Liverpool boss Arne Slot issued a thinly-veiled dig at one of his defenders after his team’s winning run came crashing to a halt at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Eddie Nketiah’s added-time winner brought the Reds back down to earth after five straight wins and ensured Crystal Palace are now the only unbeaten team in the Premier League.
Discussing how Palace managed to breach the Liverpool defence late on, Slot said ‘one of our players’ left his defensive post to be in position for a counter-attack as Liverpool looked to build on Federico Chiesa’s 87th-minute equaliser.
‘We can only blame ourselves. Defending the way we did,’ a clearly frustrated Slot said afterwards. ‘One of our players decided to run out because he wanted to play a counter-attack, which was of no use because time was up.’
He did not name the player, but the Dutchman’s words seemed to be aimed at Jeremie Frimpong who stepped up away from Nketiah, expecting the ball to fall his way while leaving the striker free.
‘It was only about defending. 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.’
Arne Slot said the Liverpool star’s actions were ‘of no use’ after they conceded late at Palace
Slot did not name the Liverpool player but it seems he was referring to Jeremie Frimpong
Slot added: ‘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.
‘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. We were able to create quite a lot against a Palace team, which hardly ever concedes a chance.
‘But when you look at the first half, they totally deserved to win. In the second half, it was a much better performance from us.’
