Andy Hunter was at Anfield tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Crystal Palace’s reward for tonight’s victory: a quarter-final tie at Arsenal.
A grim-faced Arne Slot speaks to Sky Sports. “It’s not of Liverpool’s standards to lose five out of six … to lose six out of seven … [the pressure] might increase a little bit but not so much because the pressure was already high … again we have to face three very difficult teams [in the next week] … for the first time we can do it in eight days instead of seven … I could have brought [his first-choice squad] into this by playing them tonight, with only two days rest … everybody can have their opinion … 15 or 16 first-team players available … this is the choice I made.”
Is Saturday evening’s game against Aston Villa a must-win? “For Liverpool every game is a must-win.”
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Liverpool have lost six out of their last seven … and five in a row domestically. That’s their worst domestic sequence since Don Welsh’s side did this in the autumn of 1953 …
Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Liverpool
Newcastle United 4-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-5 Preston North End
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool
… which led to Liverpool being relegated from the old First Division in last place. Now, nobody’s seriously considering a fate like that befalling Arne Slot’s team, but Aston Villa and Manchester City are up next in the Premier League, so things might get worse before they get better. For the record, Liverpool’s worst-ever streak of domestic defeats came in 1899, when they lost nine on the bounce. Plenty of breathing room there, then. Eh?
Post-match postbag. “The wheels got a bit wobbly with the FA Cup defeat to Plymouth Argyle. They were deservedly losers in the Carabao Cup final and outplayed home and away in the Champions League against PSG. From January onwards league form was steady rather than exceptional. The trend seems to be the longer Arne Slot has been in charge the worse the performances have been. He’s on a downward trajectory and showing no sign of having the answers to rectify it. Even a title-winning manager only has so much good will from the board. He must be close to the exit door” – Chris Healy
“Nick Woltemade scored tonight. Meanwhile a disastrous performance in a Liverpool jersey from former Newcastle United hero A̶l̶e̶x̶a̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶I̶s̶a̶k̶ Freddie Woodman” – Chris Paraskevas
“Lucky only had to play 25 minutes with that shower. Nominative determinism undefeated” – Rowan Sweeney
… but Arne Slot got way too experimental with his line-up. He was asking for trouble, and it was delivered to him by Palace in an efficient, fuss-free manner. In and of itself, this result doesn’t mean much, Slot having clearly been willing to sacrifice a competition his club have won a record ten times, in order to free up some calendar space going forward. But in the wider context of Liverpool’s abysmal run – they’ve now lost six of their last seven in all competitions – it adds further pressure. A positive result tonight would have given Slot some desperately needed wriggle room. Now, if Liverpool can’t get anything going in any of their next three matches, against Aston Villa (who have won six of their last seven), Real Madrid and Manchester City (who are, respectively, Real Madrid and Manchester City), the heat, already dangerously high, will be ratcheted all the way up to 11. The climate is closing in on Arne Slot and Liverpool.
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First up, hats off to Crystal Palace. It was men against boys, literally and figuratively, Ismaila Sarr once again making Liverpool his bunnies. He’s now scored five goals in five appearances for Palace against Liverpool; seven in nine if you add in his time at Watford. A fine goal for Yeremy Pino, too. Palace did what they had to do, with confidence and style. They go into the hat for the quarter-finals, the FA Cup and Community Shield holders getting a taste for the silver stuff. They’ll take some stopping.
FULL TIME: Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace
Arne Slot asked for it with his team selection; Crystal Palace gave him it. Palace into the quarter-finals in style!
90 min +2: Liverpool knock it around but there’s not going to be any consolation.
90 min +1: Kerkez crosses well from the left. Gordon’s header flashes wide right. Liverpool have only managed one effort on target all evening. “It’s a massive blow for nominative determinism unless Liverpool’s Lucky pulls something out of the fire now,” quips Paul Griffin.
90 min: Pino comes sliding aggressively through the back of Ramsay. He should see red for it, but it’s just a yellow. No VAR tonight. There will be three additional minutes at the end of a match Palace won in the first half.
89 min: Anfield spontaneously erupts in song. You’ll Never Walk Alone, of course. But it fizzles out quickly enough. “We want four,” chant the Palace faithful.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-3 Crystal Palace (Pino 88)
Pino dances elegantly into the Liverpool box from the left, makes himself enough space by giving Lucky the eyes, opens his body, and curls a lovely shot into the bottom right. Palace have done a number on Liverpool yet again. This time it’s three.
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86 min: Ngumoha, who departs to warm applause, is replaced by Liverpool’s new Trent, Kone-Doherty.
85 min: “Considering Liverpool’s current run, just how bad are Eintracht Frankfurt?” We’ve all been thinking it; Gary Byrne goes ahead and says it.
83 min: The “you’re getting sacked in the morning” song gets another airing. Meanwhile Uche comes on for Sosa.
81 min: That is utterly farcical. Amara Nallo has had two senior appearances, and the 18-year-old defender has been sent off in both of them! That has to be some sort of first.
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RED CARD: Nallo (Liverpool)
79 min: Nallo miscontrols in the centre circle. He allows Mateta to send Devenny clear down the middle. Nallo tugs back Devenny, and it’s a clear red card. Nallo was red-carded on his debut against PSV Eindhoven last season; he’s been red-carded on his second appearance for the club as well!
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77 min: Gordon nutmegs Sosa down the right flank. It doesn’t really get him anywhere, but at least it gave Liverpool’s fans something to cheer. They’ve had precious little else to enjoy this evening.
75 min: Ngumoha has the opportunity to release Kerkez down the left, but opts to attempt to dribble around Cardines instead. He wins a corner, which is sent long to Chiesa, who can’t control on the edge of the six-yard box, and a chance to shoot from a tight angle is gone.
74 min: Palace make a double change, replacing Munoz and Hughes with Lerma and Cardines.
72 min: Chiesa is booked for becoming overly irritated by Devenny’s challenge, and shoves him over with both hands. Liverpool in danger of losing the collective head.
70 min: The rain is absolutely biblical. It’s not quite Newcastle-Sunderland in 1999, the game that did for Ruud Gullit, but it’s something.
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68 min: Liverpool make a triple change. Gordon, Nallo and another debutant in Lucky come on for Robertson, Mac Allister and Morrison. “Just had an email about the new LFC Pop figures (Ian Rush, Alexis Mac Allister),” writes Kev McCready. “On the basis of this, I reckon they’d do a better job.”
66 min: Sosa crosses deep from the left. Munoz, coming in from the right, wins a header but skittles Kerkez in doing so. The whistle goes.
64 min: … and then Gomez blocks a Pino effort. 0-3 looks a much more likely scoreline than 1-2.
63 min: Pino plays Mateta in down the middle with a cute reverse pass. Mateta takes one touch too many and his eventual shot is blocked by Robertson. Liverpool’s defence was split apart too easily again.
62 min: Sarr won’t get his hat-trick. He makes way for Devenny.
61 min: The rain continues to come down in stair-rods. Anfield a miserable place right now, though the Palace fans couldn’t care less. They’re in party mode.
59 min: It’s very scrappy at the moment. The home fans vocal, but only in their irritation.
57 min: Palace look completely comfortable. A Liverpool comeback looks extremely unlikely to materialise.
55 min: Robertson goes into the book for a desperate lunge into Pino. Liverpool’s captain for the night betraying quite a bit of frustration there.
54 min: Ramsay flicks the ball past Sosa down the right only to be palmed off. Sosa slightly lucky not to go into the book for that saucy stop-signal.
52 min: A little space for Chiesa down the inside-left channel. Canvot comes across to block the shot. “Ah well,” begins Matt Dony. “Last season was fun, wasn’t it?”
51 min: Guehi sends a long speculative pass down the right. Mateta strides onto it and fizzes a shot goalwards from 20 yards. Straight at Woodman, who may be reconsidering his one-time fandom of Palace right now.
49 min: Sarr, in search of his hat-trick, aims a long-distance shot towards the bottom left. Easy for Woodman.
48 min: Liverpool pass it around awhile to little effect. The nervousness in their meek play all too apparent.
46 min: Morrison scampers down the right and wins a corner in front of the Kop. The woefully out-of-form Mac Allister whips to the near post, where Mateta clears with ease.
Liverpool get the ball rolling again. Their bench consists of two 18-year-olds, three 19-year-olds, two 20-year-olds and two 21-year-olds, so there’s no obvious swap to mix things up. They’re as they were. Palace rub it in by replacing Nketiah with Mateta.
The rain is pouring down at Anfield. Even as cheap symbolism, it’s a bit too on-the-nose.
Half-time postbag. “Every time I’ve seen Ismaïla Sarr play, he looks like an elite player. He really caught the eye at Afcon in 2021, and I’ve never seen him be less than dangerous. I think being at Palace really suits his style, but I’m surprised no club with money to burn has gone in for him” – Kári Tulinius
“Re - Justin Kavanagh, 20 mins: ‘This squad tonight looks young enough to be the side they’ll eventually become when Arne Slot has left the club.’ You really think this is going to be the team Liverpool are sending out in January?” – Drew Ellis (because somebody had to tap home that open-goal sitter)
“Turns out there’s always another rake to step on” – Niall Mullen
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Half-time entertainment. The action never stops. Michael Butler’s Clockwatch sees to that.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 0-2 Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace are halfway towards doing a number on Liverpool yet again.
45 min +4: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” chirp the travelling Eagles fans. Poor Arne.
45 min +3: It’s raining hard at Anfield. For Liverpool right now, it never rains but it pours. On the touchline, Arne Slot stands soaked to the skin. He could do with an umbrella. He’ll catch his death! Steve McClaren has an awful lot to answer for.
45 min +1: Liverpool’s young side desperately need to hear the half-time whistle … but there’s five additional minutes to play, and Palace have the scent of blood in their nostrils.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-2 Crystal Palace (Sarr 45)
It’s that man again! Sarr one-twos with Kamada down the middle, left to right and back again, and finds himself in an absurd amount of space. He steps into the Liverpool box, opens his body, and whips a shot across Woodman and into the bottom right. Lovely football, but Liverpool’s makeshift defence was all over the shop. It’s now seven in nine for Sarr against Liverpool.
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44 min: Gomez misses a kick in the midfield and Kamada dings Nketiah into space down the inside-right channel. Nketiah enters the box but slips over under pressure from Ramsay. No penalty. Liverpool suddenly look ragged and rattled, for the first time this evening.
42 min: Ramsay tries to respond immediately by bustling in from the right, but drags a wild shot wide right.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Crystal Palace (Sarr 41)
A ball played down the middle by Kamada. Munoz makes trouble in the box, buzzing around. He kicks the ball into Gomez, who slashes at a clearance and instead tees up Sarr. The Palace winger slots into the bottom right from 12 yards. Simple as that, and it’s six goals in nine appearances against Liverpool for Sarr!
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39 min: Guehi rolls the ball down the middle. Nketiah tries to release Sarr with a cute flick on the edge of the box, but Sarr thinks he’s offside so stands aside. The ball sails through to Woodman. Nearly a lovely defence-splitting routine.
38 min: Morrison shifts his feet elegantly down the inside-right channel. He thinks he’s made enough space to shoot, but as he cocks his leg near the edge of the box, Sosa arrives from nowhere to block.
37 min: Kamada crosses from the right. Sarr heads goalwards from 12 yards out, but Woodman gathers without fuss. Palace are beginning to get on top.
36 min: Ramsay’s loose touch allows Sosa to advance down the left. Gomez is forced to turn behind for another Palace corner. Kamada goes short, exchanging passes with Hughes before crossing deep. Guehi nearly gets in ahead of Mac Allister on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box … but not quite. Liverpool clear their lines again.
34 min: A long pass down the right releases Morrison, who enters the area but can’t decide whether to shoot or pass. In the end, he achieves neither. Those seize-the-day instincts not kicking in.
33 min: Pino brings down a hopeful up-and-under with a lovely cushioned touch by the corner of the six-yard box. He sits Nyoni down, but can’t find Nketiah at the near post. Liverpool clear their lines. For a nanosecond there, things opened up for Palace.
31 min: Robertson swings a ball into the Palace mixer from the left. It’s easy pickings for Benitez. Palace’s keeper hasn’t had that much to do.
30 min: Pino finds himself in space down the left. He runs into Gomez, but holds onto possession and cuts back for Hughes, who pearls a shot straight at Woodman. Either side of the keeper, and that was hit hard enough to cause trouble. But as it is, it’s an easy claim for the teenage Palace fan.
28 min: Ramsay sends Ngumoha into space down the left with a glorious crossfield rake from his right-back position. He cuts inside and thinks about shooting, before releasing Chiesa into the box down the left channel. Chiesa is faced with a tight angle, but tries to beat the keeper anyway. His low shot is hacked clear by Benitez. What a ball from Ramsay, though.
27 min: Munoz is back up and about. He’ll be fine to continue.
26 min: Munoz is down having taken an accidental whack in the mouth while duelling aerially with Kerkez. On come the trainers.
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24 min: Chiesa wasn’t going to beat Canvot for pace there; he did so by cushioning the ball one way then the other to make himself enough space. Fine work that deserved a better finish.
23 min: Palace are nearly undone with a simple whack straight down the middle. Chiesa gets in ahead of Canvot, but only just, so he’s under pressure when he shoots from the edge of the box. The ball sails deep into the Anfield Road end.
21 min: With the number 20 ticking round on the scoreboard, it’s time to remember Diogo Jota with his song. Always so bittersweet. Better than Figo, don’t you know.
20 min: Sarr tries to flick the ball down the right flank, but Robertson sticks out a wily hand to stop him. Just a free kick, and once again a Liverpool player is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. “There’s been talk lately that Liverpool are playing their way towards being the side that they’ll look like when Mo Salah finally leaves the club,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “But this squad tonight looks young enough to be the side they’ll eventually become when Arne Slot has left the club.”
18 min: Sosa wins Palace’s first corner down the left. Kamada sends it long, but Lacroix can’t get the better of Kerkez at the far post, and eyebrows the ball out for a goal kick.
16 min: Ngumoha cuts in from the left and curls towards the top right. The shot looks to be heading well wide, but curls in viciously as it gets closer to goal, and only just misses the right-hand post. Had that made it another couple of feet infield, it was nestling in the top-right corner. Benitez wasn’t getting to it.
15 min: Liverpool probe down both flanks: Ngumoha down the left, Ramsay down the right. Ramsay looks in the mood to make up for all the lost time he’s suffered since joining the club from Aberdeen back in 2022.
13 min: Sarr makes good down the right and rolls into the Liverpool box for Nketiah, who can’t spin round to get a shot away. Gomez strides off with the ball. Both teams look in the mood up front.
11 min: The resulting free kick’s just to the right of centre, and Sosa floats a diagonal into the mixer. There’s a brief outbreak of pinball before Liverpool hack clear.
10 min: Sarr gets the better of Mac Allsiter in the midfield, turning and powering into space. Mac Allister hauls him down and should really go into the book, but the referee’s keeping his powder dry for now.
9 min: Arne Slot is prowling his technical area in a slightly agitated manner. His supercool of last season gone for now. Five defeats in six will do that to a man.
7 min: Liverpool are dominating possession during these early exchanges. Ngumoha looks lively down the left. He cuts in from the left and shapes to shoot but can’t get an effort on goal. Kerkez picks up possession on the left and crosses deep for Morrison, who heads harmlessly wide right from six yards. The cross was a little bit too high for him to realistically get anything on target.
5 min: Hughes goes long down the middle. Woodman, making his first Liverpool appearance against the club he supported as a kid, races out of his box to blooter clear.
4 min: Ramsay exchanges passes with Endo down the right and wins the first corner of the game. Mac Allister swings it in, and it’s not very good. Benitez in the Palace goal claims.
3 min: Ngumoha dribbles in from the left and one-twos with Chiesa, before running into the clumsily-positioned referee. Liverpool and their supporters are a bit miffed about that, given things had otherwise opened up for them.
2 min: Hughes gets back up and prepares to continue. No hard feelings. We go again.
20 secs: Chiesa barges enthusiastically into Hughes, who stays down holding his head. Play stops almost as soon as it starts.
Palace get the ball rolling. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.
The teams are out at Anfield. Liverpool in red, Crystal Palace in third-choice white. Anticipation rumbles in the stands, albeit laced with a wee bit of anxiety, a by-product of recent results plus not knowing what this cobbled-together Liverpool side will do. Niall Mullen has half an idea, and it’s not wholly optimistic: “It looks like Liverpool are forfeiting. It’s a bold strategy, let’s see if it pays off for them.” We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Oliver Glasner by contrast cuts a more relaxed figure as he talks to Sky. “We always start in every single competition to win it … it is not to be arrogant, it makes no sense for me saying ‘OK we want to win three rounds and then lose in the quarter-final’ … playing here in an away game against the Premier League title-holders is maybe the most difficult game you can play … we will give it our best to qualify for the quarter-final and we will see.”
Arne Slot explains his team selection to Sky Sports by coming at the subject from a few different angles at the same time. “People who follow this club know we use this competition for younger players … we want to create a pathway for them … to play in front of 60,000 people … in front of our own fans … that’s one reason … the other is that we only have four or five injuries but if I have to play again the same players … there are multiple reasons why we have lost so many games … no excuses to lose so many but it hasn’t been helpful that almost every time we have only two days in between … and after we have had to play away … and then again an away game … so we keep playing the same players … like for example I tried with Alexander Isak, players who missed out on pre-season … it is a big risk of another injury … and we only have at this moment in time 15, 16 senior players available.”
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It’s fair to say Liverpool have filed an experimental teamsheet, with the vast bulk of the regulars given the night off. Milos Kerkez, desperate to play himself into some form, is the only player to retain his starting spot after the 3-2 defeat at Brentford last weekend. Third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman and 18-year-old Northern Ireland winger Kieran Morrison make their club debuts, while the starting XI also includes 17-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha and 18-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni. Nobody on their bench is over 21; Kaide Gordon is the most experienced sub with nine senior appearances on his resumé.
Crystal Palace by contrast retain six players from the team sent out for the 1-0 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday. Marc Guéhi, Maxence Lacroix, Daniel Muñoz, Ismaïla Sarr, Yéremy Pino and Daichi Kamada all hold onto their shirts. Sarr has five goals against Liverpool in eight appearances for Palace and Watford, while one of the players stepping into the team tonight, Eddie Nketiah, scored the winner when the teams met at Selhurst last month.
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The teams
Liverpool: Woodman, Ramsay, Gomez, Robertson, Kerkez, Endo, Nyoni, Mac Allister, Morrison, Ngumoha, Chiesa.
Subs: Pecsi, Gordon, Pilling, Kone-Doherty, Pinnington, Figueroa, Nallo, Lucky, Laffey.
Crystal Palace: Benitez, Canvot, Lacroix, Guehi, Munoz, Hughes, Kamada, Sosa, Sarr, Pino, Nketiah.
Subs: Henderson, Mitchell, Lerma, Uche, Mateta, Clyne, Esse, Devenny, Cardines.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
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Preamble
Liverpool have historically found Crystal Palace difficult opponents. Not exactly always – they’re 36-16 up on wins, and beat Palace 7-0 on their own turf five years ago – but when the Eagles perform a hit on the Reds, they really hit, and hit hard. The 1990 FA Cup semi-final. Crystanbul. This season’s Charity Community Shield. The game at Selhurst last month that triggered this astonishing collapse of Arne Slot’s champion side, Liverpool’s first loss in a sequence of five in six.
Now let’s fold another couple of sequences into the mix. Of the last eight meetings between the clubs, Palace have won three (we’re counting the Community Shield as a win), Liverpool just two. What’s even more worrying for the Reds are the recent results at Anfield: Palace have won one and drawn two of the last three. The Eagles have a strong upper hand over tonight’s hosts at the moment.
Having said all that, Palace are in a bit of a rut of their own. They’ve lost three of their last four matches in all competitions, failing to win domestically since that aforementioned capitulation-triggering visit of Liverpool to Selhurst. So here are a couple of teams who could do with a bolt of season-reviving energy. That alone should give us a fair chance of some top-grade fun tonight, though any long-term significance may depend on what teams Slot and Oliver Glasner decide to put out; they’re unlikely to be Premier League first XIs. But we’ll find out about that soon enough. Kick-off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
