Mistakes ultimately cost the Eagles at Anfield but that must not take anything away from another decent performance that really did not such a scoreline which faltered the hosts.
DATE
18th September 2021
RESULT
Liverpool 3-0 Crystal Palace
VENUE
Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool L4 0TH
CROWD
TBC
OFFICIALS
Referee: Andy Madley. Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Eddie Smart. Fourth official: Geoff Eltringham. VAR: Andre Marriner. Assistant VAR: Simon Long
DISCIPLINE
BOOKINGS – Jordan Henderson (40), Konstantinos Tsimikas (75), Mohamed Salah (79), Joel Ward (83)
RED CARD – none
GOALS
Sadio Mane (43), Mohamed Salah (78), Naby Keita (89)
ASSISTS
Virgil van Dijk (78)
TEB VERDICT
The positive comments from Vieira in the pre-match press conference were followed up with the Eagles taking the game to the hosts right from kick off. They flew out of the blocks and hit the post on two occasions, putting the hosts defence under pressure straight from the off. A couple of mistakes put the game beyond Palace but this was a pleasing performance as the transition under Vieira continues.
The fact that Palace pressed, causing Liverpool problems, and not sitting back to hold on to a narrow defeat after going a goal behind says a lot about how things are changing. All Palace fans ask is to go to places like Anfield and give it a go and that was the case even though the result was not what had been hoped. Having said that, had a blatant penalty been awarded for a trip in the area on Benteke things could well have been different.
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.
“At the pre-match press conference, Vieira gave an indication of how we would approach the game at Anfield. No parking the bus, but with an intent to play on the front foot where possible. He was certainly true to his word and although we had to withstand some pressure at various spells, we created goal scoring opportunities.
On another day with clinical finishing we could have been rewarded with a couple of goals. Hitting the post twice in as many minutes reflected the bright start we made to the game. Some of the refereeing decisions were highly questionable which obviously frustrated our players. A ‘home’ leaning referee definitely never helps the visitors cause at Anfield!
Unfortunately, two lapses in marking cost us dearly with Mane and Salah profiting. All three goals occurred at corners so some detailed defensive work required on the training ground. Overall, we should take plenty of positives from the game in our approach. Liverpool deserved the win but significantly a decent Palace performance to take us forward.
Brighton at home on the horizon next. Our supporters will expect a performance. Up the Palace!”
PLAYER RATINGS
1 Vicente Guaita (7), 2 Joel Ward (6), 16 Joachim Andersen (6), Marc Guehi (6), 3 Tyrick Mitchell (7), 23 Conor Gallagher (6), 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (6), 18 James McArthur (captain – 6), 9 Jordan Ayew (6), 11 Wilfried Zaha (6), 20 Christian Benteke (6)
SUBSTITUTES
1 Jack Butland, 4 Luka Milivojevic, 5 James Tomkins, 7 Michael Olise (replaced Kouyate on 82 mins – 6), 12 Will Hughes, 17 Nathaniel Clyne, 22 Odsonne Edouard (replaced Benteke on 65 mins – 6), 34 Martin Kelly, 44 Jairo Riedewald (replaced McArthur on 65 mins – 6)
OPPOSITION LINE-UP
1 Allison, 7 Milner, 5 Konate, 4 van Dijk, 21 Tsimikas, 14 Henderson, 3 Fabinho, 6 Thiago, 11 Salah, 20 Jota, 10 Mane
SUBSTITUTES – 8 Keita (replaced Thiago on 62 mins), 12 Gomez, 15 Oxlade-Chamberlain, 17 Jones (replaced Jota on 76 mins), 18 Minamino, 26 Robertson, 27 Origi (replaced Henderson on 88 mins), 47 Phillips, 62 Kelleher
POST GAME QUOTES
PATRICK VIEIRA – “I can’t say I’m pleased when you concede three goals from set-pieces, there’s frustration. At times we defended really well, and when you come to Anfield you can’t allow yourself to concede three times from set-pieces. Our plan was to stay in the game, and conceding the goal before half-time wasn’t good for us, but we came back in the second half, we tried, and unfortunately couldn’t score.”
JURGEN KLOPP – “We were not flying, we had to put out a proper performance. Our fans helped us, and I really liked it. When you look back at the end of the season, you look back at some games which were really fun, and others which were really important – this is one of those. The Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday intensity is hard. These are the games you have to win, when you are not brilliant – good, but not brilliant – you have to win. The set pieces were outstanding today.”
MATCH STATISTICS
- Man of the match: Mohamed Salah (8.4)
- Most shots: Mohamed Salah (6)
- Most tackles: Tyrick Mitchell (7)
- Most dribbles: Sadio Mane (3)
- Team rating: 7.41 – 6.37
- Total shots: 25 – 13
- Shots on target: 10 – 2
- Possession: 59.9% – 40.1%
- Pass success: 84% – 76%
- Passes: 490 – 332
- Dribbles: 12 – 7
- Aerials won: 21 – 7
- Tackles: 22 – 24
- Fouls: 17 – 11
- Corners: 10 – 5
- Saves: 2 – 7
- Dispossessed: 15 – 12
POSITION IN THE TABLE
At the final whistle, Palace were 14th in the Premier League with 5 points from 5 games played, a point behind Arsenal in 13th and a point ahead of Southampton in 15th.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
27/09/2021 Brighton & Hove Albion (h) – Premier League (8pm)
03/10/2021 Leicester City (h) – Premier League (2pm)
18/10/2021 Arsenal (a) – Premier League (8pm)
