Liverpool head coach Arne Slot admitted that his facet might have been 4-0 down at half time in opposition to Crystal Palace.
The Reds’ 100 per cent begin to the season got here to an finish at Selhurst Park with a 2-1 defeat to the Eagles.
Eddie Nketiah scored within the last seconds to make sure Oliver Glasner‘s males stretchered their unbeaten run to 18 matches in all competitions.
In fact, it might have been a lot simpler for the hosts as effectively.
They opened the scoring by means of Ismailia Sarr within the first half and noticed quite a few possibilities come and go, with Reds goalkeeper Alisson pulling off a number of chic saves.
The second half was a really completely different story, and the Reds piled the strain on looking for an equaliser with Federico Chiesa coming off the bench to tug Liverpool degree.
It was a considerably controversial equaliser because the ball appeared to hit Mohamed Salah‘s hand within the build-up, however a VAR verify couldn’t discover conclusive proof of the handball, which means the aim stood.
If any facet have been going to win it, it the Reds, however they didn’t take care of the ball being put again into the field after clearing an extended throw, and Nketiah completed brilliantly.
And after the sport, Slot admitted his facet hadn’t been ok defensively.
He stated: “We might have been three or 4-0 down at half time. The one cause we didn’t was as a result of Alisson made a number of superb saves. Possibly one would have been disallowed as a result of there was a shirt pull. That doesn’t actually assist as a result of it builds the momentum for them.
“Ultimately, we gave away far too many possibilities within the first half.
“Second half, we created extra possibilities than most groups do in opposition to Palace since you hardly see possibilities for both facet as a result of they work so arduous.
“However we created greater than sufficient to attain earlier. Ultimately, we did rating, and we lose it as a result of we concede the second set-piece aim of the day.”
Liverpool’s defence
Regardless of 5 wins from 5 Premier League video games earlier than this defeat, Liverpool had appeared shaky defensively.
They’d saved two clear sheets, however conceded twice in opposition to Bournemouth and ten-man Newcastle United earlier than letting one in within the Merseyside derby final weekend.
Two extra objectives went into the again of the online throughout their newest outing, and that’s 4 from set-pieces within the Premier League, which Slot thinks is probably as a result of extra groups try to take advantage of set-pieces.
To talkSPORT’s Alex Criminal, Slot revealed he’s not too anxious concerning the defence regardless of the Reds conceding a variety of objectives already this season.
He stated: “In two conditions, we’ve conceded two set-pieces. However the sport of soccer in England has modified to a set-piece sport.
“I used to be watching Brentford in opposition to Man United, and each ball that goes out is resulting in an extended throw.
“So, you need to defend quite a lot of set-pieces. For those who concede two that’s an excessive amount of.
“However they may have scored from open play as effectively as a result of they’d sufficient possibilities.”
How did Isak do?
Liverpool’s new £125million man Alexander Isak obtained his first Premier League begin for the Reds following his deadline day transfer from Newcastle United.
He most likely wouldn’t have began had Hugo Ekitike not been suspended, however the striker was despatched off in midweek for 2 bookable offences, together with the second for taking his shirt off after scoring the winner.
It was a call that left his supervisor fuming and meant Isak needed to begin.
This seemingly wouldn’t be an issue if he’d had a full pre-season or featured within the Premier League earlier than leaving St James’ Park, however he refused to play for the Toon as an alternative.
He was thus effectively brief on match health, and although he managed to play nearly all of the sport, he wasn’t that concerned, his match spotlight seeing him miss one good probability within the second half.
Nonetheless, Slot is happy to see some progress from his new striker.
Chatting with talkSPORT, Slot indicated the ahead is getting fitter, saying: “I used to be completely happy that he might have so many minutes. That was additionally to do with the low depth of the sport.
“There wasn’t quite a lot of operating to do for our gamers, so that’s the reason he might play a bit longer, however he’s getting there.
“There have been a number of instances the place he obtained near the aim, and he’s getting fitter and fitter.”
