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Confused, unable to recover from the blows. Unknown and with a general scenario that does not help you. Patience in Anfield It begins to wear out and the murmur falls louder. This is how Liverpool walks, it suffers more than necessary and everything demands twice as much. This Sunday, Crystal Palace It filled him with doubts, shook him hard and left him stunned. Everything that Jürgen Klopp’s team usually offers was far from appearing on the playing field. The 1-0 home loss, their second in a row after the Europa League defeat against Atalanta, resonates in the Premier League. It impacts and changes the map of the competition.
The Reds came out again in the Premier League with the intention of regaining the lead after having given advantages with the 2-2 draw with Manchester United on the previous day to remain on 71 points, the same as Arsenal (but came second by goal difference), while Manchester City reached 73 points and is at the top after taking Luton Town out of their way with authority with a 5-1 win. However, things did not go as planned in the first half of the duel with Palace.
Those led by Klopp also needed to shake off the 3-0 defeat they suffered against Atalanta, at Anfield, in the UEFA Europa League match, for the first leg of the quarterfinals. And they were far from looking as they intended. Because their rival made a reading similar to that made by the Italian team and put high pressure on Liverpool who did not know how to solve that crossword puzzle. Neither Alexis Mac Allisteris Curtis Jonesis Wataru Endo They had answers in the middle of the field, nor did they find solutions in Luis Diaz, Darwin Núñez y Mohamed Salah in the attack.
In that context Crystal Palace felt comfortable, there was no threat in the proposal of Klopp’s team, so the visiting team assumed the protagonist and built an action with the seal of its rival to touch almost to the bottom of Alisson’s goal and that defined with a charming tranquility Eberechi Eze. An action that left Klopp almost paralyzed because his team was barely a spectator of an action that had 18 touches and ended in a goal.
The local team was not left with that uncertainty because it is in their nature to dominate the scene. Although less clearly than on other occasions, with Robertson as a banner, he sought to hurt Palace, who felt that there was no latent threat. And when Liverpool managed to combine some formulas to break the resistance of the visiting team, the Reds came up against the enormous task of the British goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
He tried to change course so as not to leave behind his status as leader of the Premier League. Without the best version of him, but Liverpool sought to equal history. He had opportunities and wasted more than a dozen, some due to lack of precision, like the one-on-one that Jones couldn’t resolve, and others because Henderson became giant against definitions from Núñez and Harvey Elliott. Even Palace’s defensive work was impeccable, because everyone multiplied to cover every space. And when Klopp’s team managed to find a small crack, all the Crystal Palace players were supportive in covering it up, as happened with Tyrick Mitchell which came to close just when Salah was facing Henderson and finishing at will.
