Liverpool's season lurches into new crisis as Arne Slot substitution calamity speaks volumes

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Liverpool’s hopes of retaining their Premier League title have long since sailed away, but their shipwreck of a season hit new turbulence at Bournemouth.

After a dreadful first half which saw them fall 2-0 down inside 35 minutes to strikes from Evanilson and Alex Jimenez, Virgil van Dijk’s header and Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick looked to have earned a fifth straight league draw.

But a failure to deal with James Hill’s long throw in stoppage time ended with Amine Adli bundling home a scarcely believable winner to condemn the Reds to a seventh league loss of the season.

In opening exchanges that were played in torrential rain and driving wind, Liverpool were the quicker to find their groove and established what they had thought was a level of control.

Mo Salah, on his first Premier League start for two months, drove an effort over the bar from distance, before the Egyptian’s link up with Florian Wirtz ended with Hill blocking a Szoboszlai shot.

Hill was then involved in Bournemouth’s first threatening moment when he fired over the top, but that didn’t trouble Liverpool and there was little to herald the chaos that was about to unfold in the visiting defence.

Marcos Senesi’s long ball forward had looked to be nothing but a harmless threat to Van Dijk, but the Liverpool captain watched on and appeared to think it was dropping harmlessly out of play.

Alex Scott didn’t though, and the Bournemouth man nipped in to find Evanilson who fired home, with Alisson crashing into Joe Gomez in the process.

Cue some seven minutes of inexplicable dallying as the Reds failed to replace the stricken Gomez with Wataru Endo, who stood on the sidelines as Arne Slot urged his players, most notably goalkeeper Alisson, to kick the ball out.

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For some reason they didn’t, and the impressive Hill had the time and space to play in Jimenez, who ran off the back of ex-Cherries man Milos Kerkez and fired in.

Stumbling around in a mess of their own making, Liverpool were stunned but had no other option but to try and set out on the long road back.

Wirtz fired wide before a spell of pressure late in the first half would see the deficit halved as Szoboszlai’s corner was flicked across goal by Van Dijk and dropped into the net at the far post.

Given a lifeline by their captain’s goal, and with Andy Robertson introduced for Kerkez at half-time despite discussions over an impending move to Tottenham, Liverpool began the second half by dominating possession but doing very little with it.

Ryan Gravenberch came closest with an effort which whistled past Djordje Petrovic’s post, and after Slot had shuffled his pack by bringing on all five substitutes, Szoboszlai’s pinpoint free-kick made it 2-2 with 10 minutes remaining.

But if that was supposed to herald a final push from the soon to be deposed champions then it didn’t arrive, and instead Bournemouth were left cursing when Evanilson fired wide when it looked easier to score.

Not to worry for the Cherries though, Liverpool always give you another chance.

Hill’s long throw into the visiting box in the 94th minute caused chaos, and Adli was there to bundle home the winner and send the home crowd wild.