Liverpool - Jurgen Klopp said he felt like being sick after
Liverpool conceded a damaging late equaliser in their 2-2 draw against
Bournemouth.
Klopp's side looked set for a crucial victory in their chase
for Champions League football on Wednesday, having recovered from Benik Afobe's
early goal to lead 2-1 through finishes from Philippe Coutinho and Divock
Origi.
It was a sign third placed Liverpool could still find goals in the absence of injured top scorer Sadio Mane.
But there was a setback for Klopp as Coutinho, who was sick
in the dressing room at half-time, had to come off with 25 minutes to go.
And the manager said that he felt ill himself after Joshua
King scored for Bournemouth with three minutes to go at Anfield.
Klopp said: "We had to change Phil because he felt sick
at half-time. He said he feels better now, so that is good, but it was clear
when he made a signal that we had to make a change.
"There's no joy when you have to take off your best
player. He played really well.
"We could have closed the game in one moment, but we
didn't, we left it open.
"Then they scored from the second ball after a
set-piece and it made me nearly vomit.
"We have to recover. It's one point more than before. It's not what we wanted but we could have been worse. We have lost already games like this this season and today we didn't so maybe that is a positive.
"We have to take it. It is my responsibility all of
this, I have to be more clear but we will find a solution. Our set-pieces
tonight I thought were really good."
Liverpool have made a habit of committing defensive errors
this season and did so again, as Georginio Wijnaldum's under-hit back pass
allowed Afobe to give Bournemouth a seventh-minute lead.
Klopp insisted that he took responsibility for any mistakes his players make, adding: "When my son does something that is not right, probably I have some part of the responsibility. I should have explained better.
"The bad things are my responsibility, the good things
are the responsibility of the players. I think that is a good deal because I
have the age to get it."
Bournemouth's point extended their unbeaten run to five
matches, and they look increasingly likely to survive in the Premier League.
Eddie Howe's side have recovered well from a poor run that
brought them just two points from their first seven league matches of 2017.
Howe was particularly pleased with the midfield displays of
Harry Arter and Jack Wilshere in frustrating Liverpool.
The Bournemouth manager said: "There were two huge
performances from them. If you're loose in your shape, Liverpool will punish
you. They were very disciplined.
"I thought we defended very well, that is my first
starting point. It's very difficult coming here. "Everyone knows how
precious every point is. To restrict them to long shots was a signal that our
defensive display was very strong.
"We tweaked what we would normally do. Tactically, if
you watch us every week away from home, we were a little bit more passive. We
withdrew our strikers in the middle of the pitch.
"With the quality Liverpool have, if you switch off for a second, they punish you. Fortunately we never gave up and were able to salvage an equaliser."