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Arne Slot wasn’t too pleased to see Liverpool concede in what he dubbed “extra time of extra time” - although he did concede his side needs to learn from their 2-1 to Crystal Palace.
The Reds suffered their first defeat of the season after Eddie Nketiah struck deep into stoppage time at Selhurst Park. Federico Chiesa had looked to have rescued a point for the visitors after finding an equalizer late on after Ismaila Sarr’s first-half goal.
It is a reversal of fortunes for Liverpool, who have benefited from a number of late winners so far this season, with the Reds’ luck finally running out in London.
It was far from the usual standard for the visitors, who had goalkeeper Alisson Becker to thank for keeping them in the game as he made a string of superb saves in the first half to keep the score at 1-0.
The Reds were much improved after the break though, and eventually found their equalizer when Chiesa slashed the ball home in the 87th minute, only to be outdone from a long throw in stoppage time, with the ball dropping to former Arsenal striker Nketiah to maintain his side’s unbeaten start, and end Liverpool’s in the process.
Slot was seen remonstrating furiously with the fourth official after the goal, with the Reds boss seemingly unhappy with the amount of time being played - Nketiah’s goal came in the 97th minute after six minutes of added time were signaled.
Slot would continue his protests with the officials after the game, although the Liverpool boss conceded his side were lucky to have still been in the game.
"Very difficult first half,” Slot told Sky Sports. “They did really well and deserved to be 1-0 up, we were lucky it was only 1-0.
"Second half it was the opposite. It took a while before we scored and we did with a few minutes left. But from a second set piece they won the game.
"If you want to compete you need a very positive balance with set pieces and even more in this league. It was one of our biggest strengths last season, now we have conceded two against Newcastle and two here. But this league is more and more and more about set pieces.
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"Their (Palace) game style fits really well to their players, They have a low block with fast players on the break and a big man in Mateta. We had a lot of problems in the first half. The rest of the time we had possession but very hard to beat that low block."
Asked about the winning goal, Slot added: "It is never ideal when you concede in extra time of extra time. But there was a sub so half a minute extra was fair. I have to check when they exactly scored but we have to defend the throw-in better.
"We take learnings from all the games we have played and we can take even more from a game like this."
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