Crystal Palace vs Liverpool

Updated: Aug 4, 2023

Hello everybody,

Hope you are all well.

On Saturday 23rd November, I attended the Crystal Palace vs Liverpool game at Selhurst Park. Liverpool are currently top of the league so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

The game started at 3pm and due to their star man Mohamed Salah being too injured to start he was replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain (who is the only Liverpool player I like) because he plays for England. The first section of the game Liverpool dominated but Palace were able to keep them on their toes. The way Palace had set up looked very good as Liverpool were not able to get through us. The first corner of the game for Palace came in the 7th minute after Alexander Arnold misplayed a ball back to the keeper after being pressured by Zaha and the ball ended up going out for a corner. But we weren't able to make a chance from it. VAR was first called to action early in the match in the 9th minute after a possible hand ball against us but nothing was given.

Zaha looked the stronger player during his battles with Alexander Arnold and in the 13th minute he was able win us a corner. Again the opportunity was taken away from a handball by Tomkins. Palace then got a chance in the 16th minute, this time after Alexander Arnold mishit a Volley straight into the path of a Palace player. Kouyate had collected the ball and spotted a run into the box where he was unmarked, sadly he chose to use the outside of his boot and the ball went a yard wide of the post. This was a huge chance to go one nil up but was wasted. We then had another chance in the 22nd minute from a corner when the ball arrived in the box but it was met by an overhead kick by Kouyate. It then ended up falling to the unmarked path of Zaha but he hit it way to hard and it flew over the bar.

Once Palace got into the game they were playing very nice football and were testing Liverpool. By 30 mins Liverpool had only had one shot on target to our 5 attempts. Liverpool then had a chance to get the ball into the box from the right via Alexander Arnold but they were all cleared relatively easy. Their first key chance came in the 38th minute after a corner. Firmino was able to get his head to it but Guaita was able to punch the ball clear. In addition to Trents poor first half he shoved Zaha in the back after allowing him to get goal side near the corner flag. We were then awarded a free kick! This lead to us getting the ball into the box to be met by the head of Tomkins. This meant it was 1-0 to Palace. Thanks to VAR the goal was then disallowed after waiting 5 minutes for this decision all of the Palace vance were left feeling very confused but why the goal was disallowed and frustrated by the decision. After watching the incident back it was because Ayew "pushed" Lovren in the back meaning he couldn't get to the ball but in my opinion he wouldn't of been able to get to the ball anyway so the goal shouldn't of been disallowed. Many previous referees also agreed that it was unfair to be disallowed due to being minimal contact and not affecting play. I stronlgy feel VAR is ruining the game of football! This half ended with Liverpool having a corner but it was put straight over the bar. It was then half time.

At the start of the second half we came out looking very confident and this showed in the opening minutes of the game. We picked up a corner from which the Liverpool defence was able to clear it into the path of Van Aaholt who's shot went wide but after this Liverpool had a big chance and moments later they scored their first goal. They were very lucky because the ball deflected off of both posts before entering the goal. This was Liverpools first shot on target in the whole match. The goal was scored by Sadio Mane. This didn't affect Palaces confident as minutes after Townsend was able to find some space and sent a shot from 20 yards but the Liverpool goalkeeper was able ton tip it over the bar to give us a corner. Before Liverpool scored the atmosphere around Selhurst Park was amazing but after the scoreline changed we quietened down little bit but still showed our support.

We had another opportunity in the 60th minute after Zaha was able to take the ball down the left before squaring it into Ayew but he wasn't able to sort his feet out in time sending the ball wide. In the 62nd minute Liverpool almost got their second goal after conceding a corner which fell inches away from Lovren at the far post. He was unable to get it in. This was followed but Liverpools first substitution by sending Oxlead- Chamberlain off. He had to walk past all of the Palace fans towards the dug out and was high fives lots of children that were watching. This was really nice to see.

Our first substitution came in the 69th minute when Joel Ward picked up an injury and was then replaced by Martin Kelly. This shortly followed by our second substitution which was Kouyate being replaced by Schlupp, Even thought we were loosing Palace didn't seem to drop their heads and in the 76th minute we had another opportunity via Townsend which was put out for a corner. Before it was taken our 3rd and final substitution happened with Benteke in replace of Ayew. Nothing came from the corner. Shortly after being brought on Benteke attempted a scissor kick from 12 yards which just went wide of the post, what a goal that wouldv'e been?

The final 10 minutes was very action packed and in the 82nd minute Palace were finally able to take one of their chances and make it 1-0 thanks to Zaha. The goal came from Zaha being able to get down the right past Alexander Arnold before laying the ball off to Benteke who was then able to pass it into Townsend. He then passed it back to Zaha who had made his way into the box before letting the ball roll across his body and slotting it into the back of the net between two Liverpool defenders. Selhurst Park was now buzzing and this time VAR didn't stop the celebrations thankfully :)

In the 85th minute the worst happened and Liverpool got a corner which lead to chaos in the penalty area before the ball found its way into the back of the net making it 2-1 Liverpool. This was horrible as we really didn't deserve to be loosing. In the 90th minute Palace had their final opportunity an it was a key one after Townsend was able to dink the ball into an unmarked Zaha. he had time ton control it as he only had Alisson to beat but disappointingly he blazed it straight over the bar. This will haunt him for while as it was a great opportunity that he missed.

This was the final piece of action in the game and the game ended 2-1 Liverpool. This is very hard to accept as we definitely didn't deserve to come away with nothing after such an a amazing performance was shown. hopefully this doesn't knock our confidence and we are able to take the positive into the next game as Liverpool were very lucky.

After the match we went to see the players. We only got a picture with Milivojevic and Joel Ward as the other players went the other way. As I have been getting my shirt signed by the whole of the first team and Zaha was one of the only ones I had left to get, we saw him going a different way (which he always does) to all of the fans. My Auntie decided that it was about time Zaha stopped to sign it so she approached him herself in the other direction and explained to him that I really needed his signature and ended up convincing him to sign it. I only have 2 more signatures to get to complete my shirt. These are Townsend and Ayew, also very hard players to catch!