Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were beaten at home by Crystal Palace (Picture: Sky Sports)
Jurgen Klopp bemoaned his side’s wastefulness in front of goal after Liverpool suffered a shock defeat to Crystal Palace and lost ground on Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal.
Liverpool dominated Palace for large periods but could not respond to Eberechi Eze’s 14th-minute opener, suffering just their third league defeat of the season.
Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah all came close for the hosts but a costly and surprising Anfield defeat leaves Klopp’s side third in the table, level on points with Arsenal and two behind Man City.
Arsenal have the chance to go three points above Liverpool and two above Manchester City when they face Unai Emery’s Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
Klopp said: ‘The stats in the first half won’t be as great as the stats in the second half. I think that was pretty obvious we didn’t play a good first half.
‘We wanted a reaction and we saw a reaction. It wasn’t a fully convinced team on the pitch. It’s a really difficult one. We weren’t great.
‘Crystal Palace had far too many football moments where we ran in the wrong direction. In more than 20 years when you watch my teams, the press and counter press is pretty good, some days it is outstanding.
Liverpool are faltering at the business end of the season (Picture: Getty)
‘In the first half, it was nothing and then we were 1-0 down. Second half, we tried to change the formation and dynamic that wasn’t tricky for Crystal Palace.
‘You could stand here on another day and see the same balls go in and we’re talking about a 4-1 win, but football doesn’t work like that.’
Asked if the performance was a hangover from the Atalanta defeat, Klopp added: ‘I really don’t know, I couldn’t say that.
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‘I would say with the chances we had, we were really unlucky. In the second half, Crystal Palace were lucky we didn’t punish them but that’s why we are stood here with no points and Crystal Palace have three.’
Liverpool had 21 goals on goal to Palace’s eight but Eze’s early opener condemned the Reds to a rare Anfield defeat.
Crystal Palace have run the risk of being dragged into a relegation battle at various points of the season but a stunning 1-0 win over Klopp’s side leaves them 14th, eight points above the relegation zone.
Liverpool, hoping to lift the Premier League trophy in Klopp’s final season at Anfield, also dropped points in the title race last weekend when they drew 2-2 to Manchester United.
They are faltering at the business end of the season having also tasted defeat at Anfield on Thursday night in a shock 3-0 Europa League loss to Atalanta.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner, who was appointed as Roy Hodgson’s replacement in February, said: ‘It’s an outstanding win at Anfield, it’s so difficult to win here.
‘How they played, especially in the first half, is so nice to see. In the second half, there was a lot of pressure from Liverpool. Congratulations to the team on this performance today.’
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