BBC Sport pundit Michael Brown has claimed that Liverpool were ‘slightly fortunate’ to secure victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Reds emerged victorious after a back and forth affair ended 4-3 in their favour, and Brown believes that their goals were somewhat fortuitous.
“They were slightly fortunate,” he said on the Football Daily podcast [22:30]. “If you look at the goals, the [Virgil] Van Dijk [one], he sort of hits a shot from miles out, ricochets, loops up and goes in.
“The next one’s the mistake by [Julian] Speroni. And then [Andrew] Robertson down the left hand side – hand balls it. They didn’t play that well yesterday Liverpool. You watch [Jurgen] Klopp at the end with the Kop and he realises he might have got away with one,” he finished.
OPINION
It’s doubtful that Klopp feels he got away with one on Saturday. He’ll realise that his players could have performed better, of course, and definitely kept it more solid at the back, but he will surely feel that his team deserved to win the game. On the balance of the contest Liverpool were much the better side. Palace did well to net a few goals but the hosts controlled the match at Anfield. It was Liverpool pushing and looking to make things happen and the visitors’ goals largely came against the run of play. This was a game that was much more suited to the Liverpool of last season, who were happy to let you score as long as they bagged one more. So, while Klopp’s team may have got a bit lucky with a couple of the goals, you can’t say that they didn’t deserve to come away with all three points on Saturday.
