of Adam Smith, the decision eventually given after referee John Brooks was invited to consult his pitchside monitor by VAR.
James Milner, so reliable from the spot, had only minutes earlier been introduced, his cross having forced the opportunity. Salah, though, was the man tasked with drawing Liverpool level.
Instead, he curled his effort way wide of Neto’s right-hand post, and with it went any realistic chance of the visitors dragging themselves into the top four for the first time this season.
Salah, so often the scourge of the Vitality Stadium, was having a shocker even before his penalty aberration, constantly giving the ball away, making the wrong choices and too easily knocked out of possession.
To think it was less than a week ago the 30-year-old was tearing his jersey off in delight as he surpassed Robbie Fowler as Liverpool’s record Premier League goalscorer in the 7-0 romp against Manchester United. The last six days summed up the Reds' season.
But Salah wasn’t alone in falling way below his level, a promising 20 minutes soon making way for a dismal display that echoed the very worst of a rollercoaster campaign.
Nottingham Forest away. Brentford away. Brighton away. Wolves away. And now Bournemouth away. Eleven goals conceded, only one scored. This latest setback is becoming the norm on the road.
The gloomy look on the faces of the Liverpool players as they trudged down the tunnel reflected the mood, hardly likely to be improved by the prospect of what is effectively a dead rubber at Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.
It is going to be a very, very long three weeks before Salah and his hurting team-mates can begin atoning for yet another dreadful Premier League afternoon. Awful.
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