Liverpool are not having a good time playing, but like champion teams do, they are stepping up their games. They did it against Crystal Palace, who were better but paid to stay in the ten after the expulsion of Jordan Ayew and gave space to Salah and Elliot to get back into the game (1-2).
It wasn’t exactly a glamorous match. Liverpool, who had not been at their best since the midweek victory over Sheffield United, played worse, although the team was showing signs of fatigue as they lacked squad depth due to injuries.
Alisson returned to the starting lineup, which was key in ensuring that the result was not a defeat, but Mac Allister was dropped from the eleven, having definitely been injured against Sheffield. The absence of the Argentine, who was usually the driver of the game, was noticed, something that Gravenberch was unable to recover from.
Crystal Palace are better because they are very comfortable in defence. Darwin, Salah and Luis Díaz were completely harmless, also because the circulation of the ball did not help while Alisson made one of the saves of the year against Jefferson Lerma. Where the goalkeeper couldn’t, VAR did. Thanks to him, a penalty on Van Dijk was annulled due to an earlier foul by Hughes, which was clear, and Liverpool finished the first half without a shot between the three sticks.
This time it wasn’t enough for Klopp’s team to shift into fifth gear with a quarter of an hour remaining. Liverpool had already lost. Mateta, after a clear penalty committed by Quansah, cheated Alisson (57′).
The ‘red’ team seemed to have no reaction until Jordan Ayew extended his hand. He cut off a counterattack, got a second yellow card and, a minute later, Salah equalized with a little help from Hughes, who deflected the ball just enough (76′). Already 200 goals for the Egyptian in the club’s shirt. It was then that Liverpool accelerated and turned to the opposite field, showing their superiority in numbers, in search of a desperate comeback. And he found it. A hit from Harvey Elliot from the front secured a victory ‘in extremis’ (91′) against Crystal Palace, who had it in the final seconds of the game but collided with a very confident Alisson who avoided the tie and sent pressure on Arsenal.
match lineup
1
2
17
26
16
6
19
8
22
9
fifteen
1
66
twenty-one
3
78
4
8
38
9
Eleven
7
Selhurst Park
86′
Alisson Becker1
36′
Trent Alexander-Arnold66
Kostas Tsimikastwenty-one
70′
Wataru Endo3
Four. five’
97′
Jarell Quansah78
56′
Virgil van Dijk4
28′
94′
Dominik Szoboszlai8
73′
63′
67′
Ryan Gravenberg38
56′
Four. five’
Darwin Nunez9
73′
59′
74′
Mohamed SalahEleven
75′
83′
Luis Diaz7
99′
Replacements
86′
Caoimhín Kelleher62
Joe Gomez2
Four. five’
98′
67′
Ibrahima Konaté5
56′
83′
101′
Conor Bradley84
Curtis Jones17
73′
94′
Harvey Elliott19
73′
90′
James McConnell53
Four. five’
56′
Cody Gakpo18
56′
Ben Doakfifty
coach
Roy Hodgson
Jurgen Klopp
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
