Crystal Palace vs Liverpool: Things We Learned

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Although Mo Salah had a quiet game, who else would you expect to pop up inn the 83rd minute to score the winning goal? After Liverpool equalised through Sadio Mane, we had plenty of chances to go 2-1 up but nothing was materialising and I thought it was going to be one of those games where we would have a lot of chances but not score any goals. A great ball from Milner into Andy Robertson, who could have easily volleyed it towards goal, passing the ball into the center of the box, missing Firmino and ending up at Salah’s feet who calmly touched the ball away from Sakho and passed it into the back of the net to get his 29th Premier League goal of the season. He has now equaled Didier Drogba’s record of 29 goals in a single premier league season for an African player. and he still has a couple more games to add more goals to his tally. The Eagles took an early lead through Milivojevic penalty, which could have been controversial. For me I don’t think Karius needed to come off his line there. I can see why he did, but don’t think it was necessary considering Alexander-Arnold and Matip where both closing Zaha down. There were a lot of moments towards the end of the second half where former Red Benteke could have sealed the game for Palace with two clear chances with one going wide and the other over the cross bar. Putting Dejan Lovren on was a great decision on Klopp’s part. My first thought when Lallana went down, other than please don’t be a serious injury, was put Danny Ings on and try and get the winning goal but he made the decision to go five at the back and it worked out well for us with Lovren being the spare man to win headers or come across and cover for Alexander Arnold or Robertson when they were further up the field. It would have been nice to have seen Clyne get a few minutes on the pitch especially with the games coming up and Joe Gomez being out injured but I think he may make an appearance on Wednesday night in our quarter-final tie with Man City at Anfield. A lot of decisions went against us in that game. Mane should have had a penalty and yes his ???dive’ was controversial but he was clipped in the area. Therefore it is a penalty, even though his reaction was delayed. He was booked for that incident meaning that he had to be careful for the rest of the game. There was then an incident in the second half where Mane was fouled on the edge of the Liverpool area. He grabbed the ball hoping the referee was going to give a free kick for the Reds, the Ref wasn’t going to blow for a foul meaning that Mane handled the ball leading to a free kick for Palace and a lot of players asking for a second yellow card. You can see the referee shaking his head at the palace defenders so you knew he wasn’t going to give him a second yellow but it could have changed the outcome of the game if he had gone off at that moment. At only 19, Alexander Arnold has made 14 premier league appearances for Liverpool this season and has been trusted in some big games but he still has to improve. There were moments during the game today that Zaha got the better of him. For their penalty incident, Zaha just ran off Alexander-Arnold leaving his trailing behind him and maybe forcing Karius to come off his line to put the Ivory Coast international under pressure leading to him giving away a penalty. It happened quite a few times in the game meaning Matip or Lovren had to come across and help him out. He still has plenty of time to improve as he is only 19 and has put in some great displays this season. His crosses in the second half were sublime and he was always looking for the pass that could set Liverpool on the attack. I look forward to seeing him over the next couple of seasons and battling with Gomez and Clyne for that number one spot at right back. Article by Lauren Black For more Redmen TV content including podcasts, subscriber exclusives and three new shows every week subscribe now and get your first month for FREE bit.ly/RMTVjoin
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