Liverpool 1 Crystal Palace 1
10 man Reds scrap for a point in another forgettable game
10 man Reds scrap for a point in another forgettable game
When football finally broke out last night at Anfield it was for two fleeting moments lasting perhaps a total of twenty seconds that beautifully brightened an otherwise forgettable game. The visiting Londoners from Palace had two crystal clear chances on goal and Wilfried Zaha should have scored them both but their Liverpool hosts fared little better, even if they did continue to dominate after being reduced to 10 men following Darwin Nunez’s horrible headbutt on Joachim Andersen that saw the Reds play out the final half an hour of a largely uneventful and yes, totally forgettable game that follows hot on the heels of last Saturday’s scrap for a drawn point in another forgettable game with Fulham. All is not well with Jurgen Klopp’s threadbare squad (and thus the starting XI) and the signs ahead look worrying.
Pre-season injuries have became early season injuries (Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate and Roberto Firmino are all side lined and huge misses) and both the captain Jordan Henderson and Joe Gomez started last night’s match on the substitutes bench with three players that have barely crossed my Liverpool radar. The Reds were captained last night by the evergreen (but 37 years old) James Milner, Harvey Elliott brilliantly inserted the guile and gusto missing through the absence of Thiago Alcantara and with injuries to both Matip and Konate, the ever dependable Nat Phillips deputised alongside Virgil van Dijk. Imagine if the “big man” got injured?
All is not well and that includes Darwin Nunez and no, this will not be a scathing internet age Millennial reaction to a new signing who’s fully 14 professionally playing years the junior of his captain last night. My worry is that a cross into the penalty area for a leaping Nunez seems to have quickly become the Reds one trick. It was starkly apparent last night. My worry is that I wasn’t impressed pre signing and I saw a striker too eager to collect cheap free kicks than “run in behind” a defence and cause problems. The attacking thrust has changed (or noticeably altered) and the fluidity of an attacking three comprising of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino (with the spectacular additions of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz) is currently and markedly missing, and all is not well, and that’s a worry too.
Nunez will receive far harsher treatment in the coming months than was meted out to him by Crystal Palace’s Danish International defender last night, and his reaction was horrible, despicable and deserved of the instant red card he received. He’ll learn and he has arguably the greatest man manager in his corner. But in these earliest of days in his Liverpool career I struggle to see how he blends in an attacking three as his link up play “between the lines” currently leaves a lot to be desired.
So that’s a worry too but then again, I’m not Jurgen Klopp and am but a mere spectator of a sport and a team I love.
But I know Jurgen likes a good challenge!
When the football did break out last night it was sublime and pure sporting theatre. Firstly, Wilfried Zaha for Crystal Palace.
The visitors first shot of any significance took over half an hour to arrive and when it did, it nestled perfectly in the corner of the Liverpool goal, and the exact same spot and corner of the Kop End goal that would welcome Luis Diaz’s spectacular equaliser exactly half an hour later. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. For the first half an hour, Crystal Palace were camped inside their own half of the field and posed zero attacking threat. Zero. All that changed from a Liverpool corner, another brief scruffy passage of play, and a perfect kick out from the Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.
Guaita guided a deliberate pass in the direction of the incredibly impressive (again) Eberechi Eze. It was a calm pass under the storm of scruffy pressure from the Reds but not an easy pass to control. Eze did so with the greatest of ease and, very importantly, rode the crude challenge of Liverpool’s Fabinho. The Brazilian holding midfielder’s “sixth sense” knew that if Eze broke clear, he had the entire centre of the pitch to himself and a Reds defence in retreat. That split second made the goal, as did Eze’s through ball that released Wilfried Zaha through a failing Reds offside trap and with two steadying touches of the ball, he drilled a perfect low shot into the corner of the Liverpool net. Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker stood no chance and was perhaps a little perplexed that in little more then 7 or 8 seconds, Palace had swept upfield with their first attacking intent of the night, and scored a magnificent goal in the process.
Zaha was a pest all night, as was his strike partner Jordan Ayew who “defended from the front” brilliantly in the first half. Eberechi Eze provided the guile and the half touches and flicks that regardless of the sending off or the real poor quality of the game, ensured a deserved drawn point for the visitors. If on 78 minutes Zaha had scored a winning goal when he should there couldn’t have been many complaints. Except from perhaps the game’s provider of the other genius footballing moment when football finally broke out in Liverpool’s favour at Anfield last night.
Whereas Harvey Elliott was the Reds stand out performer in a first half in which they otherwise struggled to make an impact, it was his great mate from Colombia who grabbed the game in the second half, and especially so after Nunez’s ugly sending off. Luis Diaz’s energy, enthusiasm and directness lit up a second half for the Reds and just 4 minutes after Nunez’s dismissal, his magical goal on 61 minutes levelled the scores. Receiving a simple pass from James Milner, the diminutive Colombian cut in from the left wing before gliding past 5 maybe 6 white shirted Crystal Palace defenders who all threatened a challenge but didn’t. His mazy run took him across the penalty area and with a right footed whipped shot from the edge of the area, scorched a brilliant equaliser into the same corner of the netting that had seen Zaha’s goal half an hour earlier.
It was an incredible individual goal but the attacking siege never really materialised even though the Reds attacked earnestly even with a man down. Zaha really should have won the game for the visitors and on the cusp of full-time both Mo Salah and Fabio Carvalho were mere inches from winning the game for the 10 men of Liverpool with fierce drives that shaved the frame of the Crystal Palace goal.
Another league point.
Another utterly forgettable game.
All is not well and the coming schedule of two games every other week is going to severely test a threadbare squad and perhaps more importantly their resolve. Another chapter in the story of Liverpool FC is about to be written and it could be quite a distance away from their all conquering “PlayStation Football” of very recent times.
Time will tell.
It always does.
Thanks for reading. There’s a plethora of articles on Liverpool within my archives, old and new, loosely borrowed but never blue. Alternatively, please see the three most recently published articles on the Reds linked below:
Fulham 2 Liverpool 2
A point gained beside the River Thames for an out of sorts Redsmedium.com
Liverpool 3 Manchester City 1
Darwin Nunez sparkles as the Reds lift the first trophy of a new seasonmedium.com
Liverpool 1 Manchester City 3
Retro Series Vol.17 and the infamous Boxing Day defeat that led to glory!medium.com