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Liverpool made sure to stay atop the Premier League on Christmas Day for the third year in a row with their most ruthless performance of the season by beating Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park, their biggest away win in the highest category.
In many ways, to be at the top of the holiday chart this year is an even greater feat than the previous two seasons. Jurgen Klopp’s team has kept their head in a season in which they have been greatly loved. Their outstanding victory at Selhurst Park against an ever-improving Crystal Palace team was tied at half-time thanks to three wonderfully worked goals, and in the second half they were simply magnificent. The goals were set for a reel of all season highlights.
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Mohamed Salah watched from the stands as his teammates stormed the Palace. He has also increased distractions off the field this week, but finished with two goals for assist. Klopp has also caused José Mourinho to fade, the attention of more individual awards turned to Anfield, and then there was the backdrop of Liverpool’s poor road record – just a seven-win win before Saturday’s game. But how far these distractions are now.
Each of Liverpool’s seven goals was supremely crafted in their own right, and each is a reminder to the rest of the league why the champions are setting the pace again. But don’t expect Klopp to get carried away. “The season is not over, unfortunately,” he said after the game, before adding: “I am not satisfied, I am happy at the moment. I am still not happy.”
Watching Liverpool on this chilly December afternoon was a rare reminder of soccer normalcy in this hectic and difficult year. They were absolutely ruthless and played beautifully, just like they did last season when they broke into the league title. The game ended at halftime on a day in which everything went well for the champions.
Takumi Minamino scored his first Premier League goal after a couple of minutes, while Sadio Mane’s sweet spin and half volley opened the second, ending a nine-game drought for the Senegalese international. Roberto Firmino started and finished a beautiful and sweeping counterattack for the third before the break. Jordan Henderson scored his fourth goal, heading home from the edge of the area, while Salah pushed Firmino for a fifth. Salah’s instinctive goal from a Joel Matip header brought in sixth and then scored a beautiful second and Liverpool’s seventh. Liverpool was on another level of the Palace.
“Everything was good: first-rate football, excellent shots, keeping the ball in the right shape, using positioning, filling out every life plan,” Klopp said. “The boys did very well. They all wore their finishing boots today.”
This performance was a focused masterclass. Only 62 hours separated this game from Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, the top rival in the table. Once again, that was a case of blinking at the end, with Firmino’s header in the 90th minute securing the points. After that match, Mourinho did his best to irritate Klopp with his post-match comments, but the Liverpool manager did not bite. Then headlines came before Salah’s game on Saturday, speaking of his disappointment at not being Liverpool captain against FC Midtjylland and giving a wonderfully ambiguous answer about his long-term future at the club.
“I have nothing to say about it,” Klopp said. “All very well.” Salah was officially part of Klopp’s team rotation, but he still managed 35 minutes from the bench with the game already safe and answered any questions about his level of concentration with his assist and goals. “It’s the first time in a while that we have the opportunity to do something like this,” Klopp said of Salah. “We needed fresh legs today. Mo played the last four games, just seven minutes [off] since the last four games, it’s an enormously intense period. “
And then there are the absent and the young on the bench. Minor teams could have seen their plans in disarray from the various injuries suffered this season. Liverpool’s central defense has been a constant headache for Klopp this season with Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out for the long haul, but Joel Matip and Fabinho kept Palace’s attackers at bay, despite a couple of tense moments. in the first half where Palace was unable to seize opportunities, and the performances of Naby Keita and Minamino would have impressed him. This was the sixth start of Keita’s campaign in the league and he was the press officer, constantly harassing Palace’s defense to look back rather than forward, much to the ire of Palace’s assistant manager Ray Lewington. , who is your speaker in the field, with his barked orders diminishing as the goals increased. Minamino was excellent on the left side of Liverpool’s attacking trio. He once again spent time without pressing the ball, but was integral to his bonding game, bringing in players like Mane and Firmino.
Firmino went a month without scoring earlier in the season, but held a masterclass against Palace, finishing with a double along with an assist. It must be a nightmare to play against, so difficult to grasp as he falls deep, hovers, and then lunges to create a scoring opportunity. Palace’s defenders simply couldn’t get close to him.
But without the fans in the stadium, with London effectively back on lockdown, you get a real idea of how important communication is on Henderson’s field. It is Klopp incarnated on the field. He constantly talks, orders, advises, cajoles, motivates and praises. It started from the very first moments where he was telling Keita when to get tight or to quit. Then it was the two full-backs, telling Trent Alexander-Arnold to focus, chase or walk away, and then the same on the flank with Andrew Robertson. Klopp uses it as a conduit for his messages and creates this organic system where everything seems to flow. But he is his own harshest critic. Even after this 7-0 beating, he said elements of the performance were “sloppy.” If I were a surfer, I would be perennially chasing that perfect wave.
There was also the added bonus that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got the final 15 minutes in what was his first appearance since his knee injury in July, and he will be a great option for Klopp in this busy period. “If you want to get to anything in this league, you have to be consistent,” Klopp said. “And to be consistent, you need options.”
Klopp has seemed irritable at times this season, frustrated by the bad luck of the team’s injuries and quietly enraged by bureaucracy in this part of the world. But in those hallways at Anfield or on his training ground in Kirkby, he’s made sure his focus remains steadfast. And on this December afternoon, everything fell into place and Palace was the unfortunate recipients, including poor Gary Cahill on his birthday. Those early season clouds, where we doubt if Liverpool would be ready to defend their crown, seem like an eternity ago. Klopp has kept his team on the right track, and that’s because Liverpool blocked the noise.
