Twenty four hours after the win it’s just as sweet to look back on the fact that we finally won at Selhurst Park for the first time in nineteen years, although some may see it as fortunate given the controversy over the penalty.
What can’t be denied is the mentality we showed to fight back from one-nil down and with ten men following James Milner’s sending off to obtain a last gasp win.
While to many this may go down as a disappointing season (which is obviously not over), on top of this result Liverpool have beaten Man City twice in the league, Chelsea way, and held Arsenal at the Emirates. Granted there have been disappointing results, being beaten three times by West Ham and twice by Man United comes to mind, but if we can continue the momentum over the next few weeks, particularly in the League then who knows where we end up?
In the match itself, Jurgen Klopp brought in Sakho and Lovren to replace the injured Lucas Leiva and the rested Kolo Toure who like Nathanial Clyne started on the bench. Moreno returned to the starting line-up with Jon Flanagan continuing at right-back.
For Palace the brilliant Yannick Bolasie returned to fray giving Palace a formidable looking front three with Wilfried Zaha and Emmanuel Adebayor in tandem.
While we had the majority of possession during the first-half, Palace were direct. The power and pace of the front three was difficult to handle and Palace within the first ten minutes could have been ahead.
First, after a brilliant counter-attack Adebayor found Bolasie in the centre of the area whose shot was bravely smothered by Mignolet.
Minutes later Mignolet pushed out a right-footed attempt by Adebayor to the near post and after the ball stayed in play and with the defence wavering in concentration, Adebayor met Souare’s cross beating Sakho all ends up only to head against the bar with the goal at his mercy.
With the cut and thrust belonging to Palace Cabaye went close collecting Zaha’s pass on the run before curling his shot into the side netting.
Worryingly, especially at Selhurst Park with the nightmare debacle of 2014 still painfully afresh, Liverpool were settling in to second match syndrome where after a win we seem to fall back into a malaise and that’s how it stayed until half-time.
The impressive attacking talent amassed on the bench (Benteke, Coutinho, Sturridge) did little to prick Klopp’s conscious into making a change.
Liverpool were made to pay early in the second-half from slack defending when Firmino failed to block Ledley’s shot from his own sliced clearance and watched on as the Welsh international powered home his shot into the bottom right corner.
The goal failed to spark Liverpool out of their lethargy and there appeared no apparent reason for the concern to Palace, that was until the James Milner’s second yellow card for bringing down Zaha (his first just before half-time for fouling Cabaye).
Instead of the eleven men of Palace controlling the game, the ten of Liverpool surprisingly took complete control of the came with Philippe Coutinho conducting the tempo at the helm of Liverpool’s attacking forays.
Roberto Firmino finally produced Liverpool’s first shot on target on 65 minutes which McCarthy collected easily. McCarthy’s relatively easy afternoon was about to take a turn for the worse.
Under very little pressure he slipped in a bid to clear his lines from Delaney’s comfortable back pass, only to find Firmino, who controlled instantly before coming forward to slide the ball under the left arm of the goalkeeper. Fortunate, yes, but Liverpool as unexpected as it was were back in the game.
Firmino with his eighth League goal of the season is now Liverpool’s top goal scorer and was the 11th time in the League this year where he has either scored or assisted which puts him ahead of such luminaries as Sergio Aguero.
Possibly, sensing a win Klopp replaced Origi with Benteke.
Benteke, then proceeded to play a blinding ten minutes where he lead the line with the ferocious intensity which his manager has been calling him out for. His first touch saw him volley Lovren’s flick on from a corner straight into the arms of McCarthy.
He was causing consternation to the Palace backline at every turn with his physical threat and as those defensive frailties manifested themselves, Alberto Moreno’s searing shot from 30 yards smacked against the foot of the post with the keeper stretching in despair.
Fed through the middle by Coutinho, Benteke cut back onto his right foot leaving Scott Dann floundering before seeing his shot palmed away.
With time time ticking away and Klopp looking to protect the points in bringing on Kolo Toure (becoming the first African footballer to make 300 Premier League appearances), four minutes into extra-time Benteke collected the ball on the right side of the area before driving past Delaney who for some reason decided to go to ground clipping the foot of Benteke, however minimally.
Referee Andre Mariner in conjunction with his assistant official awarded Liverpool with a penalty, which Benteke dispatched with the coolness of a gunslinger in a Spaghetti Western.
As he has proved on occasions this season Benteke can be a match winner.
Man of the match: Dejan Lovren – if he is playing for his place the performance was imperious. He stood up to the physical threat in great fashion and if he can continue in that fashion will give Klopp food for thought at the end of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment