For once, there were goals at both ends of the field for Liverpool on Saturday afternoon as they beat Crystal Palace 4-3.
While Mohamed Salah (£13.5m) rewarded the nearly two million managers who captained him this week, the Reds were leakier than usual at the back.
How the popular Egyptian got on and why Liverpool’s usually steely home defence was breached so many times are the main focus of this latest Scout Notes article.
Liverpool 4-3 Crystal Palace
Goals: Mohamed Salah x2 (£13.5m), Roberto Firmino (£9.3m), Sadio Mané (£9.5m) | Andros Townsend (5.8m), James Tomkins (£4.3m), Max Meyer (£5.6m)
Assists: Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m), Naby Keita (£7.2m), James Milner (£5.6m), Andrew Robertson (£6.7m) | Wilfried Zaha (£6.7m), Luka Milivojevic (£6.1m), Connor Wickham (£4.9m)
At Anfield on Saturday, Salah reminded Fantasy managers that he does not necessarily require penalty kicks to get his goals. The Egyptian’s last three strikes prior to Gameweek 23 had come from the spot, but he was razor sharp in open play as a centre-forward once again against Crystal Palace, netting with both of his shots. The first was an instinctive finish after a blocked Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) effort from distance, the second a simple tap-in on the line after Julian Speroni (£3.9m) had forwarded James Milner‘s (£5.6m) cross to his path.
Even though Salah emerged with a 15-point haul, maximum bonus in hand once again, the performance itself probably wasn’t even one of his best, as three players had more efforts inside the penalty area than him. Furthermore, he created just once chance, five players on the Anfield pitch producing more than that. However, his consistent delivery of Fantasy points, this was his sixth double-figure haul in eight Gameweeks, means he will be a captain candidate once again for the next round of matches. After all, Salah has also now reached 50 Premier League goals, doing so in just 72 appearances ahead of a meeting with Leicester City, who shipped four goals to a supposedly goal-shy Wolves side in Gameweek 23.
“Exceptional – an exceptional achievement from a world-class player, that’s how it is. I think he made a few steps in the last couple of months in the right direction, so it’s really, really an outstanding number. I heard the names of the other players who did it a bit quicker: Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Andy Cole – yeah, good strikers as well! Maybe he would’ve scored more earlier if I wouldn’t have played him that often on the right wing, so [that’s] my fault! But no, it’s not bad and it helped us a lot and the boys know that. I think it’s a typical win-win situation: he benefits from the style of play with the other boys and the boys benefit, of course, with his scoring desire, so that’s cool.” – Jurgen Klopp
As Liverpool’s fixtures in Blank Gameweeks 31 and 33 have arrived on our radar, ensuring a triple-up on their assets by that point looks an advisable strategy. With Fantasy managers facing the decision of doubling either on defence or attack outside of Salah, it was the latter that made their case against Crystal Palace. Sadio Mané (£9.5m) had more penalty box shots than any other player on the pitch, was top for accurate efforts too and was rewarded for his work with a third league goal at Anfield in four appearances. Roberto Firmino (£9.3m) was not quite as busy as Mané but still managed to find his fourth goal in his last two home matches.
However, arguably the biggest talking point was the fact that Crystal Palace, typically a goal-shy side this season, managed to score three times at the Anfield fortress. In just 90 minutes, Liverpool’s goals conceded tally in 2018/19 home matches was doubled from three six. How the Eagles managed to do that will be a question asked by any Fantasy manager in possession of the Reds’ defensive assets. That’s a large group of people.
Roy Hodgson must take immense credit for the way he set up his Crystal Palace side, soaking up Liverpool’s attacking pressure to the extent that his side was able to counter-attack effectively. That style of play saw the Eagles go into half-time 1-0 up, the first time that any visiting side has led at Anfield at the break this season.
“This was a good performance, in many ways. It was a good performance in both halves. In the first half, our defensive organisation and discipline were excellent, we went in 1-0 thanks to a couple of good counter-attacks, one of which presented a goal.” – Roy Hodgson
The Eagles’ third and final goal was also the result of catching Liverpool on the break, while their second came from a well-constructed set piece.
“We had good moments and controlled it most of the time, but pretty much each ball we lost was immediately a counter-attack because Zaha had a really good game and gave us a lot of things to solve. Millie did outstandingly well because you really cannot defend him alone and we didn’t – besides the goal, of course, which he set up. Apart from that, we could defend him but there were a lot of set-pieces – especially the set-piece which they got for the 2-2.” – Jurgen Klopp
The most crucial reason for Crystal Palace’s joy in front of Liverpool’s goal may well have been personnel-related. Milner was filling in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.2m) at right-back, with Nathaniel Clyne (£4.4m) loaned to Bournemouth and Joe Gomez (£4.9m) still out. Furthermore, Joel Matip (£4.9m) was making his first league start since Gameweek 16 and may have been a bit rusty.
Those alterations to their hosts’ defence may have been the reason why Hodgson instructed his Palace players to attack primarily down their left, Liverpool’s right. Of the six chances they created from open play at Anfield, four of them were fashioned down the flank in question as Milner struggled to cope with Wilfried Zaha (£6.7m). That tactic saw Palace register just nearly double the average number of shots Liverpool have allowed in the box this season. Between Gameweeks 1 and 22 the Reds conceded 4.9 such efforts per game, while the Eagles recorded eight at Anfield on Saturday afternoon. Their three shots on target was a little above the 2.6 on average Liverpool had allowed per game up until that point too.
These defensive issues should not cause too much concern to owners of Liverpool defensive assets though. It seems unlikely that the Reds will be shipping three goals again any time soon, especially not at home. It’s now 10 days until their next Premier League match, which gives Alexander-Arnold time to get back to full fitness and could see Gomez reach a better stage too. If Milner was targetted as the weak link in Liverpool’s slightly unbalanced side, at the very least he will be suspended for Gameweek 24 as he was sent off for a second bookable offence against Crystal Palace. Matip may also be a bit more back up to speed by then following his largely injury-interrupted campaign.
“I don’t know (when Alexander-Arnold will be back). We have to look day-to-day, that’s what everybody tells me. (For) Leicester? I don’t know. Trent is a very quick healer so that gives us a little hope. That’s it. We have to see.” – Jurgen Klopp
Attacking returns for Andros Townsend (£5.8m) and Zaha proved their differential factor once again. The latter had more shots in the box than Salah and Hazard in the four matches prior to Gameweek 22, and only Raheem Sterling (£11.3m) touched the ball in that area of the field than him in that time too. If Zaha can turn his promising underlying data into attacking returns at Anfield, then he will fancy his chances against Southampton (away), Fulham (home) and West Ham (home) in the next three Gameweeks.
“(Zaha) is in good form at the moment, pleased to see that. But there were a lot of good performances today, it’s always the forwards, the man who can dribble and beat people that gets the headlines.” – Roy Hodgson
As expected, Speroni started in goal in light of recent injuries to Vicente Guaita (£4.2m) and Wayne Hennessey (£4.5m). If those two remain fitness doubts then the cheap shot-stopper should keep his place considering his experience and length of time at Crystal Palace. The fact that he was at fault for Salah’s second goal certainly won’t count against him, according to Hodgson.
“There aren’t many better club servants like Julian Speroni at any football club in the world – for him to make that type of mistake which of course was really unfortunate and put Liverpool undeservedly back in the lead, we have to consider ourselves hard done by in that respect.” – Roy Hodgson
Liverpool XI (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Robertson, van Dijk, Matip, Milner; Fabinho (Lallana 87′), Henderson; Keita (Shaqiri 71′), Firmino, Mané; Salah (Camacho 90+4′).
Crystal Palace XI (4-5-1): Speroni; van Aanholt, Sakho, Tomkins, Wan-Bissaka; Zaha, Kouyaté (Schlupp 75′), Milivojevic, McArthur (Meyer 81′), Townsend; Ayew (Wickham 81′).
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