Crystal Palace 0, Liverpool 1 - Match Recap: Liverpool Notch a Slim Victory But Lose Alisson
A look back at the key moments in Liverpool’s slim victory against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Liverpool
Liverpool: Jota 9’
Pre-Match
Tsimikas makes a start over Andy Robertson for a chance to get some more game time and give Robertson a break. Liverpool are looking for another good victory against Crystal Palace to start the month. Their fantastic form has only been blemished by a fluke loss to Nottingham Forest.
First Half
An early scare for Liverpool when Crystal Palace score. However, it was clearly offside, so the game continued.
Diogo Jota made no such mistake a few minutes later, scoring the first goal of the game. Tsimikas showed Slot made a good choice in giving him the start today. His ball to Cody Gakpo slid past the Crystal Palace defence to find its target. From there, Gakpo crossed to Jota, and that was all she wrote.
Liverpool looked very lively here, boosted by their early goal. The Liverpool away fans were the only ones that could be heard in the crowd as the game played on. About 17 minutes in, Palace were forced into making a change, and it was our old friend Nathaniel Clyne who came on to play against his former team.
Ryan Gravenberch is living up to his Player of the Month trophy here. He was once again fantastic in the middle of the pitch, marshalling everything and generally looking impressive. He set up a chance for Alexis Mac Allister, who can’t quite get off his pass to Jota.
Jota could have scored a hat trick in this half, but only the one early on made it into the goal. The whole team came in ready to play, despite the early kick-off. They haven’t made the most of it, however, so hopefully they won’t regret that wastefulness.
Palace got their first shot on goal at the very end of the first half. It was Sarr who made the effort, but it was easily contained by Alisson to end the half.
Second Half
The second half kicked off with Dominik Szoboszlai coming on for Alexis Mac Allister.
The Liverpool defense continued to be almost impenetrable here at Selhurst Park. Arne Slot will be impressed by how well they’re performing under a variety of threats.
Mohamed Salah nearly got on the board thanks to a sadly excellent save by Henderson, the goal keeper.
A set piece has is at perfect Trent Alexander-Arnold position. Sure enough, the right-back stepped up to take it. A perfect cross in was unfortunately wasted when Jota’s open header went high and away.
Right after that, Palace nearly made them pay for that wastefulness on the other end. A break saw them get only their second shot on target. Thankfully, Alisson was alive to the danger and made a solid save before following his own rebound and scooping up the ball to end the threat.
Salah came off and in his place was Luis DÃaz. Salah was in no hurry at all to get off the pitch, meandering across the grass like a man confident that the world will wait for him.
Moments later, came the most obvious and clear example of ‘man does in hamstring’ that I’ve ever seen. Alisson may as well have been playing charades. He kicked the ball and dropped like a rag doll, holding his thigh. The angry way that he pulled off his gloves and pounded the ground in anger just confirmed it.
And in a laughable twist of fate, Kelleher was not on the bench to take his place. Instead, it was third choice Jaros, who made his Liverpool debut. Hold onto your butts, kids.
Along with Alisson, Robertson also came on for Tsimikas to reclaim his place.
Palace were clearly aware of the precariousness of the situation, and quickly attacked the goal. The defense did its thing and protected the goal to give Jaros a chance to ease into the final 10 minutes of this game.
In the end, Palace couldn’t capitalize on that gift, and it ended 1-0 with Liverpool getting another three points and a clean sheet in the bag.
Final Thoughts
Liverpool start the weekend with a four goal cushion at the top of the table. Good news, but the bad news is the loss of Alisson. We’re clearly looking at four to six weeks out for the Brazilian.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
Post a Comment