First things first, if we had to lose a game, I don’t hate that we lost to Crystal Palace. As frustrated as I still am by yesterday’s performance, the Selhurst Park are a well-run football club with fans who turn up to Anfield and sing about their own players. Whilst so many other clubs nowadays have supporters that think it’s cool and ‘funny’ to sing about poverty, victims and other nonsense, offensive topics, Palace supporters are all about getting behind their own team. Don’t get me wrong, the incessant drone that they create at home isn’t for me, but the fans go about things the ‘right’ way in my opinion. They also appear to be something of a bogey club for Arne Slot. Although we defeated them at Selhurst Park last season, it was a 1-0 win that was hard-fought and could’ve gone either way. Yes, we were ‘on the beach’ by the time the home game came around, but they left Anfield with a creditable draw and then defeated us in the Community Shield, albeit on penalties.
Crystal Palace are our absolute bogey team. Goddamn it
— Andy Winter (@andywinter26.bsky.social) 27 September 2025 at 17:09
It is a club run the right way, with a brilliant manager who I hope stays there for a long time. Not necessarily because I want Palace to be hugely successful, but more because I would hate for the likes of Manchester United or Everton to appoint a man with Oliver Glasner’s obvious managerial talent at any point in the future. Anyone that has read or heard my opinion on the matter will know that I’ve been less than impressed by the seeming homophobia displayed by the club captain, Marc Guehí, but I am heartened by the fact that even some Palace fans found his actions difficult to stomach. My objection was always about him coming to Liverpool without some explanation of his decision to deface the Rainbow armband he was asked to wear. Given the desperate clamour from many for us to sign him, I think it’s fair to say that I’m in the minority on that front. Potential homophobia aside, which was from one man, it’s a club I have a lot of time and respect for, even if I’m annoyed at how we lost the game.
Defensive Frailties Continue
”It’s a bit mixed feelings. If you look at our attacking play against a team who is so compact, it is maybe a bit better than last season. But on the other hand, we conceded two goals…and that’s something we need to do better. I think we are able to create more now, but we are conceding more at the moment and if you want to compete to win the league, one of the things is not to concede chances, let alone goals.” That was Arne Slot, not after our defeat to Crystal Palace yesterday afternoon, but after the Community Shield game against them. If you want to get a sense of where my current concerns lie, they are with the manner in which Liverpool have been conceding goals since the end of last season, but the manager doesn’t appear to be doing much about it. At the end of our title-winning campaign, it was easy to dismiss our lack of decent defending as part of the fact that the players were partying and on holiday in between matches. In pre-season, it was simple to say it was ‘just pre-season’.
Liverpool are not the favourites for this title for me right now. We don’t deserve to be.
Alisson was immense, VVD is VVD. Szoboslai is our best RB. There’s no balance in attack, midfield and sure as shit not in defence.
I’m not saying we can’t win, I’m saying we shouldn’t be favourites.
— Between These Lines 🇪🇺 ⚽ 🏈 🏀⚾ 🏒 (@footballlibrettist.bsky.social) 27 September 2025 at 17:19
Since the start of the current campaign, however, the same defensive frailties have continued to rear their ugly head. The manager isn’t the only one who appears to be burying his head in the sand over them, however. Virgil van Dijk was asked if it was a worry and simply replied, ‘no’, with a smile on his face. Yet against Palace, we conceded 1.60 expected goals in the first-half, which is the third-highest xG that any team has conceded in a first-half so far this season. Pretending is all fine and dandy, but it is just nonsensical. The fact that we’ve been able to come back and win so many games prior to the match at Selhurst Park has helped to paper over cracks, but that doesn’t mean that the cracks aren’t there. If anything, it appears to have allowed the manager to kick the can down the road and not do enough to fix things. Any time a ball comes into the box in the manner it did yesterday from both the corner and the throw-in, we look to be at sixes and sevens. It isn’t good enough.
Lacking Fluidity All Over the Pitch
Alisson Becker left Selhurst Park with his head held high. Arguably, Federico Chiesa could do the same. Beyond those two, though, I’m not sure anyone else can. It goes without saying that you need to be wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The Reds have looked good at times in some of the games that we’ve played, particularly the first-half against Atlético Madrid and the same in the Merseyside derby. Yet it is also true that both of those games appeared by hanging in the balance as the full-time whistles approached. Mohamed Salah has been a peripheral figure in pretty much every match we’ve played, whilst the manager has yet to work out how to get the best out of Florian Wirtz. It is not the German’s fault that he cost as much as he did, but it’s not exactly outrageous to suggest that he’s yet to live up to his price tag. Similarly, Jeremie Frimpong hasn’t impressed and Alexander Isak has a long way to go to be fit enough to be starting games.
Liverpool midfield trio looks far more fluid, direct and intune without Wirtz
— Frookie50 (@frookie.bsky.social) 20 September 2025 at 13:06
We had no choice but to start him yesterday, however. The moronic decision of Hugo Ekitike to take off his shirt after scoring the winning goal against Southampton in the League Cup in the week left us without much choice going forward. If I were Federico Chiesa, I’d be asking the manager why, exactly, he still seems to have so little faith in me, in spite of doing everything possible to prove my worth. Fluidity will come over time, that much is certain. With so many replacements coming in, it is inevitable that we were going to look a bit out of sorts initially. The good news is that, regardless of what happens at St James’ Park, we will still be top of the table come the end of the weekend. From the manager’s point of view, though, I hope conversations are being had about our poor game management. Having got the match back to 1-1, the very least we needed to do was ensure that we left South London with a point. Leaving with nothing to show for our travails simply isn’t good enough.
