Crystal Palace v Liverpool – Zonal Marking

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday evening. Both sides had to settle for a point. It was another disappointing result for Jürgen Klopp’s troops, whose hopes of the top four are moving further away. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at the performance of defence, midfield and attack.

Defence

If you had thought you’d seen enough blunders or balls given away cheeply by Liverpool’s defence, then you would have been proven wrong again. The Reds went full of hope to the tricky place called Selhurst Park but their get-up-and-go was lost with the very first whistle from Darren England.

There weren’t many positives to take from Liverpool’s defensive display. I’m still wondering how we managed to keep a clean sheet, given that we have created a few auspicious goal-scoring chances for the home side. On balance, I found the answer to my uncertainty.

It was Alisson Becker who was solid alongside Virgil van Dijk. The Brazilian shoot-stopper was decent with the ball at his feet and saw off the dangerous situations. However, he didn’t need to make any spectacular saves as Patrick Vieira’s side failed to register a shoot on target throughout the game.

Joel Matip replaced Joe Gomez at the heart of the defence. Jürgen Klopp told Sky Sports before the kick-off that Gomez had picked up an injury. That being said, it adds more misery to an already struggling team.

His Cameroonian replacement didn’t meet expectations either, and had a night to forget. Matip was nowhere near the required level. He made a few sloppy passes in the first half that could have been converted into goals.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson were deployed on their natural positions. The Englishman was poor defensively – made some big blunders in the first half but looked much better going forward. However, his presence higher up the pitch didn’t cause chaos in the opponent’s penalty area as it did in the past.

When Liverpool were handed a free kick, he took it and was very close to break the deadlock but Henderson inadvertently blocked it. Robertson, on the other hand, showed some glimpses of his former self and played with some urgency in the defence. While going forward, he made a number of disappointing and wide deliveries.

Overall, defence suffered from a lack of structure. They did manage to get the clean sheet though, and Alisson showed how reliable he is for Liverpool.

Score: 2

Midfield

The midfield won’t stop making headlines for the wrong reasons this season, will it? It was another horrendous show of Liverpool’s inability to control the proceedings in the middle of the park. On top of that, there was a a high number of individual errors committed.

Naby Keita started a Premier League game for the eighth time this season alongside Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson and James Milner, before the latter switched to right-back for the final part of the game replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Milner’s display was nothing to write home about either, but it’s fair to say he did what he was asked to. You can always rely on Mr. Reliable but cannot expect him to impact the game.

Both Henderson and Keita picked up yellow cards after a number of poorly timed challenges. The Guinea midfielders’s display was full of fouls and errors and one can wonder how the 28-year-old managed to persevere a full 45 minutes on the pitch.

He was on the verge of getting booked again by Darren England after another strings of reckless challenges. Klopp had to react quickly if he wished to play with all eleven players and took Keita off after the first-half whistle. His journey with Liverpool is coming to an end in a poor fashion as he looks like being completely bereft of quality and confidence.

Henderson had little impact on the game, he produced a number of sloppy passes and headed away a goalbound free-kick from Alexander-Arnold. Looking back at his statistics after the Palace game according to “Whoscored.com” he registered 87 percent of pass accuracy. It’s not the worst result but we must realise that the vast majority of them didn’t influence the game up front.

Score: 2

Attack

Liverpool were effective at creating goalscoring opportunities from both the flanks and counter attacks, but lacked the end product. Overall, The Reds have created 12 goal attempts, but only four of them were on target.

Cody Gakpo started as a No.9 in a front three consisting of Mohamed Salah on the right-hand side and Diogo Jota on the left-hand side. The Dutchman lacked the fundamentals of a centre-forward and wasn’t able to make a noticeable impact, but it’s fair to point out that he didn’t receive meaningful support from his teammates.

Salah had a powerful shot hit the bar and it was a as quiet and frustrating night for him as for supporters, who got used to see something spectacular from the Egyptian. In 25 Premier League games this season, Salah has just eight goals and five assists under his belt. Such a decline in numbers compared to previous campaigns may stem from the lack of help from his teammates.

Meanwhile, Diogo Jota was the closest to have broken the deadlock with a well-struck volley, only for Vicente Guaita to have denied it. Four minutes later he had another good opportunity to hit home but his header from the six-yard box wasn’t accurate enough and the ball glanced away off the left post.

Score: 3