Mark Travers conceded nine goals on Saturday as Bournemouth were mauled by Liverpool at Anfield, however former Dundalk keeper Gary Rogers does not think that the Ireland stopper’s reputation has been too badly damaged by the result.
A long day at the office for the young Irish international, conceded Rogers who said that Travers would have wished the game over once his side were four behind, however, he stressed that the Maynooth native could not be faulted for the goals that the home side scored in a rampant opening 30 minutes.
Liverpool were always likely to take out their disappointment of losing their previous game to rivals Manchester United, and it was Scott Parker’s men that bore the brunt of Jurgen Klopp’s side’s reaction, as they shipped nine goals in total in a fixture that will become instantly forgettable for the south coast side.
If Travers was at fault for any of the goals, it was not until the 62nd minute when Roberto Firmino swept home the seventh, following an indecisive parry from the Irish keeper, however, the points were long and truly secured by that stage amid a carnival atmosphere at the home ground.
“It was a really tough day at the office for Travers,” said Rogers, speaking on this week’s RTE Soccer Podcast.
“But to be fair, for the first six goals, I don’t think you could question him at all. I think it was the seventh goal, where he parried it out, and it was finished off.
“But when you concede that many goals so early in the game, you just want the game to be over and it would have been a painful experience.
“I don’t think he comes out of it with his reputation damaged, as it wasn’t the case that he made a mistake for the first, second or third, it was a marginal error on the seventh goal, but it was a really tough one for him.”
Conan Byrne, however, believes that the manager will now need to make wholesale changes to his side following the hammering and he expects Travers to be among a host of switches that could occur to help the side bounce back from the awful Anfield afternoon.
“The fallback on this now is that Scott Parker will have to make changes, because if he doesn’t then his own job could be at stake,” said former St. Patrick’s Athletic midfielder Byrne.
“So it is probably Neto who comes in to replace him (Travers), and that’s just the disappointing aspect of it.
“If he does play him again, it shows a great faith and confidence in him, but because of the 9-0, he is going to have to do something.”
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