Liverpool FC’s 9-0 Rout Met With Blindness And Hypocrisy

Liverpool FC’s 9-0 demolition of AFC Bournemouth, it turns out, was the right type of rout.

Rather than causing a moral panic about the gap between teams in the Premier League, the soccer fraternity focused on the positives.

“The goalkeeper Mark Travers, bless his heart, has done nothing wrong all afternoon,” said TalkSport’s Graham Beecroft, “he’s just been beaten by nine great goals, simple as that.”

The Mirror’s David Maddock went even further; let us not fall into the trap of putting it all down to the vanquished, as we so often do,” he wrote, “Liverpool set a Premier League record because they were magnificent, because Firmino showed he is top class, because every single one of their players showed their ruthless ambition.”

On the flagship British highlights program Match of the Day it was smiles all-round, “if only we had someone who knew what it was like to be beaten 9-0 at Anfield,” quipped host Gary Lineker with a laugh in reference to pundit Ian Wright’s defeat by the same scoreline as a player some 30-odd years ago.

As ever, Wright was articulate in describing the “humiliation” of such a defeat. But, he like almost everyone else, failed to acknowledge the elephant in the room; the polarization of the English game.

It was a point not lost on one of the men at the heart of the demolition, Bournemouth manager Scott Parker, he used post-match comments to highlight the gulf between the two sides.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said, “This is currently where it is at this moment in time. The players need help. Today proved too big a challenge. The levels were far too big.

“At times we couldn’t bear it, the intensity.”

The 9-0 battering came hot on the heels of a 3-0 defeat by Arsenal and a 4-0 humbling by Manchester City. Both games could arguably have resulted in higher scores given the majority of goals were scored before half-time.

Worryingly for the Premier League Parker suggested that losing by such an extraordinary margin was unlikely to be a one-off.

“At this moment in time, where we currently are, I can see some more to be honest with you,” he added.

Yet Parker’s warning appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Blindness and hypocrisy

The Independent’s Miguel Delaney who, after Manchester City’s 7-0 victory over Leeds United in December 2021, said: “the game shouldn’t really be analyzed without recognizing the immense disparity between the clubs” was another who remained silent.

As did his newspaper which still carries a link to the article he used to illustrate this point titled ‘How football became broken beyond repair’ on its football homepage-was this not another example of that?

After all, this was a Liverpool team that just one week earlier was being described as “injury-hit” and “tired.” The margin of victory for a team shorn of several first-team players and many of its excellent back-ups was worrying.

The blindness to the hypocrisy of the reaction was highlighted by commentators from parts of the game criticized for one-sided results.

“9-0 in the men[’s] game Seems to equal great performance. Absolutely.” Tweeted ex-pro turned pundit Lianne Sanderson, “in the women’s game for some it equals poor goalkeeping and ‘Women’s football is rubbish’ oh the double standard. How ironic.“

The response to Sanderson’s tweet was overwhelming and depressing. Men rushed to explain she was wrong and this was actually 9-0 in a game at the “highest standards” and therefore commendable.

Big scorelines at the highest level of the game are not in themselves a cause for concern, they have happened in previous eras.

Why English soccer should be scared is that they are accompanied by an ever more polarised top and bottom of the game.

Liverpool’s turnover ($571 million) was nearly seven times Bournemouth’s ($82 million), according to their most recent sets of accounts.

The south coast side’s total annual revenue wouldn’t cover the fee the Reds paid for record signing Darwin Nunez-who they didn’t even for the demolition of the Cherries.

While Liverpool spends a quarter of Bournemouth’s turnover each year on Mohamed Salah’s wages alone.

The Cherries will of course earn more revenue from being a Premier League side, but certainly, nowhere near enough to be anywhere close to narrowing the gap.

Even an extended stay in the league wouldn’t remedy the situation. During the club’s five-year stint in the top division when annual earnings were as high as £136 million in 2017, a significant way behind the £364 million Liverpool made in the same period.

And the trend is toward greater polarization.

Rich clubs like Liverpool want more and are willing to leave the likes of Bournemouth behind completely to do so.

In the past few years, it has made two attempts to grab more revenue. First, it was Project Big Picture which would cut the Premier League down to 18 sides, and axe the EFL Cup giving them more revenue and power.

Then, most dramatically, Liverpool signed on to the ill-fated European Super League venture, that would effectively see them leave the gig altogether.

Amongst the arguments for these dramatic restructures of the game was the suggestion the big clubs “needed” the revenue.

But let’s be honest, compared to the likes of AFC Bournemouth they don’t.

The fact the gap on the balance sheet is being powerfully demonstrated on the pitch should cause panic, those that have spoken out before need to now too.