Jurgen Klopp said later, when the Liverpool title bid was back on track and Anfield becalmed, that there are always difficult times in the season when no-one wants to hear excuses for why points have been dropped, although his faith in his players has never once wavered.
The Liverpool manager left the pitch throwing that celebratory uppercut for the benefit of the home fans who had seen their own side incapacitate the visitors some time before the hour and could have scored six by the end. This was a return to the vintage attacking form of Liverpool before they dropped four points over their previous two games, even if, for Klopp, the essence of his determined, hard-working side had never gone away.
There was a formidable goalscoring performance from the midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum who got off his sickbed to play, and the sheer 90-plus minutes relentlessness of Andy Robertson was compelling once again. Yet when Roberto Firmino rolled his studs over the ball at full speed to play a pass inside for Mohamed Salah to score the third it felt like Anfield had its moment. This was a level of technical quality and team-play with which Bournemouth simply could not live.
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