Liverpool v Crystal Palace - A Quick Liverpool Perspective
Liverpool v Crystal Palace A Liverpool Perspective
It seems to be a standard now, Liverpool play poorly and specialise in slow, tedious, rolled balls around the back, but sometimes get a result despite the poor performance. This was one of those good results despite playing poorly. The goals being just about all that was good, in terms of play, coming from quick attacks, rather than slow play. The counters were excellent, but the actual overall play was sloppy, particularly early on when a number of unnecessary corners were given away.
The first 25 minutes or so were particularly bad, with Wirtz, Isak, Salah and Gakpo barely seeing the ball as Mac Allister dropped between the centre-backs and the ball was rolled slowly between the three of them. There can be no complaint about the penalty awarded being overturned by VAR, it was clearly not a penalty and it was, for once, a good thing VAR was there to help out the referee there.
It took nearly half an hour before Palace were put under any pressure, none of that was from a press though, as that was woeful, disorganised even, with huge gaping holes in it as players stood too far off and lacked aggression. It is worrying that nothing was created in normal play, there is absolutely no creativity which is fine against a dreadful Palace side, who looked like they were on the beach, but the final four games are against teams with something to play for.
Even more concerning was the way Palace were able to stroll through the midfield at ease, there was absolutely no protection from midfield. The only thing worse was the reaction to Woodman going down injured. It was absolute amateur hour, everyone just stood and watched as Munoz waited and then put it into the empty net. There was absolutely no reason for the referee to stop the game and it was shocking to watch players as experienced as the Liverpool defence to just stand and watch. No one tried to close him down, no tried to cover the goal line. They all just stood around like spare pricks at a wedding. Embarrassing.
Crystal Palace
Palace were incredibly poor, offering very little threat and never looked like they were even giving their all to get it back to level scores. They had come out with a gameplan to spoil and time waste, once they conceded they looked lost as to what to do. They were not helped by Glasner, who made the strange decision to take off Mitchell at half-time, despite him giving Jones real trouble at times. He was pretty much their only threat, as you cannot count Johnson, who is so weak and pathetic, just looking to dive and pretend to have injuries. Palace have such a good record at Anfield that is was surprising they did not go for it, especially as they have little to lose being safe in midtable.
Liverpool
Woodman - he had a game he will never forget, with some good saves and having the entire Kop sing his name. He did not look good on crosses though.
Jones - didn't deal with Mitchell getting forward well at all. Awful play to give the ball away and nearly gifting Palace a goal in the first half. He did also do a lot of good things, including picking up an assist. Looked a lot more comfortable in the second half without Mitchell bombing forward.
Konate - has no awareness at all. Darwin Nunez used to get called 'Captain Chaos' but I think that nomenclature is more suited to Konate. All I can say is that I hope no one in the academy is watching him play and learning from him!
van Dijk - sloppy corner giveaway towards the end after Strand Larsen hit the posts but otherwise he had a good game.
Robertson - beautifully placed finish on the break for the second, from a Palace corner.
Szoboszlai - not his best game, but he is always a willing worker, at one point chasing across after his poorly taken free kick results in a break and puts a stop to it. That is something that is often missing in this team, there is not enough ability to break up the opponents' play.
Mac Allister - he did get two assists, but he was completely anonymous the rest of the game. One of them was a weak shot going wide that Isak was quick to stop before it went out. Is that enough to be a good game? I am not sure. He did drop between the two centre-backs when the team had the ball, allowing them to split and the full-backs get forward, but it is a worrying choice to play there as he is not a capable defensive operator.
Gakpo - I am not in the Gakpo is awful and must go camp, but I can see why he annoys some people so much. He did well, to a degree, winning a number of aerial duels, but he rarely spots the easy overlapping pass, which is frustrating to see when he cuts inside and the ball ends up going backwards instead.
Wirtz - had a good game, showing flashes of what he can do, including an excellent finish for his goal, but there is still a lot more to come.
Isak - scored the opening goal, a decent touch to kill it from a terrible Mac Allister strike. Weak hit but smashed into the ground and looped over the keeper, he hadn't been in the game before it. It was quick thinking but about all he did in the match, as the ball barely went in his direction.
Salah - looked to be refinding his form and will be gutted to have gone off injured as it looks almost certain to have brought his Liverpool career to an early end.
Frimpong - replaced the injured Salah in 59th minute. Struggled to get into the game.
Gravenberch - was brought on in the stead of Isak in the 79th minute. Shocking decision, which shows Slot's thinking and desire to just try and defend a lead. It left the midfield and attack disorganised for a while, as they sorted out who was meant to play where.
Gomez - took the place of Jones in the 87th minute. Immediately solidified things on that flank, though Jones had dealt well with Sosa, he did let the ball get to him far too easily. Gomez was much more defensively aggressive.
Kerkez - took over from Robertson in the 87th minute. Made a bad error when caught sleeping in the box. Needs to be more alert.
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