7 months ago
106 Neil Lennon labelled one Liverpool player ‘world-class’ after he produced a moment of brilliance during the first-half of the Reds’ clash with Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Liverpool needed to produce a big reaction after their heavy defeat to Atalanta in the week. They were also looking to keep up with Manchester City after their emphatic win on Saturday.
But they got off to the worst possible start.
Eberechi Eze gave Crystal Palace the lead after being left in all kinds of space inside the penalty area. And Jean-Philippe Mateta should have doubled the advantage at Anfield.
Of course, Liverpool fans would have feared the worst when Virgil van Dijk slipped as the ball was played through to Mateta. And the striker did manage to beat Alisson Becker once he broke into the box.
But there was to be no repeat of Demba Ba’s goal for Chelsea all those years ago, with Andrew Robertson doing amazingly to clear the ball off the line.
Andrew Robertson for world-class clearance
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, Neil Lennon suggested that it was a moment of rare quality from a Liverpool player during the first-half against the Eagles.
“That is absolutely awesome. What a brilliant passage of football that is,” he said. “Again, the out ball is Eze because Conor Bradley’s up the field. He’s been a great out ball for Palace. He just rolls the ball into Mateta. It’s a poor ball. But van Dijk slips, leaves Mateta clean through, one on one. I thought he was a bit casual with the finish. He dinks it over Alisson.
“But you’ve got to give Robertson a huge amount of credit. He never gave up on it and makes an unbelievable goal-saving tackle on the line. Honestly, what a clearance that was. That’s just pure determination and grit.
“And we’re seeing it now on the screen. He couldn’t have timed it any better. That’s just a player not giving up. It’s just world-class from Andy Robertson.”
Liverpool were woken up by lucky escape
Palace’s goal should have been the wake-up call for Liverpool. The Reds made it much too easy for Eze. However, they then presented Mateta with a fantastic opportunity to double the visitors’ lead shortly after.
That did shake Liverpool into life. They were still vulnerable on the counter attack. But they definitely got their act together for a while after, with Wataru Endo hitting the bar and Luis Diaz forcing Dean Henderson into a smart save.
It was Robertson’s cross which found Diaz for that chance. And it certainly seemed that he was determined to drag Liverpool into the game with the same desire which saw him somehow get back to clear Mateta’s effort.
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