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Liverpool suffered its first defeat of the 2025-26 season on Saturday as Crystal Palace were 2-1 winners at Selhurst Park, and head coach Arne Slot was bitterly disappointed with the performance.
Ismaila Sarr put Palace ahead inside 10 minutes as Liverpool failed to defend Palace's first corner of the game, but Federico Chiesa equalized in the 87th minute. However, Palace snatched all three points deep into additional time as another defensive error was pounced on by Eddie Nketiah.
Slot was unhappy with the amount of time allowed by officials, but admitted after the game that Palace were the deserved winners. Liverpool's perfect start to the season has now ended, and Slot claimed that the scoreline could have been much worse.
Liverpool has left it late in every game so far this season, scoring winning goals in the last 10 minutes of each fixture. When Chiesa equalized, it appeared that Liverpool had produced late heroics again.
Despite winning the previous five Premier League games and earning victories in the Champions League and the League Cup, Liverpool has been far from its best this season. There are concerns defensively and offensively, and it hasn't been as fluid as last season.
"Palace deserved to win, "Slot said to BBC Match of the Day. "They were much better in the first half, could have been three or four up.
"In the second half, we were much better and had some very good clear chances which we didn't take. We got the equaliser that would've given us a point, but a second Palace set-piece goal gave them the win.
"They did their game plan really well. Balls in behind, transition moments, and to play through their low block is not easy. They are so disciplined.
"If I look at the positives, we created a lot of chances against a Palace side that hardly conceded a chance. On the negative side, we conceded far too many chances from the limited possession Palace had."
Slot was unhappy with Liverpool's defending for both goals and believed both chances were avoidable. Slot believes that Liverpool has something to prove when defending set pieces, as Palace scored via a corner and a long throw into the box.
"In every league, set-piece goals are very important, and it is getting more and more crucial in every league," Slot added. "When I watch a Premier League game, I see long throw after long throw after long throw.
"It [defending set pieces] was one of our strengths last season, but we have to prove very soon that it is still our strength, as it is very hard to win a game of football if you concede two set pieces. The way we played (in the) first half is not our standard. We should play better.
"Credit to Palace, they had not lost in 17 games. We have now played them four times, one win, one defeat, and two draws. So when we play, it is a very equal game."
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