Bournemouth 3-2 Liverpool: Arne Slott’s side are on a long unbeaten run

By the hour mark, three of Liverpool’s starting four players had been taken off due to injuries to Gomez, while Milos Kerkes and Jeremy Frimpong were taken off to maintain their fitness.

“I think it’s safe to say some of our players are burned out,” Slott said. “I can’t even criticize them for that because two days ago we had to play an away match in Europe.

“We are the only team that played [in the] The Champions League is two days away at this time.”

To mitigate the issue, Liverpool’s lack of depth was evident with injuries and notable absences, but with the exception of Rio Njomoha, they continued to finish with big players and Slott was able to call on the likes of Endo, Andy Robertson, Curtis Jones and Hugo Ekitike to the bench.

However, Slott was frank in his insistence that Bournemouth could have made it 3-2 early. The winning goal came in the 95th minute and led to raucous scenes, but it was not a surprise for those who have followed Liverpool this season.

They conceded a 90th-minute winner for the third time in the Premier League this season – their most in a single season in the competition – and it was the fifth time they had dropped points in stoppage time.

This was also the fifth Premier League goal the team has conceded from a throw-in this season – the most by any team.

If Arsenal beats Manchester United on Sunday (16:30 GMT), Liverpool will be closer to the relegation zone than at the top of the Premier League. This alone is a damning indictment of their woeful defense of their title.

Shearer added: “Their goal is to save the season by qualifying for the Champions League by finishing the season in the top four or perhaps in the top five, but this is a big decline from what we saw last season.”

Liverpool’s defense has been dead in the Premier League for some time now. This is a team that should be competing for the title next season, but at the moment they have no semblance of identity and, most of all, they are no longer to be feared.