Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp have found themselves on the end of heavy criticism following their recent 1-0 defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
A goal from Philip Billing was enough to secure the three points for the south coast club on Saturday, as a missed penalty from Mohamed Salah added to Liverpool’s disappointment on the day.
Having beat Manchester United 7-0 in their league game prior to the Bournemouth match, the Reds’ efforts at the Vitality Stadium didn’t impress one pundit in particular.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor had this to say about Liverpool and their recent defeat.
He said: “The thing about this game was, against Manchester United, when it’s 2-0, it’s easy to get on the ball isn’t it? It’s easy when the Kop’s on your side and everyone wants the ball. Where were these players today?
“We talk about Jurgen Klopp is this mentality monster and his team are, they weren’t today. You go and beat Manchester United 7-0, which shows that that was just a shock, one-off performance from Liverpool and then Bournemouth today.
“Do they want to get top four? Do they want [Jude] Bellingham to look at them in the summer and come to Liverpool? I just don’t understand that performance today.
“For the first goal, the one goal, [Virgil] Van Dijk, he just left the winger to run through, cross it, no one is picking up Billing in the box, tap in. The defending was woeful.
“The decisions from Klopp as well, you need a goal, you bring Trent [Alexander-Arnold] off? I love James Milner, but Trent, you need a goal, you keep him on. [Darwin] Nunez was sharp, you bring him off?
“I felt like Jurgen Klopp got it wrong today and no mentality monsters today was there Mr Jurgen, if you’re listening, which you will be.”
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Despite having 69% possession in total as well as 15 shots at goal with six on target, Liverpool ended the game with an overall team rating of 6.75/10 from SofaScore, which is lower than Bournemouth’s rating of 6.86/10.
In addition to that, Alexander-Arnold ended the game as Liverpool’s highest-rated player with a match rating of 7.4/10, which makes it easy to see why Agbonlahor was surprised Klopp took him off after 65 minutes.
Also, with the full-back having the highest rate of expected assists (4.9) at the Merseyside club, it’s clear that he has what it takes to have found a breakthrough for his side and potentially get them on the scoresheet.