Klopp calls for Liverpool consistency

Jurgen Klopp demanded consistency from his Liverpool team after a 4-0 demolition of Bournemouth sent the Reds back into the Premier League's top four.

Klopp's side had drawn their last two matches - at home to Everton and West Brom - but ran out 4-0 winners thanks to goals from Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

A comprehensive victory at the Vitality Stadium saw Liverpool jump into the Champions League qualification places, with Klopp thrilled by his side's performance.

"I'm really pleased with everything. The start was serious, like it should be in a game like this," Klopp told Sky Sports. 

"We know Bournemouth can play if you let them, they had their moments against Manchester United, too much for United fans, so we know what can happen. We were disciplined and defended different situations well, won a few balls.

"We cannot score all the time. It's normal for it to be hard. But we scored a fantastic first goal, a world-class third goal, the fourth is fantastic. We could have scored more but more important we didn't give any away. So really it was well deserved and I enjoyed the performance.

"They're the same players as against West Brom when we didn't hit the target. I don't change my mind in three minutes. But we need to be consistently good because we are Liverpool. We need to be consistent in the decisive moments. It's our job to change that - and we could have five points more."

Coutinho's star performance, with a sensational solo strike followed up by a brace of assists, inevitably led to Klopp being quizzed once more about the future of the long-time Barcelona target.

"It's interesting now in this moment [to talk about Coutinho's future] but the judgment with Phil has been the same since I was here," a frustrated Klopp said. 

"The job of Liverpool is to play without Phil, Salah, [Sadio] Mane and show we can do it. Coutinho played well.

"But we have nothing to say about transfers until something happens. We still have a few more weeks - or months - to go."

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe accepted his side's performance, riddled with individual errors and sloppy passes, was substandard, with the Cherries now winless in five Premier League matches and sitting a point above the drop zone.

"I think it's an understatement to say that was a tough one to take," Howe told reporters at a post-match news conference.

"There's not been many times as Bournemouth manager that I've felt like this after a match. In football management it happens though, we're extremely disappointed but it's how we respond, that's the key thing.

"I think the performance was down to a combination of things, when you don't perform well against the top sides it becomes difficult. We were below where we needed to be, Liverpool have players that can hurt you.

"We didn't keep the ball well enough, we turned it over too much, it was so disappointing as we wanted to give the supporters and the club more in a high profile match.

"It's a misconception that we're not in a relegation battle, we're in our third season now and we're under no illusions."