Crystal Palace vs Liverpool 21/22

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all well.

On Sunday 23rd of January we were finally back at Selhurst Park for our home fixture against Liverpool in the Premier League, after being away for the past 2 games.

Liverpool had started the season strong and were still in contention for the title with 45 points, even though it is looking pretty certain that City have ran away with it already. Their previous result was a 2-0 victory against Arsenal in the Carabao cup sending them to Wembley for the final against Chelsea.

Vieira had the option of Ayew available for this game as Ghana was knocked out of the AFCON, but he decided to start him on the bench assumingly due to lack of training with the team. Guaita was brought back into the starting line up in replace of Butland who had an outstanding performance last game. The final change was

Mateta being brought in to replace Eze, he played through the middle with Edouard and Olise on the wings.

The match was a sell out, so the atmosphere was great as usual. Before the game there was a minute’s applause in memory of two ex-Palace players who had passed away - Paul Hinshelwood and Jamie Vincent. Liverpool started the better of the 2 teams, this was expected due to their quality, they forced an early save from Guaita as we didn’t clear the ball well enough, some very early warning signs. Once again, we suffered from another set piece. A corner was awarded to them which Robertson whipped it, after some extremely poor and questionable marking, Van Dijk was able to rise above everyone and head the ball into the back of the net too far away for the keeper to get, 8 minutes in and we were already losing. That was the 12 goal we’ve conceded from a set piece this season... it really needs to be sorted and sooner rather than later. It was an extremely frustrating half that Liverpool completely dominated, we could barely string a set of passes together without losing possession. Liverpool played really high up giving us room to get in behind, a chance was created via this as Ward found himself in behind after Olise worked hard to win the ball back; Ward made a positive run into the box, where Mateta was waiting in the centre, he received the ball, but his shot was saved, the flag then went up but much better from us we just needed to try being more positive on more occasions. Whenever Liverpool were attacking us, our clearances were poor, and we was trapped in our own half, so it just meant they could have chance, after chance, after chance, and it was only a matter of time before one went in. The referee on the day was incredibly poor, this was highlighted later in the game, but he made so many poor decision throughout always favouring Liverpool! Sadly, they didn’t have to wait long to get their second, this came from Robertson being given way too much time and space on the ball, he sent the ball over the top to the back post where Oxlade-Chamberlain was waiting again he was completely unmarked and his attempt found the back of the net. On the replays it looks like Firmino was offside when he went for the ball, he did miss it which is why it fell to Oxlade-Chamberlain, but he would still have been interfering with play ... but of course neither the ref nor VAR picked it up! Although Liverpool were completely dominant they still had moments of sloppiness, like always the attackers was very good at attempting to close down the players on the ball in their own half, Jones was caught on the ball by Conor allowing Mateta to take possession back taking the ball wide and into the box, his pass in was into the path of Conor but it was a little too heavy and just bounced off of him, may have been wasted but it gave us Palace fans something to cheer about. This was immediately followed by another mistake a defensive pass around the box was loose, and Olise was quick to react regaining possession he went for a shot himself which was saved, but straight back into the path of him this time he went for the passing option into Edouard, but the defender was able to cut it out. Yet another mistake allowed Olise to pick up the ball before playing in behind to Mateta who was passed all the defenders, he went around the keeper forcing himself wide, his shot was fired wide of the post. So many chances but we just couldn’t finish any off, and this was our main problem! This was the final piece of play of the half, meaning we went into the break 2-0 down.

We started the half poorly and were made to pay for that, but as the game progressed, we looked better and actually created some chances from Liverpool’s mistakes, we just need to start finding the back of the net then it could’ve been 2-2 and a completely different story! We really needed a good half time talk from Vieira to remotivate them using the momentum from the first half, and actually try get something out of the game.

No half time changes, and we were back underway. Great start from Palace producing an early chance in less than a minute, Edouard received the ball in the centre of the pitch before releasing it out wide to Olise, he had space in front of him and was able to make an advancing run into the box, twisting and turning around Robertson before sending the ball across the face of goal where Gallagher and Mateta were waiting but they both couldn’t get the needed touch and it went straight through them all! Could’ve been the dream start we needed! Liverpool were all over the place like the end of the first half, and we were actually dominating them for the first time in the game. Olise was involved in another chance, he was able to cut inside and release a perfectly weighted ball into Schlupp, he was able to header it into the path of Edouard who tried to poke it in the back of the net from four yards out, but once again the keeper made a save, he really should’ve been scoring from that chance! Schlupp picked up a loose ball in the midfield, Edouard and Mateta both made great runs towards goal, Schlupp was able to play a fantastic ball in between the two centre halves finding an advancing Mateta who was through on goal, the keeper came out to him leaving Edouard completely open on the other side of the box, a pass from Mateta and he was able to place the ball into the back of an empty net! So deserved it had been coming for a while, but we finally finished one of the chances, Selhurst Park was absolutely electric, becoming the 12th man behind the boys, will we salvage a point from this?! Completely different from the first half, we were winning every ball, passing the ball round nicely and just making Liverpool look average. Full of confidence Andersen was urged to shoot, and shoot he did! He was so unlucky with his attempt from outside the box going just wide of the far post! Just like the past few game Olise was causing so many problems for their defence, it’s so refreshing and exciting to see! Our first substitution came in the 67th minute which saw Eze come on in replace of Edouard. He was instantly involved in an attack as he was released into space down the wing, he played the ball into Schlupp who was advancing towards the touch line, he able to get a shot off but the angle was tight and went straight into the side netting. So many times, Olise was completely unmarked out wide and was wanting the ball, a moment of brilliance from both players as Andersen found him with a fantastic ball over the top, as he made an inwards run in behind the defence, after letting the ball bounce once, he let off a magnificent lob towards goal, the keeper was backpedalling but just managed to keep it out as it was definitely on target! Would’ve been a great goal if it went in! Our other two substitutions came in the 77th minute which saw Hughes and Mateta be replaced by Ayew and Benteke, Patrick obviously thought we could get a goal too! Palace looked more and more likely of getting another goal, but luck was not on our side! In the 85th minute Jota received a ball in behind our defence, Ward was able to recover, and the ball trailed behind for a goal kick, the referee indicated for a goal kick but there was an argument for a penalty from Jota who felt he was fouled by the keeper who came out to close the gap, the ref was told to wait by VAR while they checked ... this went on for about 3 minutes. He was finally told to go to the screen to check for himself, whenever they go to the screen you already know the decision has been made for them, he did decide to award a penalty! This was the most shocking decision of the whole game and games I have seen in a while, the referees in the Premier League have all been shocking recently it really needs to be dealt with as it’s effecting outcomes of games! Jota had cheated the ref, but it was so obvious that he had ran into Guaita looking for the foul rather than Guaita causing the collision; nearly everyone I’ve spoken too has the same opinion as me including many pundits too, it’s both crazy and embarrassing how they can get a decision so wrong. Fabinho stepped up to take the pen, Guaita guessed the wrong way, so it was now 3-1 to Liverpool. We completely controlled the second half and deserved to get something from it, but we had no chance of pulling it back now with so little time remaining. That was the last action of the game so another lose at home for us. Deafening boos rang around the stadium as the ref left the field.

“Shit referee”. That’s literally all I have to say the refereeing of that game cost us a chance to take points from them, the big team bias in the Prem at the moment is ridiculous and has been seen in so many games recently, it really needs to be sorted as it’s making the sport an embarrassment. I just hope it gets dealt with, 2 of their goals shouldn’t have counted so it could have been a completely different outcome if the rules were implemented correctly. Really happy with our second half performance we created so many chances and really tested a team who is competing for the league. As frustrating as the result was there’s nothing, we can do now just need to focus on the positives to take into the next game after the break, and work on taking our chances!

Match stats:

• Palace had a total of 43.4% possession, Liverpool had 56.6%

• Palace had a total of 8 shots with 5 on target.

• Liverpool had 14 shots with 7 on target.

Our next game is at home against Hartlepool in the FA cup fourth round on Saturday 5th of February, after the winter break, so look out for that post in a few weeks!

Thank you for reading

Ellie Xx