Liverpool hit Crystal Palace for seven with Roberto Firmino rampant
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Over to you, then, the rest of the Premier League. On a chilly lunchtime in south London Liverpool produced a performance of ruthless champion quality, swatting Crystal Palace aside with crushing ease, and raising for the first time this season a thrilling reprise of last season’s steamrollering rhythms.
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A 7-0 (vidiprinter: seven) win left Jürgen Klopp’s team, however briefly, six points clear at the top of the table. This was a day when Liverpool simply raised themselves up to their full height against game but outmatched opponents. The scoreline was startling. The quality of the goals was something else. By the end, as Palace kicked off, then kicked off again, this felt like an act of sporting cruelty.
And suddenly the Premier League table has an ominous look. It’s that time of year when a cheerful, bearded Teutonic man does the rounds, spreading joy and disappointment. This was the first of three Liverpool away games over the holiday period, a run of eminently winnable games.
They were utterly ruthless in the first half here, producing something that almost resembled a mocking parody of Mourinho-style counterattack. Yeah, we can do that too, old boy. Liverpool sat deep, bristled in midfield and were ruthless in attack. They had three shots on target and scored three goals, the first a couple of minutes after the start, the third a couple of minutes before the half-time whistle. How to kill a game: part one.
It was hard on Palace, who were eager and drove hard at the champions in that first period. But this was Liverpool at their most hyper-efficient, the difference between the two teams summed up by Sadio Mané’s goal to make it 2-0 on 35 minutes.
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Palace had begun to create an outline of chances, moments of energy close to goal. For all Jordan Ayew’s energy and Eberechi Eze’s cool on the ball, they seemed always to need too many touches.
Not so at the other end, where Mané produced a high-speed sniper’s goal, taking the ball from Roberto Firmino, turning into space and zinging an instant shot low into the corner, seeing the space, executing the finish and veering off punching the air anyone else could move.
Liverpool had come to Croydon without a win away from home in the league since September, but still top of the table thanks to their princely home form. Here they were able to rest Mo Salah at the start after a run of four straight games, his replacement the more studious Takumi Minamino. Naby Keïta was also back in midfield, Klopp perhaps drawn to his energy and spike against a feisty Palace team.
Being awake at the start might have been a better option, as Liverpool took the lead with alarming ease. The goal came from a moment of hustle on the left from Firmino, who first pressured, then robbed Cheikhou Kouyaté. The cross was cleared. But even as Ray Lewington yelled at Eze to close down Trent Alexander-Arnold, the ball was worked beyond him to Mané. His cut back was deflected to Minamino. He shot low and hard into the corner.
Palace did push back. Eze began to probe down the left. With 12 minutes gone Fabinho nipped back just in time to divert Zaha’s cross away from Ayew front of goal.
There was space to be found on Liverpool’s right flank as Eze and Ayew doubled up on Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool FC marketing department might want to think about commercially exploiting the sheer visceral power of Jordan Henderson’s cry of “TRENT” heard every few minutes as Liverpool’s right-back wandered a little, and surely an attractive option as either ring tone or doorbell chime.
With 23 minutes gone Palace really should have scored, as Ayew surged on down a startlingly vacant Liverpool left, but mistimed the cut back to Zaha. It was their last moment of near-parity. First Mané made it 2-0. Then it was 3-0 just before half-time. This was a brilliant goal, made by a sublime team break – started and then finished by Firmino – and two moments of dreamy high-speed skill in between.
First Liverpool sprang forward from the right-back position. Firmino fed the ball out to Andy Robertson. His pass inside was perfectly measured for Firmino to take the ball in his stride with an absurdly easy first touch, before rolling it into the corner.
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Henderson produced a lovely curling shot into the far corner to make it 4-0 seven minutes into the second half. Firmino finished smartly on 68 minutes from close range to make it five. Salah made it 6-0 from a corner, then added a fine seventh from the edge of the box as the skies above Selhurst Park opened up.
And that was pretty much that. Klopp was able to take Mané off at 4-0 to save those precious legs for tougher engagements, though he was not keen. Fabinho played all afternoon like a brilliantly natural defensive footballer, able to cover, pass and mark in any position. Liverpool will roll on to those festive away dates with an ominous sense of momentum.