In what was an odd game, both sides showed good and bad spells throughout the ninety minutes but it was the visitors that made the most of the decisions to secure victory over the battling Eagles.
DATE
23rd January 2022
RESULT
Crystal Palace 1-3 Liverpool
VENUE
Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU
OFFICIALS
Referee: Kevin Friend. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck. Fourth official: Andre Marriner. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Simon Long
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Conor Gallagher (49), Will Hughes (61), Roberto Firmino (81), Jeffrey Schlupp (82), Joel Ward (90+2)
RED CARD – none
GOALS
Virgil van Dijk (8), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (32), Odsonne Edouard (55), Fabinho (89 pen)
ASSISTS
Andy Robertson (8, 32), Jean-Philippe Mateta (55)
TEB VERDICT
It is hard to ignore many of the decisions that went against this Palace side but the hosts did not play up to the level we know they are capable of in the first half as the hosts went in at the break comfortably leading. But the Eagles came out and put the pressure on the visitors and grabbed a good goal back and looked to be in with a shot at taking a point until that ridiculous spot kick. There is no doubt that this was a weakened Liverpool side but the pressure was on them to keep a title race going, and Palace were never going to get in the way of that. They almost did though and we can head off into the winter break sitting in a decent league position and a home FA Cup to look forward to.
PLAYER RATINGS
13 Vicente Guaita (6), 2 Joel Ward (6), 6 Marc Guehi (6), 16 Joachim Andersen (7), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (6), 15 Jeffrey Schlupp (6), 12 Will Hughes (6), 23 Conor Gallagher (6), 7 Michael Olise (7), 22 Odsonne Edouard (7), Jean-Philippe Mateta (7)
SUBSTITUTES – 1 Jack Butland, 4 Luka Milivojevic, 9 Jordan Ayew (6 – replaced Will Hughes on 77 mins), 10 Eberechi Eze (6 – replaced Edouard on 68 mins), 17 Nathaniel Clyne, 20 Christian Benteke (6 – replaced Mateta on 77 mins), 34 Martin Kelly, 36 Nathan Ferguson, 44 Jairo Riedewald
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
1 Alisson, 66 Alexander-Arnold, 32 Matip, 4 van Dijk, 26 Robertson, 14 Henderson, 3 Fabinho, 17 Jones, 15 Oxlade-Chamberlain, 9 Firmino, 20 Jota
SUBSTITUTES – 5 Konate, 7 Milner (6 – replaced Firmino on 90 mins), 12 Gomez (6 – replaced Alexander-Arnold on 90+2 mins), 18 Minamino (6 – replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain on 60 mins), 21 Tsimikas, 49 Gordon, 62 Kelleher, 76 N Williams, 80 Morton
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “We knew that they are a really good side, we knew what to expect. In the first half they were by far the better side. It was really difficult for us. The tempo was all about them, we couldn’t find a way to put pressure on them. We came back in the second half, we found ways to put them under pressure. They dropped off physically and we got a goal and got into the game. We had the momentum and the tempo. Then there was the penalty decision. The wrong decision by the referee had a massive impact on the game. You should ask the referee to talk to you and explain the decision himself. I think Jota was really smart. Football is all about contact. We have meetings with the referees and they tell us football is about contact and that contact is part of the game. And now they’ve got it wrong. I’m really frustrated by the decision. I have seen it many times, it is never a penalty. When we scored, the game was there for us to go and try and get that draw. But the referee killed our legs today.”
JURGEN KLOPP – “It is obviously January which is a tricky period for us historically – well at least during my time! You play without three players in Africa and a few others so we had a small group to get through this but the boys did incredible. It showed how insanely good we can be and how bad as well! For 35 minutes we were outstanding. We looked really sharp and ready to play in small spaces then two or three sloppy passes and the stadium is back, Palace is back and we did not start well in the second half. We had our moments but we did not control it. If you lose a little bit of focus it showed how tired we could be as Palace played a really good game. We opened the door for them and they ran through.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Andy Robertson (8.1) as Jordan Henderson (4) had the most shots. The most tackles were made Jeffrey Schlupp (3) while the most dribbles were by Diogo Jota (3)
- Team rating: 6.35 – 6.91
- Total shots: 8 – 15
- Shots on target: 5 – 7
- Possession: 43.2% – 56.8%
- Pass success: 76% – 80%
- Passes: 418 – 567
- Dribbles: 6 – 6
- Aerials won: 19 – 16
- Tackles: 13 – 7
- Fouls: 12 – 10
- Corners: 2 – 5
- Saves: 4 – 4
- Dispossessed: 7 – 7
POSITION IN THE TABLE
At the final whistle, Palace were 13 in the Premier League with 24 points from 13 games played, a point behind Southampton in 12th and a point ahead of Brentford in 14th.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
05/02/21 Hartlepool (h) –FA Cup (3pm)
09/02/21 Norwich (a) – Premier League (7.45pm)
12/02/21 Brentford (a) – Premier League (3pm)
