Crystal Palace show signs of a side ready to pull clear of the relegation fight but a similar fate may lie ahead for Liverpool

It’s not often Roy Hodgson is angry like this in public, but it is fair to say that the former England manager was still visibly seething over an hour after the penalty decision that he felt Michael Oliver got so egregiously wrong on the cusp of half-time on Monday night.

Hodgson repeated seven or eight times that he felt it was not a penalty. He admitted he was angry. “Frustrated” too, not just to fall victim to that but to not be awarded one at the other end in the dying moments. Jürgen Klopp’s claim that he didn’t see it, usually managerial parlance for deliberately avoiding a replay that might force an uncomfortable conversation, didn’t much help Hodgson’s mood.

Months down the line, though, these individual decisions will have melted away into history and what might have been a point for his spirited Crystal Palace side will still be simply zero points, a mild dent to the goal difference and a suspension for young Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who had been so impressive until he misjudged a tackle on Mohamed Salah with only Wayne Hennessey between the Egyptian and the goal at the White Horse Lane End.

Much of the immediate reaction to this sweaty and, at times, frenetic floodlit clash was that it cemented Liverpool as title challengers and it may well prove to be that way, but the reading of this defeat for Palace is somewhat more uncertain.

As when analysing form in horse racing, you like to see how a star gelding fares up against Group 1 contenders and if Liverpool do prove to be just that then the way Palace ran them close is great cause for optimism. Gary Neville confidently proclaimed post-match that not only did he think Hodgson’s side would finish in the top half but as high as “seventh or eighth.”

“That was a really good performance from a team that will cause a lot of teams a lot of problems,” he said. “They're going to amass an incredible amount of points.”

On leading Liverpool fan site The Anfield Wrap there was a more positive appraisal of Palace’s performance than on most of a red-and-blue persuasion. “They terrify our rivals,” wrote Neil Atkinson of Palace in his review. “They have 12 games against the top six. That we have won one should not be diminished.”

So the feeling is that Palace could be good this year, having retained the magical powers of Wilfried Zaha and pulled a rabbit out of the hat to sign Max Meyer, but the reality of Premier League mid-table means that if you’re not in the relegation battle or fighting for Europe then it’s hard to be either relevant or interesting. Only the twinkletoes of Zaha, Meyer’s suggestion of stardust and Wan-Bissaka’s rise currently threaten that conventional wisdom that Palace won’t fall down the Premier League’s black hole of fleeting competitiveness. Well, that and their habit of seeking out relegation battles on a near-annual basis.

open image in gallery

There are (very) early signs that last year’s ugly fatberg of average teams won’t be reappearing on quite the same scale this season, having boasted 12 or 13 clubs until late into the 2017/18 campaign that could have been relegated. Enough sides looked to have pulled away from the pack while others have stood still or regressed and the way Hodgson’s men picked off Fulham and had dalliances with doing the same to a very good Liverpool side must be taken as a positive. The bigger tests for Palace will come with injuries, though they can’t possibly suffer as badly as last year on that front, and dips in form.

Christian Benteke might already be in one, or perhaps he simply hasn’t escaped the rut that plagued him last season. All the metrics suggest that the Belgian will bounce back this year in terms of production but he didn’t pass the eye test against his former club, struggling to bring anything to the party on a night where Palace really needed all hands on deck.

Perhaps that’s a tad harsh. He found the target with a header and both at Craven Cottage last week and at Selhurst on Monday night he clearly had an idea of how he was planning to play in a teammate, he just couldn’t execute it. Against another team that might come off but until that happens, or he finds that elusive goal, his tough time continues, though Alexandr Sorloth’s cameos from the bench aren’t yet electric enough to power the warning lights for the Belgian.

open image in gallery

Indeed, defeat by Liverpool is no cause for concern at Palace and after a summer about as good as they could have hoped for, they only came up narrowly short against a Liverpool side that has very deliberately and expensively filled their XI with the final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that they hope can win them a first Premier League title.

The fear remains that for Jurgen Klopp’s side, Pep Guardiola’s generationally-brilliant Manchester City still might just have far too much. It would likely leave Liverpool second, talented enough to pull clear of whatever vandalism Jose Mourinho is currently carrying out on Manchester United’s absurdly-talented squad and Maurizio Sarri’s nascent Chelsea project but still way short of Pep’s rampant City.

In some ways that’s the same fear that Palace face, one of being caught between two exciting battles but not actually partaking in one.

Until Liverpool can’t catch City, of course, they will believe that is a worry for another time and the same is true for Palace, who might have the ambition and talent for a top-half finish but now need to put together a whole season that doesn’t at some point incorporate a disaster if people are to believe the increasing hype.

Then Roy Hodgson will be much happier.