« on: May 23, 2021, 03:03:56 pm »
For the third season in a row hell……sorry paulrazor gets to close the league season out, ok no final this time to look forward too, no trophy, but its not all bad.
10000 screaming kopites will be allowed into Anfield for the last game of a very testing season. Injuries, covid and loss of form really meant we had no hope of retaining the championship, Liverpool’s combined home attendance would probably not even fill the main stand let alone Anfield this season.
Injury wise I could write another few pages but across all competitions this year the first three centre backs we had at the beginning of the season (Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez) have played 32 times between them.
But even still if Liverpool do end the day in the top 4, as disappointing as that may have been when we kicked off the season in September, it can be considered an achievement in light of everything thrown our way. Following defeat at Leicester earlier in the season, had other teams around us won their games in hand, Liverpool would not even have been in the top half of the table.
There are valid reasons for it, some VAR calls have been well dodgy, covid effecting players, injuries, but to be fair we did lose our way, the 6 straight home defeats weren’t all bad luck, in all honesty we deserved to lose at least 5 of them.
But yet here we are fighting on, the fixture against Crystal Palace is not as easy as some would have you believe. It has been a strange fixture for me down the years. I remember writing the preview for a game in 2016 when I described just how odd our record is against them and how it goes from one extreme to the other. Indeed that match in particular was dire, Liverpool were trailing 1-0 and were unbelievably on the verge of losing to crystal palace for the 4th time in a row in the league. Strangely the performance kicked up a gear when Liverpool had James Milner sent off and they went on to win the match 2-1 with the winner scored by current Palace striker Christian Benteke, a player who scored almost as many goals against us as he did for us, in his one year at the club.
In that preview I alluded to the 1989-90, for a juxtaposition of results look no further than here, in September of that year Liverpool destroyed Crystal Palace 9-0 en route to our 18th league championship. You would think Palace would have shit the bed against us anytime they played us after that but unbelievably 7 months later Palace were to deny Liverpool a league and FA cup double with a sensational victory against us in the FA Cup semi final at Villa Park, the 4-3 thriller astounded everyone.
It wouldn’t be the last time, in one of the best performances under Graeme Souness when he managed Liverpool, November 1992 saw Liverpool batter Palace 5-0 at Anfield, it could easily have been 10, yet just days later Liverpool were blessed to earn a replay when a draw at the same venue in a league cup tie lead to another match at Selhurst Park a short time after where Palace beat us 2-1. Who would have saw that one coming just a few weeks earlier?
Just before Christmas Liverpool dished out an absolute hiding to Palace when they left Selhurst Park with 3 points following a stunning 7-0 win, but don’t think for one second that because we have home advantage now it should be straight forward, nothing has been this season. Indeed, following the 7 goal mauling that day, we managed only 7 goals in our next 7 matches.
Among the palace line up too is Christian Benteke, a one time Liverpool striker Benteke wasn’t the worst player by any stretch to play for this club but his time here could only be viewed as a disappointment. Benteke joined Palace after just one season with Liverpool recouping the 32m fee they shelled out, Benteke’s form has been very hit and miss, 17 goals in his first season wasn’t a bad achievement by any stretch but since the beginning of the 2017-8 season he has only managed 16 altogether. However, 4 goals in his last 4 games shows he is in form.
Benteke has been a thorn in Liverpool’s side down the years though with several goals against us during his time here and with Aston Villa, indeed in April 2017, Benteke scored twice in a 2-1 for Palace at Anfield in what was Liverpool’s last home defeat for almost 4 years. This won’t be easy! I think it’s a rather pointless stat to hang on to in terms of using it as an achievement but this remains Liverpool’s last league defeat at Anfield in front of a crowd.
The only reason I am pointing this out is this is the first time in months that supporters have been let into Anfield to cheer us on, we have missed them, again I wont use that as an excuse this year but definitely in a couple of games they would have made a difference. I previewed the Wolves game earlier in the season when fans were allowed in for the first time all season and I did hope it wouldn’t be a step forward followed by three back, unfortunately it was but now those steps have been regained and once more there is light at the end of the tunnel.
What a boost it is to even just have 10000 fans, hopefully next season a lot more, I wont use it as an excuse this season but it will make a difference.
We also hope we can play champions league football in front of them again, following Chelsea’s win over Leicester on Tuesday, Liverpool swatted Burnley aside on Wednesday to take over 4th place on goal difference, our 4 goal advantage there is unlikely to be threatened. Whilst we hope to down Palace, Leicester host Spurs while Chelsea travel to Aston Villa so none of them are guaranteed wins, we aren’t ourselves but at least we now have our destiny in our own hands.
Injury news Liverpool are of course without long term injury victims, Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. Ozan Kabak wont feature and we don’t know if we will see him again in reds shirt although I certainly hope we do. Recently though the likes of Curtis Jones, James Milner, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Divock Origi have returned to the squad following knocks.
Palace themselves have struggled with injury, Eberechi Eze will sadly be out for quite some time with an achilles injury, former Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho remains absent, James McArthur and Luka Milivojevic are doubts too.
So amid what has been a difficult season, here is hoping we can rebound and qualify for the champions league by finishing the top 4, strengthen in the summer and move on. It would certainly be fantastic momentum to take into next season.
Lastly, whilst his time here was not successful I think it is only fair to wish Palace manager and former reds manager Roy Hodgson all the best as he stands down, it didn’t work out at Anfield but it is in the past, here is to a long, healthy and happy retirement. Just don’t fuck us over on Sunday.
Referee: Andre Marriner. Assistants: Richard West, Scott Ledger. Fourth official: Tony Harrington. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Eddie Smart.
Odds: Liverpool 1/7, Draw 13/2, Palace 17/1
« Last Edit: May 23, 2021, 05:34:43 pm by TepidT2O »
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