Philippe Coutinho vomited, Jurgen Klopp was almost nauseous by the final whistle and, all in all, Liverpool fans were sickened by the way they failed to see out another game so close to the finishing line.
When Coutinho, scorer of the equaliser following Benik Afobe’s gift-wrapped opener for Bournemouth, had to be substituted through illness on 65 minutes, Klopp threw on centre-back Joel Matip.
The Reds were in the ascendancy at that point both on the scoreboard – courtesy of Divock Origi’s header – and in the flow of the encounter.
“We only thought it made sense to give one more defensive protection in the centre,” Klopp said of the only substitution he made on the night.
“We are usually really brave in situations like this when we really try to win and that’s what we did – we only tried to win.
“We grew into the game from there and that gave us confidence.
“I always thought that if we could continue to put pressure of them then we may well get the chance we needed and that’s how it panned out at the end.
“It was human instinct for Liverpool to sit back on what they had.”
Howe felt the formation change itself didn’t lead to swing in the game, but the move to put on Matip did alter the mindset of both sides: Bournemouth read it as an invitation to test the ‘let’s hold’ mentality, the hosts focused more on protecting rather than adding to their slender advantage.
There is, of course, absolutely nothing wrong with that tactic if you’re well skilled in soaking up pressure and ensuring the three points are stitched up. Liverpool, famously, are not.
Before the substitution, Bournemouth were not offering any kind of scare to prompt the need for a third centre-back. Perhaps Liverpool were aware their openness in the reverse fixture allowed Howe’s side to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 triumph in the final 15 minutes.
But Klopp is the greatest advocate of assessing games individually, and with 65 minutes played at Anfield on Wednesday night, it seemed counter-intuitive to go against the team’s strong suit when the visitors weren’t forcing such a change.
There was still so much football to be played and a more positive switch followed by a controlling one seemed more sensible.
Correctly, the Reds boss concluded afterwards that “with three points, we would feel completely different, but it would have been pretty much the same game”.
Klopp, however, got it wrong with his substitution – and Liverpool need to be sharper on the pitch and in the dugout to secure a top-four spot
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