Robertson: We can’t keep clean sheets and miss so many chances

ANDREW ROBERTSON bemoaned the wretched combination of wasteful finishing and lax defending in Liverpool’s ruinous 1-0 defeat by Crystal Palace. The Scotland international was one of his side’s better performers and it was only his stunning intervention in the 28th minute, when clearing off his own line, that stopped the situation being even worse. Liverpool have had a habit of falling behind in matches this season but often found a way to win. On this occasion, they couldn’t get away with it as they fluffed several glorious second-half opportunities. ‘It’s been the story of the last few games and that’s why we have been punished,’ Robertson grumbled. ‘We are struggling to keep clean sheets right now. I don’t know how many we have had in the last 10 or 15 games but it won’t be many. When you do that, you have to take chances, it’s that simple. ‘The boys in front of goal have to do better. But the boys at the back, as a defensive unit as a whole, we have to do better. It isn’t a great thing for success. It was so frustrating, we had so many chances. First half I thought we were poor and they were on top and could have been more than 1-0 up. Second half we had enough chances to win two or three games.’ That may be true but it also doesn’t reflect how well Crystal Palace played. Oliver Glasner’s side were welldrilled, tactically excellent and worked from first kick to last. They deserved whatever slices of luck came their way and had a number of individuals who excelled. ‘You always want to defend well and attack well but in the first half I really liked the confidence,’ said Glasner, who feels this victory has effectively secured safety. ‘Liverpool make a lot of pressure but we played and scored the first goal with 20 passes and many players in the box. ‘This is what we work on. We have a lot to do to keep this intensity for the whole 95 minutes and to release us from the pressure of the second half. We had one big chance after the set-play but we didn’t have these situations we created in the first half. We need to defend as a fantastic unit.’