Liverpool’s final Premier League match before the international break ended in a 1-0 win to keep us top of the league – but it didn’t come without a cost.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool
Premier League (7), Selhurst Park
October 5, 2024
Goal: Jota 9′
Four changes: Rotation or reward?
Arne Slot opted for four changes to his starting lineup at Palace, despite this being the last match for the Reds before another international break.
This hasn’t been the manager’s habit so far, which makes it an interesting talking point in itself – but within the alterations is the question of why.
Diogo Jota in for Darwin Nunez is routine, having been the generally starting No. 9, but there’s an argument that Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo were in on merit, rather than merely rotational purposes, after very strong recent showings – though it was actually the Dutchman and Kostas Tsimikas, the fourth player coming in, who Slot highlighted pre-match.
“Cody and Kostas speaks for itself, I think they’ve done very good every time they’ve played,” he said – while hinting Jones was really still in audition mode, perhaps after not seeing enough of him due to an early-season injury.
“It’s a good moment for Curtis to start […] he’s not going to go [away] for internationals so it’s good for him to have a game as well.
“It’s also good for us to have more than only three midfielders, so let’s see today how Curtis is doing.”
From that perspective, Jones certainly walked the walk in terms of effort, industry and willing to mimic the off-ball endeavours of Dominik Szoboszlai, though perhaps a lack of minutes showed with too many fouls and not quite the right end ball.
Tsimikas is of course an odd and inconsistent player, but his first half at Selhurst was his best of the season, defensively diligent and offensively involved, including the pre-assist pass for the opener.
Simon Hooper, king of ineptitude
It’s fairly rare a referee can come out of a game being equally lamented by both sets of supporters, but Simon Hooper truly is something of a one-off, and a real contender for the worst ref in the top flight since Lee Mason’s long-overdue demise and departure.
Oddly, Palace fans had no issue with him handing them a series of soft first-half free-kicks and dishing out cards to the visiting players like it was Christmas – but they certainly didn’t like it when the tables were turned after the break.
Part of it is understandable – six yellow cards in a game which wasn’t exactly a violent affair for the first hour – but they quickly turned up the heat on Hooper.
Fresh from calling him a ‘Scouser in the black’, they moved on to ‘not fit to referee’ soon after.
Liverpool fans were more direct – they gave him a massive cheer when, at about the sixth time of asking, he finally whistled for a foul on Mohamed Salah.
A truly terrible official.
Another Alisson injury!
There has often been plenty of talk about Alisson‘s injury record and the amount we’ve needed Caoimhin Kelleher as a second-choice goalkeeper – but the Irishman has had his own absences too.
That has previously meant Adrian got game time when fans least expected (or wanted) it, but now the third in line is Vitezslav Jaros and the youngster got to make his senior Reds bow after Ali – you guessed it – picked up another injury.
This time it was a hamstring judging by the Brazilian’s reaction, and this after an excellent showing.
At least part of that recovery is going to be across a two-week international break, but it could be double that time or more he’s absent for.
Jaros made a big save from Eberechi Eze and raced out to gather a dangerous through ball too – a solid start.
Jota blowing hot and cold
Slot made the point in the buildup to the game, after another question about Nunez, that Jota hadn’t been scoring too many either and that the team had to find a way to fashion more chances for whoever played centre-forward, with wide attackers kings of goalscoring so far this season.
And the Portuguese attacker made a good start in that regard at Palace, scoring from close range early on – but he really could have had a hat-trick.
Another one side-footed wide and a totally clear header misdirected meant it was very up-and-down for him on the day, while he committed several fouls too as the work rate was there, but not always the timing.
Liverpool, Liverpool top of the league!
Liverpool certainly didn’t emerge unscathed, but it’s another clean sheet and another three points – so regardless of anyone else’s results across the weekend, the Reds will top the Premier League table for the international break.
That perhaps comes at a good moment given some of the exertions of late, a fair bit of defensive sloppiness and of course now Ali’s injury, but that’s only of any use if players don’t get overused or injured with their national sides.
For that, we’ll have to wait and hope.
But as Slot reaches the first mini milestone of 10 matches in charge, he can rightly be satisfied with what is produced so far.
Nine wins, from few real challenges it’s true, but – as the previous boss used to say – the base is there now, in place for later challenges.
This wasn’t a game to get carried away from but we are top, we are staying there for now…and we’re capable of doing so in the long haul.
Bring on the big games.
Crystal Palace 0-1 Liverpool
