August 21 2017

The new stand at Anfield, a very impressive stadium

For their second game of the season, the Eagles travelled up to Liverpool. Jamesey watched the 1-0 defeat on his London screen while Wilf King went to Anfield for the real thing.

After the, well let’s be honest, "shambles" of the opening fixture at home to Huddersfield one would have had to be an optimist of almost unimaginable proportions to expect a straight fourth victory for Palace at Anfield, writes Jamesey.

New manager Frank de Boer still stuck to his back three formation but this Eagles outfit reflected a definite “Allardyce” style - defence in depth and quick counter-attacks.

This worked quite well for most of the match although it plays havoc with the nerves of this supporter.

After his customary shaky start, keeper Wayne Hennessey played one of his best games yet and made some spectacular saves to keep the Scousers at 0-0 for most of the game.

Of course, the problem with defence/counter-attack strategies is that it only needs one slip-up for all the good work to be undone.

Almost inevitably this came late, in the 73rd minute, when a Luka Milivojevic mistake permitted Sadio Mane to poach the only goal of the game.

That being said, earlier on a lovely piece of skill from Ruben Loftus-Cheek set up Christian Benteke for what should have been a certain goal.

Sadly, for a highly paid and highly rated striker, he fluffed the chance which could have altered the course of the game.

Liverpool were streets ahead of the Eagles in terms of possession and shots on and off target, but that was no big surprise.

The result leaves Palace with no points and no goals. But overall, the performance was much more promising and it’s a long, long road ahead until next May.

Life without Wilfried Zaha

When I produce these reports there is always an opportunity to change the title, writes Wilf King.

It is even more relevant for Liverpool v Palace as I have just reviewed the highlights (!) on Match Of The Day. It could have been “What a miss’”or “The boys done better”.

Enough of that. After the Huddersfield debacle I was confident FdB would have our boys playing better and so it was. Palace were good in the first half; still playing the new 3-4-3 system but with Patrick van Aanholt and Joel Ward dropping back to a 5-3-2 formation. It was working.

I have to say here that Wayne had a superb game and, at times, kept Liverpool at bay single-handedly. So moving on to the 41st minute – he made a good save from Mane and the Eagles raced towards the Kop and Mignolet saved from Jason Puncheon.

0-0 at half-time.

After our first-half display Palace fans in the Anfield Road Lower were confident we could “nick it” with a Benteke goal. On again to the 57th minute – superb work by Loftus-Cheek sets up Benteke – this is it - “What a miss”. This is how matches are won or lost.

Subsequently Liverpool piled on the pressure and our formation collapsed. Palace had hardly made a mistake but on 73 minutes Luka missed a challenge and Mane had a simple tap-in.

This match proved that in the Premier League teams have to take whatever chances they get and if they make one mistake it’s game over.

On the bright side, Palace were hugely improved but we need someone to feed off Christian; he was isolated up front and when he won the long ball headers there was no-one to pass it to. (come on Mr Parish, there are only 10 days left).

The Palace chants were amusing as usual and I still smile when we sing “Gerrard/Dembe Ba” and “Is this your year?”

I always enjoy going to Anfield and this time I joined my Scouser mate in the Anfield Café (recommended) for brunch. On to the Sandon pub where I was the only person dressed in the red and blue.

So reflections – our boys did their best, are adapting to FdB’s methods but we miss Wilf’s pace and guile.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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