Digging Deeper Into Liverpool’s Victory Over Crystal Palace

You’ve read this recap before. Liverpool wins 2-1 while not playing very well. Sure, some of the breaks go their way, but there’s also a lot of fight from the Reds to get the game over the line. I’m running out of things to say to describe this team. To say they’re incredible feels like an injustice. If we’re being honest, we don’t really care how the wins happen, as long as they keep happening. If Liverpool are going to win the title in May, it doesn’t matter how they beat Crystal Palace in November. Now, it matters in terms of my health, but everyone needs to make sacrifices for the greater good. If things continue at this pace I might end up balder than Pep Guardiola. So it goes. It’s a long season and I guess I have to get used to being stressed out on Saturday mornings for the foreseeable future.

Winners & Losers

Winners

2-1 wins

That’s six 2-1 wins so far this season. As I said above, it really doesn’t matter how Liverpool wins as long as they do win. It’s probably going to kill us all, but hey, that’s the deal we made, isn’t it? We can choose to focus on one of two things. The team is not playing very well, but they are still winning games. We can focus on the “not playing very well” part of that sentence or we can focus on the “still winning games” part of that sentence. I’m not here to tell you what to do, but I’m going to stick my fingers in my ears and focus on the “still winning games” part. Things will come around and they’ll start battering teams. I hope.

Virgil van Dijk

It wasn’t the best defensive performance from Liverpool’s back line. Well, except for van Dijk. I think we have gotten used to having the best defender in the world play every week for us. Where would we be without him?

Sadio Mane

Is there any doubt that Sadio is our best player right now? It seems like every single important goal is scored by him. He is the heartbeat of our team. We are going where ever Sadio Mane takes us.

Losers

Wilfred Zaha

Three gifted chances. Two hilarious misses. One easy goal. And a partridge in a pear tree.

The fullbacks

So, I couldn’t finish this recap without talking about the fullbacks. I don’t really think it’s fair to put them in the ‘Losers’ section, but I needed to write about them somewhere. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson weren’t at their best today, but they still had six key passes between the two of them. Robertson gets an assist too on Mane’s goal. It’s a weird game that we watched. Robertson has been directly involved in 6 goals this season.

Roy Hodgson

Old Roy. There’s not very many managers I enjoy watching lose more than Hodgson. It’s even better when it’s Liverpool beating him. Four straight losses for Palace against Liverpool under the stewardship of good old Roy. Long may it continue.

What Happens Next?

So, Liverpool can all but clinch a spot in the Champions League knockout rounds with a win over Napoli in the week. Then they face lowly Brighton on Saturday before their bonkers December schedule kicks into high gear.

Up the relentless 2-1 victory Reds.