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Former Liverpool midfielder Don Hutchison says Milos Kerkez was to blame for the Reds' late defeat at Selhurst Park this weekend, with Eddie Nketiah crashing in a 97th-minute winner for Crystal Palace.
Arne Slot appeared to hint that he felt Jeremie Frimpong should have tucked in to defend at the back post rather than moving forward in anticipation of a counter-attack. But Hutchison wasn't impressed by Kerkez giving away the throw-in that led to the cross that Nketiah scored from.
"Federico Chiesa was on the bench and came on late, and somehow when the game got back to 1-1, I thought that is the biggest robbery of the century," Hutchison said on ESPN FC.
"Craig [Burley] talked about Kerkez honestly. When you see the goal back again in its truest form, the ball gets laid back or gets pinged back to Kerkez.
"It's on his right foot on the edge of the box, and he didn’t back himself to use his right foot, his swinger, to try and clear the ball as far as possible and get distance on his clearance.
"He allowed the ball a strange sort of pattern of play to come all the way down on his left-hand side, and what did he do? Kick the ball out for a throw-in, which is a far bigger threat for Crystal Palace.
"They launched the ball in the box. They scored the late winner. Massively deserved a 2-1 win flatters Liverpool."
Slot was displeased with his other full-back, Frimpong, while Liverpool as a whole didn't defend well. Ibrahima Konate was all over the place, especially in the first half.
"We can only blame ourselves for defending the way we did," Slot said. "One of our players ran out because he wanted to play a counter-attack, which was of no use because time was up.
"It was only about defending. One player was too offensively minded in that moment, which led to them scoring the winner and us losing the game."
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In truth, while Liverpool only lost the game in the last seconds, it did not deserve to pick up any points after such a dismal first half.
"Disappointed in our performance. Disappointed in the loss, but especially the way we went about it," Van Dijk told reporters. "I think if we got a draw here then we took already one point too much. That is the feeling that we have right now.
Liverpool.com says: Kerkez was mainly fine against Crystal Palace, aside from his decision not to clear his lines. He's still only 21, though, and has plenty of time to get even better from an already high base.
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