Crystal Palace v Liverpool Premier League 27/09/2025. Liverpool manager Arne Slot during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park, London, England on 27 September 2025. London Selhurst Park Greater London England Editorial use only DataCo restrictions apply See www.football-dataco.com , Copyright: xStephenxFlynnx PSI-22929-0158
Despite winning the English Premier League last season, Liverpool weren’t the best in every statistic. There were a few in which they ranked really low, and the Reds have been making changes to improve these aspects this season.
Arne Slot’s men faced Crystal Palace second time this season as Oliver Glasner was looking for another win over the champions.
Glasner had managed to one-up the Reds in the FA Community Shield in penalties as a team led by Liverpool target Marc Guehi managed to win their first silverware of the season.
After this encounter, the Merseysiders went on to win seven games in a row across all competitions. However, their second visit to London proved to be worrying as the game ended 2-1 with Glasner going home with three points.
An injury-time winner from former Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah proved to be fatal despite Federico Chiesa breathing hope into the Reds in the 87th minute.
Liverpool mistakes last season continue to limit the squad
The Reds were the fourth-worst team in the rankings of clubs by set-piece capitalisation. Despite Slot saying that they were better in the defensive aspects, the numbers don’t lie, as they didn’t do well in that department, either.
The weakness has only shown up now against Crystal Palace as the Eagles decided to capitalise on this handicap, while Liverpool work towards improving.
“It was one of our biggest strengths last season, but now we have conceded two against Newcastle and two here. But this league is more and more and more about set pieces”, Slot told BBC Sport.
Following the identification of their weaknesses, the Reds hired multiple personalities in the department to not fall behind in this rapidly growing aspect of football.
Quiz: Name the team Liverpool signed these players from in the 2010s
Arne Slot praises Crystal Palace
After the game, Slot praised Oliver Glasner’s side as their tactics worked well against the club. The Eagles focused on exploiting the Merseysiders’ weaknesses, and it worked as the Dutchman went home with zero points.
“It was a very difficult first half. They did really well and deserved to be 1-0 up; we were lucky it was only 1-0. Second half, it was the opposite. It took a while before we scored, and we did with a few minutes left.”
“But from a second set piece, they won the game. Their game style fits really well with their players, as they have a low block with fast players on the break and a big man in Mateta. We had a lot of problems in the first half. The rest of the time we had possession, but very hard to beat that low block.”
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