Crystal Palace 1-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

With half an hour to play at Palace, it looked as if it was going to be another joyless trip to Selhurst for Liverpool. An early second half goal for Joe Ledley had left the visitors in trouble, and the problems were seemingly compounded when James Milner was sent off after a needless second yellow. However, this seemed to spur Liverpool on – they were by far the better side after being reduced to ten, and stole a victory in the dying seconds of the game with a dubious penalty won and converted by substitute Christian Benteke. It probably was a spot kick, but the element of doubt only served to make the victory sweeter – the anger of Pardew and the Palace fans is some measure of revenge for the infamous 3-3 draw. Liverpool are now just six points off the top four, and can move to within five of Arsenal with a victory in their game in hand: although it is a long shot, it means the season is suddenly far from over after all.

In many ways it was an odd match. The first twenty minutes or so were full of promise for Liverpool: they played some lovely flowing football and created multiple half-chances, only being denied clear-cut opportunities by their tendency towards over-intricacy in the attacking third. Admittedly the defence looked shaky; Palace looked capable of getting a goal or two, coming extremely close through Adebayor after a Lovren error, but it seemed likely that Liverpool’s front line would be able to counteract this. However, this pattern of play gradually stopped – by the half-hour mark the defences were very much on top, with Palace in the ascendency going forward. Only dominant performances from Sakho and, after a poor start, Lovren, prevented the home side from taking the lead before half time; they won the vast majority of their aerial battles, and doubled up well with the full-backs where necessary to nullify the threat of Zaha and Bolasie. This is the second week in a row where Lovren has been worthy of singling out for praise: it would perhaps be premature to say that he is now looking like a 20 million pound defender, but at the very least he no longer looks out of place in the team.

Nevertheless, Palace were able to take the lead very early in the second period. Predictably, it was from a corner: it looked as if the danger had been cleared, but a poor touch from Firmino fell favourably for Joe Ledley. Despite not having scored in over a year the midfielder inevitably came up with an excellent finish, driving the ball beyond Mignolet and into the corner. Having not threatened in any meaningful way since the opening exchanges, things were not looking promising for Liverpool; Jurgen Klopp apparently felt the same way, opting to bring off Jon Flanagan and replace him with Coutinho. This is about as far from like-for-like as it gets – it probably gave Van Gaal some sort of fit – and it certainly signalled the manager’s attacking mindset. Just seconds later, however, he was forced into another major re-think when James Milner picked up a second yellow card for a completely brainless challenge in an area of no particular danger. The formation after this was essentially unrecognisable: the visitors went to a back three, but with two of the defenders –Moreno and Lovren - essentially playing at wing back rather than centrally. Fans have become accustomed to Moreno’s marauding runs, but do not expect them from Lovren; he was a revelation down the right, with his committed performance epitomised by an inch-perfect challenge to rob Souare deep in Palace territory. Emre Can was also immense. He seemed to be absolutely everywhere after the sending off, simultaneously a sweeper and playmaker. He is becoming quite a player, and it is exciting to see how he develops. Even so, the hosts should surely have found a way of capitalising on Liverpool’s makeshift, open back line. Instead they panicked, allowing the visitors to come on to them: it was as if they had just got a man sent off. This fear was evident in the manner of Liverpool’s equaliser – goalkeeper Alex McCarthy failed to deal with a fairly routine back-pass, gifting the ball to Roberto Firmino. He made up for his earlier poor touch, controlling the ball beautifully before coolly slotting the ball beyond McCarthy and into the corner.

At this point Palace were in limbo: a point against Liverpool would have been a good result for them considering their woeful form of late, but with the extra man they felt that they could get more from the game. Instead of shutting up shop and seeing out the last few minutes they continued to come forward – Sako and Gayle were introduced to inject pace into the attack. Gaps were subsequently left at the back - despite a late defensive switch from Klopp that saw Toure replace Firmino, Liverpool showed no signs of wanting to settle for a point. The manager highlighted this after the game: although Palace largely gifted Liverpool the three points, the team still showed great spirit to push on. With just a minute of added time remaining, Henderson picked out Benteke with an inch-perfect pass: the Belgian showed a rare piece of good movement to get on the end of it, then went down under the challenge of Damien Delaney. It was a ridiculous tackle to make – Benteke was running harmlessly towards the by-line, and could simply have been shepherded out. Delaney tried to pull out of it but his knee caught Benteke’s foot: the striker went down, and after consulting with his assistant Andre Marriner pointed to the spot. Benteke himself stepped up to take the penalty: he showed incredible nerve to execute a perfect stutter penalty, making McCarthy commit then putting it the other side. He may not have had the best of times since joining for Liverpool, but the £32.5 million was all worth it to get one over on Palace like this.

The result means that Liverpool continue to make their league position look more favourable: they are the most in-form side over the last five games, and that turnaround in fortunes is reflected in the fact that we are now just six points off a Champions League space. Even though snatching a fourth place finish late on is highly implausible, it is no longer beyond the realms of possibility: this gives the team something to play for, and will prevent the season from simply petering out. With the Europa League clash to come against United on Thursday, there are bound to be plenty more exciting moments still to come in this campaign.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool vs Swansea: Late Goals Send LFC Through to the Last 8

Yesterday, Liverpool faced fellow Premier League side Swansea in the Capital One Cup. The reds put in a solid display, but it looked like they were going to be sent crashing out of the competition until two late goals turned the match on its head.

It was clear from the start of the match that Rodgers had sent out his players with instructions to press high and put Swansea under pressure. This resulted in chances being created – for the first half an hour Liverpool were posing an almost constant threat. Borini was particularly good at this; his hunger for the game and determination to prove himself meant he happily chased down every ball. However, the pressure never really materialised into efforts on goal. Tremmel was barely tested in the first half, with good positions being squandered. This served to highlight how much we are missing Sturridge; Coutinho’s through balls were on point, but there was nobody there with the confidence and quality to provide the finish. For the final fifteen minutes of the half Liverpool eased off a bit, and consequently Swansea applied a little pressure of their own. Brad Jones looked very uncomfortable with the ball at his feet, rushing multiple clearances. The Welsh side were unable to capitalise on this period of vulnerability, and the half ended with the game still scoreless.

The second half started, and Liverpool were once again producing football at a level they’ve failed to reach for much of this season. Coutinho was really pulling the strings in midfield, often drawing two or three men before playing a lovely pass to a teammate. That said, clear cut chances were still very much at a premium – most of our shots on goal were speculative long range efforts. Although the team were managing to keep up their attacking momentum from the first half, a little of the defensive solidity had been sacrificed. This led to a much more open game; Swansea were starting to worry the notoriously shaky Liverpool back line. After 65 minutes the visitors did manage to exploit the defensive weaknesses of the hosts: a ball over the top left Lovren in no man’s land, and Marvin Emnes finished excellently to give Swansea the lead.

The goal was followed by a worrying spell for Liverpool. They were in disarray having gone behind despite being on top, and Swansea could easily have doubled their lead. Gomis had the pick of the chances, finding himself unmarked in the box from a set piece but firing his header straight at Jones. Eventually things settled down, but the Reds still didn’t look likely to score the goal that would bring them back on level terms. With 10 minutes to play, Brendan Rodgers took Lambert off for Balotelli. This change should have been made much earlier. Lambert looked off the pace all game, as his lack of speed and mobility prevented him from properly integrating himself into the high pressing system. Balotelli had a positive effect on the side immediately, combining well with Coutinho and Borini to carve out chances. It was Borini who got the assist for Balotelli’s goal in the 85^th minute: an inch perfect cross was attacked well by Balotelli, who knocked it home from close range.

 

With the scores level, Liverpool really kicked on. Federico Fernandez was shown a straight red with just minutes left to go – it was never a red card offence (and arguably not even a foul), but the dismissal left gaps for LFC to exploit. Into the 95^th minute it looked as though Swansea would get the chance to go in and regroup before extra time, but Dejan Lovren of all people scored a late winner to send Liverpool through. It came from a set piece: Coutinho’s lovely ball in was totally misjudged by Tremmel, and Lovren got his head to it. He headed the ball downwards, and it bounced into the net. Liverpool are now through to the final 8 of the Capital One Cup.

It’s excellent that the two heroes of the game are the two most under-fire Liverpool players. Balotelli in particular will surely be relieved to have found the net after his long drought, his last goal coming against Ludogorets. Hopefully both Lovren and Balotelli can kick on from here and start really returning on the investments made in them. Borini will be hopeful of a place in the starting line-up when Liverpool face Newcastle on Saturday – he played fairly well on the whole, and combined nicely with fellow countryman Balotelli. Whoever starts at the weekend, the reds will fancy their chances of victory if they put in another performance like this.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013