Much Improved Palace Unable To Prevent Liverpool Defeat

There was plenty of pessimism around the ground ahead of the early kick off with Liverpool, but the Eagles put in a very good display against the title chasers despite finishing up on the wrong side of the score line.

MATCH INFORMATION

• 12.30pm – 9th December 2023
• Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool
• Selhurst Park, Holmesdale Road, London SE25 6PU

PLAYER RATINGS

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 5 James TOMKINS, 11 Matheus FRANCA, 23 Malcolm EBIOWEI, 44 Jairo RIEDEWALD

OPPOSITION LINE-UP

UNUSED SUBSTITUTES – 50 Ben DOAK, 53 James MCCONNELL, 62 Caoimhin KELLEHER, 84 Conor BRADLEY

TEB VERDICT

There had t be a response from the players and the management even though it was always going to be a tough ask. Even with plenty of negative views when the starting line up was announced, it was clear that Roy Hodgson attempted to stifle the visitors midfield talent. For the most part it worked until the referee decided to hand Jordan Ayew a yellow card.

Up until that point, the Eagles had more than matched their opponents and would even go as far as to say that Liverpool were there for the taking and things may well have been different had Palace found a second.

However, this fixture will always be remembered for the terrible officiating which saw the Eagles receive several bookings and a red card even though the two sides were matched on the fouls count. It is futile to keep discussing the refereeing situation in this country; you only have to listen to Hodgson’s post match interview – that is all you need to know. When a manager of his age and experience says that he will not miss the game when he does leave it, that in itself is a very sad state of affairs.

While there were several positives to take from the performance, Hodgson sees his side depleted once again with four injury concerns heading into a trip to Manchester City, next weekend. It never rains, but it pours. This is a time for digging in and if there are more performances like this one then there could be a few surprise points picked up before the end of the year.

BOB’S POINT OF VIEW

Bob White was a coach at Palace under the tenure of Steve Coppell and Alan Smith and will be sharing his point of view each week in our review article.

“A complete contrast to the game on Wednesday. Every single Palace player put in a shift which they, staff and supporters should be proud of. Just a pity that although our performance deserved atleast a share of the spoils, inept refereeing ensured that Liverpool walked away with the points.

Not sure if it’s an accurate statistic but it appears that Andy Madley has never officiated at a game where Liverpool have lost. That confirms again that the big clubs appear to get all the marginal decisions in their favour aided by the poor standard of officials. I would think the majority of our supporters left the ground feeling disappointed by the result but probably more so with Madley’s inconsistency of yellow cards between the two teams. Comparing the yellow card count, it’s almost as though Madley was looking for any excuse to brandish two yellow cards to a Palace player.

With 11 players on the pitch we were so well set up that Johnstone hardly had anything threatening to deal with whilst we posed the odd moments of danger at the other end. However, once Ayew received his marching orders for two soft yellow cards it handed the initiative to Liverpool who exploited the advantage of the extra man and the space it created in dangerous areas almost immediately.

Overall though, there were a number of positives to take from the game against a team who went to the top of the table. Fine margins determined the outcome of this game. I don’t think anyone can fault the attitude and performance of any of our players but thought Hughes and Ayew especially typified the collective commitment. Result apart, there looked to be some more worrying injuries which will stretch our already threadbare squad and challenge Roy’s tactical set up for City away next weekend.

Let’s hope Eze isn’t too far away from a return. On another note, it’s interesting to see Bournemouth win at Manchester United which confirms after our midweek loss, that if we didn’t already know there are no easy games in this league.”

POST GAME QUOTES

ROY HODGSON

“To say I’m gutted about the way that game went and the result we have had to accept today would be an incredible understatement. I am very disappointed. I think we were very harshly treated. Unfortunately, going down to 10 men cost us. I told the referee what I thought at the end of the game. I’m not going to repeat it. He might.”

JURGEN KLOPP

“I told the boys that’s the first game I’ve seen somebody play as bad as we did for 76 minutes and still win. In this period of the year we have to get through, we need results. Nobody is in for the Oscar award for best football game ever, it’s about three points. We got them and we are more than happy.”

MATCH STATISTICS

POSITION IN THE TABLE (at the final whistle)

UPCOMING FIXTURES

16/12/23 Manchester City (a) – Premier League (3pm)

21/12/23 Brighton (h) – Premier League (8pm)

27/12/23 Chelsea (a) – Premier League (7.30pm)