Liverpool Continue To Bow To The Minnows With Loss To Palace

Liverpool came into their game against Crystal Palace in a good place, but not a great one.  The Reds were set in the top four, but not separating themselves from the pack and not in fantastic form.

The Reds gained points in their last three games, but it was only a draw and two close wins.  Considering the results came against Bournemouth, Stoke and West Brom, it was not an encouraging sign to be playing against another team in the bottom half.

Liverpool struggled to create against Palace early.  In the 16th minute, there was way too much passing when the Reds had a break.  You'd like to see Coutinho or Milner strike it first time, but instead they looked elsewhere for finishers and no shot ever came.

Former Liverpool man Christian Benteke narrowly missed to the right in the 22nd minute.  Unfortunately, you could somewhat tell he was not likely to be held off the board the entire time.

Fortunately for Liverpool, they struck first.  Coutinho returned to form on a beautiful free kick goal in the 24th minute.  He placed it absolutely perfectly, up and over the wall and just inside the post, giving the goalkeeper no chance.  It was important not only for the game, but for the Brazilian who has been a bit of a ghost of late.

Liverpool continued their attempts to be too cute after that though.  In the 31st minute, Firmino had a good chance to set something up but he wasted it by just playing it into the crowd.

Those missed chances would be rued later.  A sleeping defense allowed a ball over the top in the 42nd minute.  You could see the goal coming a mile away as the cross went to the back post and Benteke finished it off with class.  It was a fine play all around, but it could have been avoided much earlier and the Reds just seem to find ways to give up goals to teams that have no business scoring them.

Liverpool still had everything to play for in the second half, but you felt it was a missed opportunity.  The equalizing goal was going to allow Palace to sit back and play for a point instead of having to open up to get a second half goal.

Surprisingly, the Eagles opened up on the front foot pushing toward goal in the early moments of the second 45.  Fortunately, nothing came of it outside of a corner kick that was easily cleared.

Those early moments seemed to wake Liverpool a bit.  They pushed forward into the sea of yellow and began to find space.  The magical feet of Coutinho almost created something special in the 50th minute, but his left footed shot was shoveled over the bar.  The main man took on what seemed like the whole of Palace just moments later inside the 18, but there were just too many bodies to lead the block.

The subsequent play seemed like it would fall Liverpool's way too.  However, Lucas was the man on the strike from the corner.  He is a fine defender and passer, but it seems like too many important moments fall to his feet.  There is a reason he has not scored in the Premier League in eight seasons and he continued to show why.

Again, the missed chances came back to haunt the Reds.  Palace kept building up their own attack and you could sense something was coming again.

Then, they finally struck in the 75th minute.  Of course, it would be Benteke a second time.  Liverpool's defending of the corner was woeful, missing a clearing attempt and the Belgian headed it home with power.

Coutinho had a decent chance late that went well over the bar, but it just was not going to be Liverpool's day.  As a fan, it was very disappointing to see.

Unfortunately, it begs whether the problem might actually be Jurgen Klopp.  Never one to blame managers for everything, but this is becoming too much of an issue that the team cannot crush lower opposition.

Nobody should be calling for the German's job.  He is still the best choice for the spot, but he has to figure this out because it is unbecoming of a team with Champions League aspirations.

Random Thoughts:
- Thank goodness for the St. Louis Blues.  It was a bad soccer weekend.  Saint Louis FC lost to a lower team 2-1 as well and it was the same story.  Score an early goal and then have some defensive miscues cost you all the points.  Perhaps it is me?  Nah...

- I love Sadio Mane for his energy and tenacity.  He just does not seem to be the kind of player that makes that big a difference.  This team does not seem to be set up to be a one man show, but the Reds don't seem to be able to do anything when he is gone.

- It's still too early to think about the summer, but can we ever have a year where we aren't demanding more impact players be brought in?  When will Liverpool reach a point where you bring in supplemental players or that's all you need anyway?  Seems like either injury or underperformance always make us want a big name and then they never sign one.

Walk On