Liverpool’s unbelievable profitable run of type got here to a worrying halt by the hands of Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.
Amazingly, this is not the one time this season the Eagles have unnerved Arne Slot’s title-defending Reds, with final marketing campaign’s Premier League winners additionally coming unstuck in opposition to Glasner and Co in a dramatic Neighborhood Protect closing again in August.
Not much more late heroics might information the Merseyside outfit to a consequence on the highway, as Federico Chiesa’s 87th-minute equaliser was made redundant by Eddie Nketiah’s heartbreaking winner proper on the demise.
This will probably be a bitter tablet Liverpool aren’t used to swallowing, however Slot will hope his table-topping facet can bounce from this setback at Selhurst Park with assured shows shifting ahead.
Nevertheless, lots extra is required from Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah shifting ahead to stay within the Dutchman’s good books.
Wirtz & Salah’s worrying performances in numbers
At the least Salah has some vital credit score within the financial institution, contemplating his insane tally of 29 targets and 18 assists final season within the Premier League alone noticed Slot’s males romp house to the title.
Alternatively, Wirtz has little or no wiggle room relating to the rampant criticism heading his path, with the whopping £116m buy nonetheless but to select up a objective or help for the Reds from seven aggressive outings, away from his Neighborhood Protect closing help.
Journalist Mark Odgen has brazenly commented on Wirtz “struggling to make an affect” since swapping the BayArena for Anfield, with one huge probability missed at Selhurst Park not serving to his dented repute one bit.
Salah missed two huge possibilities of his personal in East London, too, with the out-of-sorts Egyptian now and not using a objective from open play within the Premier League this season for the reason that opening day 4-2 conquer AFC Bournemouth.
But, within the case of the skilful quantity 11, you would not financial institution in opposition to him getting again to his finest very quickly, even after such a sluggish begin to this marketing campaign. On prime of that, Wirtz would possibly simply want time to settle earlier than proving to everybody why he price such an astronomical price.
Maybe extra worryingly, away from the unsatisfactory duo, there’s additionally one other underperformer who has fallen means beneath his standard requirements, a lot in order that he’ll now be frightened of being axed from Slot’s first crew image.
Liverpool’s 3/10 star could possibly be dropped
Liverpool had been dancing on a tightrope heading into the Palace loss, having wanted a staggering quantity of last-minute targets to then encourage late wins.
Off the again of a defeat now lastly occurring, Slot could possibly be tempted to shake up his beginning lineup for some difficult contests to observe within the Premier League and past, with Alexis Mac Allister one face who might drop out of his plans consequently.
On prime type, Mac Allister is a shoo-in for the beginning XI week in week out, together with his 5 targets and 5 assists final season in league motion very a lot serving to Liverpool clinch a primary Premier League triumph below Slot.
His constant excellence for the Reds has even seen ex-Chelsea star turned pundit Joe Cole label the South American as a “famous person”.
Nonetheless, as has been clear with Salah, even Liverpool’s brightest sparks are inclined to rusty shows, with Mac Allister means off his vibrant and energetic peak at Selhurst Park.
Mac Allister vs Palace | |
|---|---|
Stat | Mac Allister |
Minutes performed | 64 |
Objectives scored | 0 |
Assists | 0 |
Touches | 48 |
Photographs | 1 |
Correct passes | 37/42 (88%) |
Profitable dribbles | 0 |
Interceptions | 0 |
Tackles | 0 |
Complete duels received | 3/5 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
Certainly, when wanting on the desk above, it is clear that Mac Allister struggled to match the depth of Palace livewire Adam Wharton, with the Palace quantity 20 a standout performer from the center of the park for Glasner’s males.
Quite the opposite, his Argentine counterpart failed to finish a single profitable dribble, did not register a single interception, and didn’t hit a single on-target effort on the Palace objective.
This stark drop-off in type – which has seen Mac Allister win simply 9 of his 21 floor duels within the league up to now – has even seen one Reds-based content material creator state that the ex-Brighton and Hove Albion man appears a “shadow of himself”, with Liverpool World’s Will Rooney additionally not holding again when allotting a low 3/10 post-match score to the sub-par quantity ten.
For context, that very same post-game score was handed to central defender Ibrahima Konate who was slightly run ragged in London on Saturday afternoon.
Slot must severely contemplate what number of first-team minutes Mac Allister will get shifting ahead – with Champions League motion additionally about to congest the Reds’ fixture checklist – with a while out of the beginning XI maybe doing him the world of fine in the long term.
