MATCH FACTS
- Date – 20th August 2018
- Venue – Selhurst Park
- Attendance – 25,750
- Referee – Michael Oliver
- Bookings – van Aanholt, Alexander-Arnold
- Sending off – Wan-Bissaka (75)
- Goals – Milner (pen 45), Mane (90)
- STAR EAGLE – Andros Townsend (7.2)
TEB VERDICT
It was a tough game in South London on Monday night as a strong Liverpool side visited Selhurst Park looking to continute their winning form and match Manchester City in doing so. Nevertheless, Palace gave a fantastic account of themselves by matching the Reds for a large majority of the game much to the dismay of most media outlets.
Overall, it was a disapointing match after Mohamed Salah made the most of a soft challenge from Mamadou Sakho to win a penalty for the hosts. After matching the Reds for so long, Palace was unlucky to be on the wrong end of a poor refereeing decision once again. There were positives to take from the game however, what with Palace’s quick passing, high intensity and skillful football. Keeping this up and we could be looking at our best season yet in the top division.
PLAYER RATINGS (courtesy of Who Scored)
13 WAYNE HENNESSEY (6.7) – The Welsh shot stopper proved his value once again with a strong performance against tough opponents, perhaps proving that competition for the starting spot is healthy.
29 AARON WAN-BISSAKA (6.2) – Another superb game for the Palace youngster in front of England boss Garether Southgate watching from the stands, but that will unfortunatley be forgotten due to his late dismissal after a last man challenge on Salah. A harsh but crucial lesson for the twenty-year-old.
5 JAMES TOMKINS (7.0) – Solid in the line of defence and showed bravery to get to headers and tackles in high up the pitch to keep the pressure on.
12 MAMADOU SAKHO (5.9) – Not his greatest game in red and blue overall and was the victim of the dubious penalty decison that went against the hosts.
3 PATRICK VAN AANHOLT (6.2) – For one of the best left backs in the Premier League, his performance was not to the same level as those in previous matches.
15 JEFFREY SCHLUPP (6.5) – Got stuck in and won the back possesion on multiple occassions. It is refreshing to see a utility player like Schlupp cementing his place in the starting eleven. Replaced by 7 MAX MEYER (6.1) on 83 minutes for his Palace debut and looked good when passing the ball and getting involved in the short time he was on.
4 LUKA MILIVOJEVIC (6.9) – Usual service from the Serbian international in the heart of Palace’s midfield and against a multitude of talents.
18 JAMES MCARTHUR (6.7) – Very good game by distributing the ball excellently and escaping tight areas expertly. Proving why Hodgson has kept him in the side even after new arrivals.
10 ANDROS TOWNSEND (7.2) – Had a superb game and was almost rewarded when his iconic shot from distance hit the bar, and out of the reach of Allison. Replaced by 2 JOEL WARD (6.0) on 79 minutes to try and shore up the back line after the sending off.
11 WILFRIED ZAHA (7.0) – Not his best showing compared to those in recent weeks with the visitors marking him well to keep him quiet for the majoiry of the match. Still had his moments but looked to be trying a little to hard.
17 CHRISTIAN BENTEKE (6.4) – The big Belgian still offers that target up front for Palace desipte his poor form in front of goal. We looked lost when he was replaced by 9 ALEXANDER SORLOTH (6.1) on 70 minutes. The simular build of the Norwegian did not fill the gap Benteke left and his workrate was not up to Premier League standard, even with fresh legs. Seems to have a lot of work to do if he is to remain an Eagle.
Unused substitutes – 31 Vincente Guaita, 34 Martin Kelly, 8 Cheikou Kouyate, 14 Jordan Ayew
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID (courtesy of BBC Sport)
ROY HODGSON – “We probably did enough to get a result, I don’t think it was a penalty. I’m angered that a good result was taken from us. I thought we pushed them very hard, we should have come in goalless at half-time and the second half would have been even tougher. We gave them enough problems and we can consider ourselves unlucky to lose. I’m more interested in the fact we played really well rather than talking about the referee.”
JURGEN KLOPP – “In these moments the fuel is really low and maybe the players need a bit of help from an angry manager – ‘run or I will kill you’ – and they did that with a fantastic counter-attack. I don’t know a lot of centre-backs in the world who can deal with Christian Benteke like VirgilVan Dijk did.”
MATCH STATISTICS
The Who Scored man of the match was Sadio Mane (8.5) while Mohamed Salah (6) had the most shots. Naby Keita (5) made the most tackles as Wilfried Zaha and Sadio Mane (5) shared the most dribbles.
- Team rating: 6.49 – 7.20
- Total shots: 8 – 16
- Shots on target: 2 – 6
- Possession: 36.8% – 63.2%
- Pass success: 78% – 89%
- Dribbles: 17 – 16
- Aerials won: 19 – 13
- Tackles: 14 – 22
- Corners: 6 – 7
- Dispossessed: 12 – 9
POSITION IN THE TABLE
Palace are 10th in the Premier League table with three points from two games, ahead of Brighton & Hove Albion in 11th and behind Manchester United in 9th.
NEXT THREE FIXTURES
- 26/08/2018 Watford (a)
- 28/08/2018 Swansea City (a)
- 01/09/2018 Southampton (h)
