Liverpool’s supposed bogey team Crystal Palace struck again, scoring a goal in each half to defeat the Reds 2-1 and hand Jurgen Klopp his first taste of English Premier League defeat at Anfield on Sunday night.
Palace took the lead early in the opening half through Yannick Bolasie, after Liverpool failed to clear their lines however the Merseysiders bounced back just before the interval via Philippe Coutinho who latched onto a Nathaniel Clyne cross. The Reds were dominant for the majority of the second half but were undone by some more poor defending at a set piece, which let Scott Dann head home the winner after his initial effort was saved by Simon Mignolet.
Formations
Klopp continued with his familiar 4-2-3-1 setup, however, there were a couple of changes from the side that took on Chelsea last weekend. Christian Benteke started up front which relegated Roberto Firmino to the bench, whereas Jordan Ibe also came into the side to play on the right flank. Coutinho and Adam Lallana played more centrally in front of Emre Can and Lucas Leiva, while the back four were unchanged.
Alan Pardew was confident his side would get the better of Liverpool as he lined Palace up in an attacking 4-4-2, which was led by the strike partnership of Bakary Sako and Bolasie. Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha took to the wings and Yohan Cabaye and James McArthur held down the core. The backline consisted of Pape Souare, Damien Delaney, Dann and Martin Kelly, while Wayne Henessey was in between the sticks.
No fear from Palace
Over the last couple of seasons, Crystal Palace have caused Liverpool plenty of heartache and it was evident from the outset that they were not afraid of the vocal Anfield crowd or the aura of optimism emanating from Klopp’s rule. The Eagles put the Reds under immense pressure from the very first whistle, which was heavily aided by the eagerness from Puncheon and Zaha to push alongside the strikers.
When in possession Palace looked as though they were playing a 4-2-4 formation, which on paper is extremely dangerous considering the talent Liverpool boast, however, Pardew’s side executed it exceptionally and for the early stages of the match Liverpool had no answer and eventually conceded a cheap goal due to the Glaziers pressing and strength in numbers.
Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel had no time to play the ball out of the back, which negated Clyne and Moreno bringing the ball out from deep and that left a lot of work for Benteke do, as he became the more regular option. When Liverpool did try to move the ball around the back it continually went back to Mignolet as Palace limited them space to get creative.
Liverpool lacked width on the right
A big part of Klopp’s philosophy revolves around Liverpool’s attacking core being within close proximity of each other and that was certainly the case, as Lallana and Coutinho were inseparable for periods. However, the second stage involves the Reds spreading the ball into acres of space out wide and ultimately stretching the game, unfortunately, a lot of that happened just down the left through Moreno.
The introduction of Ibe added plenty of speed and directness, however the youngster needed more help from Clyne who rarely bombed past the Englishmen despite grabbing the assist for Liverpool’s goal. The other flank saw Moreno running tirelessly up and back, and it was clear that the Reds could have used a bit more of that on the former Saints’ side.
Moreno managed to whip in a total of 13 crosses aimed at the towering figure of Benteke, however, Clyne only contributed four, as he either wasn’t high enough up the pitch or he opted for a simply pass inside to one of the Reds’ midfielders.
Zone marking was horrid at both ends
There is always pros and cons to both zone marking and man marking at set pieces, some coaches choose one or the other and others elect to use a hybrid of the two. For Liverpool and Crystal Palace it was closer to zone marking, however, both outfits didn’t do the system justice.
Liverpool copped both of their goals from crosses into the box, the second was from a Palace corner in which zone marking was on display. Firmino was in charge of marking the goal scorer Dann, which was a mismatch from the start, something the Reds have fallen guilty of from the start of the season and sure enough, the Eagles centre back shrugged off a weak challenge twice, to head the ball home.
Up the other end, Sakho, Skrtel, Benteke and Dejan Lovren all had chances to beat Hennessey from a set piece thanks to some poor marking from a Palace side that are yet to concede from a corner. The problem for Pardew’s men was similar to Liverpool, before the corner was taken there were plenty of silly matchups and during the corner, players failed to stay with their opposite number. Plenty of work on the training ground is required over the next few weeks.
Conclusions
Liverpool played some lovely football and looked the more likely to claim all three points for long periods of the match, however slack and sloppy defending yet again has cost them all of the spoils; a trait which has become too familiar among Liverpool dressing rooms down the years, regardless of who the manager is.
Palace employed an act first ask questions later mentality and broke down Anfield’s door to take the fight right to Klopp’s men and for the most part it worked a charm. The Eagles generated more genuine goal scoring chances and always looked a threat moving forward, however, their defence was still average in places.
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