Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Crystal Palace’s 2-1 loss against Liverpool – Improved performance but wider issues abound

Crystal Palace suffered a 2-1 loss against league leaders Liverpool in the early kick-off at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

After taking a lead through a VAR-given Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty in the 57th minute, Jordan Ayew was shown his second yellow in the 75th and given his marching orders.

One minute later, Mohamed Salah equalised for the visitors after Michael Olise failed to clear and then in the first of 10 minutes of additional time, Harvey Elliott slotted past substitute goalkeeper Remi Matthews to claim all three points for the Merseysiders, despite some late pressure from the Eagles.

Here are Andrew McSteen’s four takeaways from Selhurst Park:

HODGSON’S WEEK OF TURMOIL

In recent weeks, Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson has not been his usual smooth self in his media commitments.

Firstly, after the Palace draw at West Ham a week last Sunday – the only point in the last five Premier League games – he appeared to suggest a difference of opinion between Ebere Eze’s idea of his injury return date and the medical team’s idea.

An apology and clarification was then issued in the pre-match Bournemouth media conference two days later, on Tuesday.

Then, after a disastrous 2-0 reverse against Bournemouth on Wednesday, Hodgson said the home fans had been “spoilt” by performances at Selhurst Park in recent years, the Palace boss apparently unaware of the turgid home form of the club for a decade which has seen them reach the heights of just seven home Premier League wins across their 19 matches played in the past nine seasons.

This season they have just one league victory at home so far.

An apology was then issued about his remarks the following Friday in his pre-match media conference ahead of Liverpool.

And after a much improved performance, hampered by numerous yellow cards for his team – including himself at one point – plus some VAR issues, Hodgson was left disillusioned with the game itself.

“I’ve been in football a long time,” he said to TNT Sports. “Games like today make me realise that when the day comes to leave it behind, I won’t be missing anything. I’m absolutely sick about the handball interpretations. I’m sick about these yellow cards for time wasting. I’m sick about player behaviour. All through the game we’re trying to do our job. The coaches who set this game up unbelievably well are trying to get a bit of advice out and every time they step forward, they get even close to me, the guy’s screaming at them to sit down again. I’m sick of those things.”

Whatever your opinion on Roy, his strengths and weaknesses, or even why the club finds itself in the way it is currently, it certainly has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the Croydon-born coach over the course of last week – calling out the best player at the club, apologising, calling out the fans, apologising and then at least bringing back his own fans own side – if not the wider football fan community – when communicating his passionate thoughts about the current standard of match officials in England.

Phew.

WALKING WOUNDED

Ebere Eze, Tyrick Mitchell, Cheick Doucoure, Jefferson Lerma and now Sam Johnstone and Odsonne Edouard are all currently out with injury – six players who all played for the Eagles last time they registered a Premier League win – away at Burnley in early November.

Added to that, Michael Olise who just returned from a long-term injury himself and was rested for the first half against Liverpool to ensure he is not overloaded.

If you also include the injured trio of Rob Holding, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Dean Henderson, nearly a starting XI of players are not available for selection or a full 90 minutes.

Is it too much training? Are players going against medical advice and being rushed back? Are they suffering from so much additional time in games due to the new law changes and VAR checks? Or is it just bad luck or coincidence?

This is not the first time Palace have had an injury crisis of course, or even under Roy Hodgson, but just what is happening?

A BAD RUN CONTINUES, BUT WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE

When Roy Hodgson took over in SE25 for the first time, back in September 2017, his first eight games in the Premier League saw him win one, draw two and lose five.

Ahead of the Liverpool match, his previous eight league games had seen exactly the same run and growing disillusionment in the Palace fan base.

However, following that initial run back in 2017, Palace then lost just once in their next 11 league games.

While the Liverpool game was a loss, the performance was considerably better than fans had seen for a while and Hodgson was positive the fortunes would change for the better.

“We’re going through a bad spell,” said Hodgson after the game. “But I’ve never had any worries about the team with regards to the rest of the season. We’re going to have to survive this bad spell and get players fit again.”

Palace fans have to hope that with a full week after the Liverpool loss and their clash against the league champions Manchester City on Saturday, some injuries can be solved and that their work at the training ground can be transferred to the pitch this Saturday.

EMPTY SEATS AND A FORTRESS FALLACY

With two home games in the space of four days, both moved for television purposes, combined with transport complications and cancellations, plus the current performance on the pitch, a lot was asked of home fans to be in attendance at both contests in the lead up to a busy Christmas period.

Both Bournemouth and Liverpool saw vast swathes of empty seats at Selhurst Park, despite the official attendances being announced as 25,078 and 25,103 respectively at the 25,486-capacity ground.

An FA Cup Third Round draw at home to Everton has just been announced and immediately moved to a Thursday night.

This has led many fans to bemoan the constant movement of fixtures which has seen the club kick-off at 3pm at home on a Saturday just twice this season.

Even though this is the norm for football in 2023, does this constant movement around of SE25 fixtures affect any sort of momentum or routine built up amongst the Eagles faithful?

With Roy’s comments mentioned about fans being “spoilt” just where did this idea of Selhurst Park being a fortress come from exactly?

The fact is Palace perform better on the road, with 11 of their 16 league points won away from home, and until recently, the club sat amongst the top teams in the top-flight with this record.

The question is, how can that away form be replicated in South London?