KLOPP WILL MAKE SOME SWAPS
JURGEN KLOPP promised to keep on making full use of his squad after a muchchanged Liverpool team earned a 3-0 win over Crystal Palace. The German made six changes to the starting XI that beat AC Milan 3-2 in midweek as the
Reds returned to Premier
League action at Anfield on Saturday.
Just one of those – Trent Alexanderarnold’s absence through illness – was enforced.
But, after seeing Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Naby Keita put Patrickvieira’s side to the sword, Klopp insisted he will continue rotating.
He said: “This Sundaywednesday-saturday rhythm is the most tricky in the Premier League and so we came through that now.
“We had to do the changes, that was clear.the whole last line never played together and I think the midfield played only once together.we want to line up the best possible team and that has different factors.
“Today, it was rhythm or freshness and we decided for freshness, that’s how it is.
“We will rotate, we always rotated, but the defence in the last years we couldn’t rotate really.”
Liverpool’s new-look backline didn’t look particularly watertight just two minutes in when Alisson was required to tip a looping Wilfried Zaha effort on to the post after he had snuck in behind.
However, the hosts began to improve at the other end around the half-hour mark as Thiago Alcantara, Kostas Tsimikas, James Milner and Fabinho combined before Diogo Jota produced a shocking miss.
And so it was no surprise when they went in front as Mane pounced on a Vicente Guaita save from a Salah headed attempt, thrashing the ball home.
The half-time break offered a chance for Palace to reset, and they reasserted themselves at the start of the second period before Conor Gallagher wasted a chance to get a close-range shot off with a poor touch before Odsonne Edouard did exactly the same.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the punishment for those errors came with just over 10 minutes to go as Salah volleyed invirgil van Dijk’s flick-on.
And there was still time for Keita to add further gloss to the scoreline with a volley.
The fact that all three of Liverpool’s goals had come from corner situations was not lost on Eagles manager Patrickvieira.
He said: “I think losing 3-0 is quite difficult and severe with the number of chances we created, the situations we created.
“But I think we did poorly on defending set-pieces – you can’t concede three
from set-pieces at Anfield.”