Arne Slot Points Finger After Liverpool’s Late Collapse Against Crystal Palace

Liverpool’s surge of momentum hit the brakes at Selhurst Park on Saturday, and manager Arne Slot was in no mood to sugar-coat the defeat.

Eddie Nketiah’s stoppage-time strike sealed a 2-1 win for Crystal Palace, ending the Reds’ five straight victories and keeping Oliver Glasner’s side as the only unbeaten team in the Premier League.

Slot, clearly irritated by the way his team conceded in the dying moments, suggested one of his defenders had abandoned his post at the worst possible time.

“We can only blame ourselves. Defending the way we did,” Slot said. “One of our players decided to run out because he wanted to play a counter-attack, which was useless because time was up.”

The Dutchman stopped short of naming names, but his words seemed directed at Jeremie Frimpong. The full-back had pushed forward, anticipating a loose ball, and in doing so left Nketiah unmarked to punish Liverpool’s lapse.

“It was only about defending,” Slot added. “Maybe we were too offensively minded. One player was too offensively minded in that moment, which led to them scoring the winner and us losing the game.”

Liverpool had looked set to escape with a point after Federico Chiesa pulled them level with just three minutes left on the clock. But Slot admitted his side had been second best for large spells of the contest.

“There was only one team that deserved to win and that was Palace. They had more than only two set-piece goals. They didn’t score more, but they had chances from open play, from transition. So there were more things not to like than only defending the set-pieces,” he explained.

The Reds’ goalkeeper Alisson Becker was praised for keeping Palace from running away with the game. “The good thing was that in the other moments, Alisson saved us. Palace have a few threats. Set-pieces are one of them, but counter-attack and balls in behind are number two and three. From all these situations, they’ve created a lot of chances,” Slot said.

Liverpool improved after the interval, but the manager conceded that the opening 45 minutes left them chasing the match. “When you look at the first half, they totally deserved to win. In the second half, it was a much better performance from us,” the coach said.