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There has been a divine inevitability about Liverpool’s season so far, one that involves them somehow, someway, coming out of every game unscathed. At Selhurst Park, their luck finally caught up with them. Against one of the league’s hardest teams to beat, Liverpool’s late show was turned on its head.
It is not a revelation to discover that Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace are a difficult team to play. Two goals conceded this season so far ahead of this game should tell you that alone. But for so much of the meeting, Liverpool weren’t simply frustrated; they were dismantled.
Arne Slot felt like he had all but abandoned his game plan after the first 45 minutes, which could have ended in a drubbing. Conor Bradley was hooked for Cody Gakpo, with Dominik Szoboszlai returning to his role as makeshift right-back. As the game went on, Alexander Isak was not withdrawn – Slot said in his pre-match press conference that it would not be “smart” to play the Swede for the full 90. He ended up playing 84 minutes, kept on for his longest outing in a Liverpool shirt – something Slot attributed to the “low intensity of the game” – as the Dutchman prayed on £125m-worthy qualities to come to the rescue.
They did not. And neither did “Arne time”, despite its best efforts. Instead, “Ollie time” reigned supreme. And it was nothing short of deserved.
Palace should have had victory in the bag before the break. The league leaders, against the only side to foil them this season, were utterly dominated by their hosts in the first half, who only needed 28 per cent of the ball to do the damage. “They deserved to be two or three goals up in the first half,” Slot admitted.
It was a freak defensive dismay for Palace’s opener in the ninth minute, the first time Liverpool have conceded this term. A whipped corner inadvertently bounced off Ryan Gravenberch’s head at the back post to put it on a plate for familiar foe Ismaila Sarr, who knocked home his third goal against the Reds in as many appearances for the Eagles. The Senegal star, making his return from injury, remains something of a bogeyman against Liverpool, a mystique that all began with that sublime brace for Watford in 2019/20, one that inspired a shock demolition that dashed their dreams of an invincible season.
There was an element of bad luck to the goal, another indication that after Giovanni Leoni’s heartbreaking season-ending injury last week, Liverpool’s fortuitous run was coming to an end. But you couldn’t pin the footballing gods on the rest of their first-half performance.
Liverpool were leaking profusely at the back. Just like at Wembley, centre-back pairing Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate could not handle the all-action attacking line of their hosts. Konate was being borderline bullied by his compatriot Jean-Philippe Mateta, proof that the early-season wobbles seen from the defender – in the midst of a contract standoff on Merseyside – are not completely resolved. It’s times like these, against this opposition, that Marc Guehi’s insider knowledge could have come very much in handy.
Slot’s first-half saviour was his goalkeeper, arguably the only player in a Reds shirt to embody title material. Alisson produced three huge stops to deny Yeremy Pino, Daniel Munoz and Mateta in the first 45 alone. “We were lucky Alisson was there to help us,” Slot said. When he couldn’t get there, the goal frame came to the rescue. Mateta’s bending effort in stoppage time looked certain to nestle in the top corner, only to hit the inside of the post and ricochet out. “We’re going to win the league” was the chant from the Holmesdale End approaching the break, Palace looking the far more likely of the two to remain the only unbeaten Premier League side come full-time.
Liverpool’s attempts to find a way back into the game after the interval looked to be falling flat. A presumably apoplectic Slot talking-to did spark some life out of the Reds, with two of their best chances falling to the feet of Florian Wirtz and Isak. For their record-breaking fees, you’d expect both to bulge the net. But alas, their resulting misfires were reflective of neither operating at the levels that warranted the £225m investment as of yet, whether that be down to a lack of match sharpness in one case or confidence in the other.
Time was running out for the Reds, until the same old story appeared to be written. Federico Chiesa, who has been a revelation as a super-sub this term after last year’s degradation, knocked home with three minutes to spare, and Arne time was alive and well.
That was until the seventh minute of six added on, where Eddie Nketiah served Liverpool a taste of their own bitter medicine. Szoboszlai was seen remonstrating with referee Chris Kavanagh over the timing of the goal, but Slot had no issue. “It was the extra time of extra time where we conceded, which I think was fair because they made the substitution, so then you add half a minute extra,” he said. “I don’t know exactly when they scored, but I assume it was between 96 and 97. We can only blame ourselves for defending it the way we did.”
It was a last-gasp winner made even more sour by its provider, with Guehi’s flick putting it in the path of the ex-Arsenal striker. What might’ve been had Igor not ditched his Palace medical on deadline day. The latest of late shows to end Liverpool’s run of inevitability.
The critique of Liverpool’s season so far is that, despite their wins, they have been far from convincing. They were anything but today. “If one team deserved to win today, it was Palace,” acknowledged Slot. After finally being burned, now we wait to see how the title favourites react to this much-needed slap in the face, and whether it might prove a blessing in disguise.
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