Klopp insists 9-0 thrashing wasn’t disrespectful to Bournemouth

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists he never disrespected Bournemouth after his side equalled the record Premier League win with a 9-0 victory over the Cherries.

The Reds had eight different scorers as Klopp’s team sealed their first victory of the Premier League season after a sluggish start to the campaign.

Youngsters Stefan Bajcetic and Bobby Clark were also handed their debuts in Liverpool colours as the Anfield side racked up the goals. But Klopp was keen to stress that it was always about his own side performing and it wasn’t to disrespect Scott Parker’s side.

“We wanted to show a reaction. Be ourselves,” said the German. “Getting to be the best version of ourselves. We play a specific way. We scored wonderful goals. The game settled and we kept scoring. It was about keeping going.

“Not to humiliate Bournemouth, we couldn’t respect them more. It’s about putting the opponent under pressure. I could bring on the kids, they deserve it so much. Harvey [Elliott] is a special player, wonderful goal. Everything was perfect pretty much.”

There were plenty of goals to go around for Liverpool, but the pick of the bunch was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s thunderbolt in the first half. Playing a give-and-go with Roberto Firmino, the England international crashed his effort into the top corner.

Klopp says the victory was cathartic as it got the monkey off his side’s back this season, before challenging his players to back it up.

“It’s important to get it off the chest and play football. Wednesday will be different,” he added.

“Today the mix of great weather and fantastic football, we don’t have that often at Liverpool so we should cherish it. At least we don’t have to answer the question anymore [about not winning]. A really good day for us. We won’t get carried away. If we want to be successful in this league we have to show consistency. That’s what we have to do now.”