EPL 2017/18: Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace, 5 talking points
After a shambolic 3-3 draw in their opening game of the season, Jürgen Klopp’s men were looking to get back to winning ways in a home fixture against Crystal Palace. The South Londoners were also looking to put behind them a poor opening weekend, as they were thrashed 3-0 at home by Huddersfield.
After a lacklustre first half, the game kicked into life in the second 45 minutes. Liverpool’s high octane football shone through and 27 minutes later, the Reds took the lead through Sadio Mane. Mane’s close range strike proved to be the deciding factor in the game, as it ended 1-0.
The 1-0 gives Liverpool their first win of the season and means Palace have now suffered back to back defeats under new boss, Frank de Boer.
Here are the 5 biggest talking points of the game.
#5 Andrew Robertson is better than Alberto Moreno
Last season, Jürgen Klopp played Joe Gomez, Alberto Moreno and most surprisingly James Milner at left-back. It was clear that the German didn’t know who his best left-back option was and instead stuck with the safe option of a defensive-minded James Milner. Such a deficiency could only be ignored for so long and Liverpool finally splashed £10m on Hull City’s left-back Andrew Robertson in the summer.
The Scotsman made his competitive Liverpool debut against Crystal Palace. Up against a tricky winger in Andros Townsend, Robertson put in a sturdy performance where he didn’t put a foot wrong going forward or in defence. Robertson was the only Liverpool player that found himself in pockets of space in the final third, he was the driving force for most of Liverpool’s attacks. The 23-year old completed 107 passes, made 2 tackles and managed 1 interception.