Post match: Liverpool v Crystal Palace (EPL 18/9/21 3pm)

The Albert Match Days
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Three goals, clean sheet. First half opening and closing we had some sloppy moments, but in between most of the opening half we dominated. And same as previous games, we should have been out of sight - Jota blazing over was the real shocker.

Second half was tough, but we stood up physically against them. Around 70 mins, Palace had their best spell. They had introduced a couple of strong physical players, and we had to bring on Keita for Thiago which upset the midfield play.

Speaking of Keita, glad he got his goal. Excellently taken, and a celebration a bit like that Cantona one from years back.

Klopp outdoing Pep in this game by rotating over half the team. It paid off today. Nice full game by Konate. He made some mistakes, but has the pace to recover.

Now to the midweek Norwich EFL Cup game. We should ring the changes, with the squad players making starts.

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Made up with that. Three goals. Clean sheet. Fullbacks get a breather. Konate makes a start. Sadio and Mo firing. Keita worldie.

There’s an awful lot to like about the way we are building up some momentum so far this season. Klopp is making sure everyone is seeing some action, and the level remains high enough to keep winning. Lovely stuff.

Final shout out to Palace, as it takes two to make a game. Smaller teams often want to try to spoil and nick something. They can play, and I expect them to be mid table.

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Big shout out to @Quicksand for another winning pre-match thread :+1:

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No U.S. Peacock. Not sure who the commentators were.

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Our Forwards was extremely lively with Salah and Mane on the scoresheet. Jota had a bit of a shocker when he missed from 2 yards out. Konate kept a clean sheet on his debut but he would need to learn from Matip and Virgil on the art of defending calmly. Milner kept Zaha relatively quiet. Hendo is in a great form, we need to keep him fresh.

Our subs were extremely spot on today! Keita and Jones coming on to rejuvenate our tiring midfield which pushed us over the line comfortably. Keita was quite impressive with a left-footed volley that flew past Guaita, possibly the goal of the week.

The only negative is a Thiago injury. Let’s hope it is just a light strain and nothing else.

Up next, we have Norwich in the Carabao Cup. Let’s give the team another rotation and give Jones, Keita, Konate, Tsimikas, Milner,Origi,Minamino and AOC a bit more minutes and rest Salah and Mane. TAA should be alright for a 45 minutes cameo!

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Disagree that the scoreline flattered Liverpool. If anything, it did reflected the number of chances created.

Palace played well and came close with Allison saving; that’s why you get a top GK…

Not buying the narrative that’s sure to follow…

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End of the day that’s why we got rid of Mignolet and Karius and bought Alisson.

Good poaching efforts by Mane and Salah and a wonderful goal by Keita. End of the day it’s 3 points and job done.

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Got to be severe diarrhea, nobody wants to do a Lineker.

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Agreed. It’s one of my favourite places to eat. My wife and I thought about having our wedding reception there.

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I said in the match thread - not sure what Thiago is bringing. Not incisive passing, just shifting it on. Then a really liability in the tackle.

I am giving him time but he does not dictate or add a huge amount right now. In fact lessens our defensive pattern.

just my view. happy to watch him rip it up later.

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Can’t agree. Was my first time seeing him live today, thought he was very good. A lot of clever passing in the midfield which opened up Palace. He used the ball in those deeper areas much better than Fabinho today for example.

2 or 3 dreadful tackles but I saw his quality on the ball clearly.

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Fair play. I was not there.

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Kind of difficult to pick a single MotM but given the last minute makeshift nature of the defence today I’m plumping for Milner and Alisson. Milner did a job with no time to train with the others and Alisson held it all together.

In fact it’s worth looking at Alisson’s league performance so far. 5 games played and the only goal conceded was Chelsea’s fluke header.

All the goals were quality today although we make life hard for ourselves. A few sitters blown and then Mané scores from a silly angle. Keïta’s thunderbolt appeared to take him by surprise. Overall, though, it’s Salah’s workrate that keeps our attack functioning. I can even forgive him for the silly shirtless yellow card.

Anyway, top of the league at the moment. It’s for the other teams to sweat it out.

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Good win against a good team. Palace are not the same team from Hodgson’s era. They signed good players and try to play football. Guehi, Andersen, Mitchell, Gallagher /on loan from Chelsea/, Edouard, Olise - all of them young and with a pretty good potential.

We scored 3 very similar goals - 3 corners and 3 times we won the second ball and scored.

Defence was a little bit shaky for my liking, but that was expected - Tsimikas, Konate and Millie playing for the first time together. Still they did well.

Especially our greek defender who will give Robbo a breathing space this season and a little bit of competition will only do good for our Scotich warrior.

Konate looks like a beast, phisycally he will be fine, but he needs to improve his understending with his defensive partners /Millie and VvdD today/, but it will come with more and more matches.

In midfield Fabinho needs a rest and we have already lost two important midfielders in the middle of September - Elliott is out for months and looking at Tiago I doubt that he will be back in a week or two.
One more injury in midfield /especially if it is Hendo or Fab/ and we will be in a big trouble.

In attack - Jota had a poor game, especially with what he showed last season. Salah looks like the best player in the league at the moment - we need him fit and he will deliver.
Mane improved after last week’s horror misses vs. Leeds. He scored a very important goal, he looked good and there is a very good understanding between him and our Greek full back.

Alisson was fantastic today. Saved us just when we needed that. And Keita scored a world class goal. Hopefully it will give him more confidence, because he will be needed, especially with injuries starting to mount in midfield.

Hopefully Klopp will play a mix of our 2nd and 3rd team for the League cup. Something like that:

Kelleher - Gomez - Konate - Phillips - Tsimikas - Jones - Keita - AOC - Minamino - Origi - Gordon.

Alisson, VvD, Fabinho, Hendo, Salah and Mane must be rested for this match.

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Enjoy ladies and gents

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Thanks for these saves me having to watch motd. :grinning:

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missed the game and 2am start… chose sleep. how did konate look

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big

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Stop pot-noodling @PeachesEnRegalia…

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