Crystal Palace 1-2 LiverpoolMo Salah earns Liverpool victory as Sadio Mané courts controversyShortly after the final whistle Jürgen Klopp strode over to Liverpool’s travelling supporters and pumped his fist in delight – nothing new there but the gesture appeared to carry a little extra thrust, as if he recognised the significance of his side’s triumph.
Liverpool were below par but showed the character they are often accused of lacking not only to shore up a top-four Premier League place but to secure a boost ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match with Manchester City. It was a rare ugly win for one of Europe’s most thrilling sides and one that cynics would suggest they ultimately got away with.
This was because, as well as being frantic, this was a contest marked by controversy, namely the referee Neil Swarbrick’s decision not to show Sadio Mané a second yellow card after the forward, who had equalised for Liverpool after they had fallen behind to Luka Milivojevic’s first-half penalty, grabbed the ball outside Liverpool’s penalty area on 60 minutes following a challenge from Andros Townsend.
Mané expected to be given a free-kick but Swarbrick disagreed and awarded Crystal Palace one of their own, with a subsequent expectation among those in attendance that he would send off the Liverpool striker for handball having already booked him for simulation. But the official kept his cards in pocket, raising the ire of Crystal Palace’s players and fans, and their frustrations were increased on 84 minutes when Liverpool struck for a second time. The goalscorer? Who else – Mohamed Salah.
It is now 37 goals in a remarkable debut season for the Egyptian and, while he was far from his best here, the manner of Salah’s finish further underlined his talent. Lurking at the back post as Andrew Robertson delivered a first-time cross, the 25-year-old took the ball away from the sliding Mamadou Sakho with his left foot before firing the ball past Wayne Hennessey with his right. It was composed, calm and ruthless.
“That’s what makes him a proper striker,” Klopp said. “If you only score when you have a perfect day, you can’t score all the games he has. He is outstanding. This game was hard work. Both teams were not at their best, so it was a question of who will shoot one more goal. It was us. I am pleased with that.”
That much could be detected by Klopp’s demeanour at the end and he was right to say Liverpool were not their usual selves. They lacked fluency in attack, cohesion in midfield and composure in defence, never more so than in the opening stages when Palace came at them with pace and purpose.
Wilfried Zaha was the chief tormentor and, having caused panic in Liverpool’s ranks as early as the eighth minute, he was at it again soon after, running on to Christian Benteke’s flick before being wiped out by Loris Karius having lifted the ball over the Liverpool goalkeeper. Swarbrick pointed to the spot and Milivojevic did the rest, drilling a low shot into the corner of the net to register his ninth goal of the season.
Liverpool continued to dominate possession but they were struggling to carve out chances and that perhaps explains why Mané hit the turf in desperate fashion on 23 minutes. His leg was clipped by James McArthur but the contact was minimal.
“Diving is without contact and there was contact, 100 per cent,” Klopp said. “He didn’t wait for contact – he felt it and everybody could see that.”
Klopp admitted Mané was “lucky” not to be booked again following the handball – “I thought it was au revoir, see you later,” – and it did not come as a surprise when he substituted the player. It had been an erratic afternoon for Liverpool’s No 19 – a neat finish from James Milner’s 49th-minute cross but a display from which he ultimately needed saving.
Palace responded well to conceding and would have taken the lead again had Benteke converted one of the hugely presentable chances that came his way in a matter of minutes. Liverpool then suffered the setback of seeing Adam Lallana go off five minutes after coming on as a substitute having landed awkwardly following a challenge with Milivojevic. Klopp described the midfielder’s injury as “really serious” yet, by the end, this was an occasion for him to savour.
For Roy Hodgson, it was a case of what could have been. The manager refused to blame Swarbrick for Palace’s fifth defeat in six league games, insisting he wanted to focus on “football watch and not referee watch”, adding: “A point was the minimum we deserved.”
Guardian
