Wirtz provides quality to seal Liverpool win over lacklustre Crystal Palace

It was the moment when Liverpool knew they would win here in south London and so move on from the Premier League loss to Arsenal at Anfield last Sunday and the one in midweek at Fenerbahce in the Champions League.

Florian Wirtz had timed his run as Liverpool broke up the right and Bradley Barcola’s low pull back was made to measure. Wirtz had to take it on first time and it was a test of his technique under pressure. He never looked like failing it, not least because smoothness in this area is his calling card. Liverpool were 2-0 up, Alexis Mac Allister having headed them in front towards the end of the first-half, and all you could hear was the eruption of delight in the away supporters’ enclosure.

In the Crystal Palace seats there was silence and it seemed to go on for an age. The atmosphere inside this stadium has been diminished since the Holmesdale Fanatics stopped their activities during matches in protest over the general treatment of fans by the club. There was no rallying cry from the stands. Only resignation. Acceptance. There were 54 minutes on the clock but they knew as well as everybody else that this was done.

Palace were good in the first-half, Jeremy Pino their standout performer. What a lovely player he is to watch. Pino rattled the crossbar and there were other moments when his team threatened. After the Wirtz goal, there was next to nothing from them, only a Pino effort after a quick break that Alisson blocked.

Liverpool eased home and it was no surprise when Alexander Isak glossed the scoreline towards the end. When he smashed home from Wirtz’s touch, it was the prompt for thousands of Palace supporters to make for the exits. Their club is in a parlous position. It was a fourth league defeat on the spin; a late penalty from Eddie Nketiah, on as a substitute, no consolation, except to note that it was their first goal during the mini-run.

There was no anger, no boos for the players at full-time. And there does not appear to be any appetite for the manager, Pierre Sage, to be dismissed. The problems are not all of his making; they are more down to the recruitment department. The absence of Ismaïla Sarr through injury has been a hammer blow.

Liverpool had been careless against Fenerbahce, especially on the concessions. “Cheap, messy goals,” Andoni Iraola said. They could afford to lose that one, having won all three of their opening Champions League matches and yet the fact it added up to successive defeats changed the temperature for them here. Three in a row would have lit up the phone-in lines. They were wobbly at times in the first-half but they were on their way when Mac Allister profited from the generosity of the league’s worst defence. It all feels extremely gloomy for Palace.

Iraola, who was a target for Palace before he chose Liverpool at the end of last season, picked the XI that most people expected, Dominik Szoboszlai restored to the midfield from the Arsenal game; it was as strong as Liverpool could be. They took a grip on possession, pressing on to the front foot at the outset. The big question concerned whether they could get into areas to really hurt Palace, particularly when Sage’s team sat deep out of possession.

Liverpool began with a flurry. They took shots from distance. Barcola wanted a penalty after a nudge in his back from Oscar Mingueza; there was not enough in it. In a sign of things to come, Mac Allister darted for the near post on a Szoboszlai free-kick and flashed a header wide. There was the moment when Cody Gakpo volleyed across the face of goal only there was nobody there.

Palace stabilised. They started to push and it came to feel as though Liverpool might be more dangerous in open play on the counter if the action became stretched. When they broke with numbers in the 26th minute, Palace were indebted to Adam Wharton for a saving challenge on Isak after Wirtz had pulled back from the right.

Palace had almost taken the lead by then. It was their first forward thrust and Tyrick Mitchell played the final pass, clubbed in low from the left. Pino did well to bring it under his spell and the shot was vicious, the connection so pure. It flew over Alisson and crashed against the crossbar.

Palace did not deserve to trail at the interval. They threatened up the left through Mitchell and Pino. Jørgen Strand Larsen had a goal ruled out for offside after a Pino shot had come off Daichi Kamada. The Japan midfielder was also denied by Alisson after catching a volley so sweetly. The cross was supplied by Mitchell and it was a fine reflex save. After the Mac Allister goal, Wharton had Alisson scrambling to touch behind after he stretched to reach a Pino ball in.

Barcola had blazed a volley high when unmarked and well-placed from a deep Szoboszlai cross just before the Mac Allister goal and it did not feel as though it was coming for Liverpool. There was fury among the Palace support because they did not feel that the referee, Tony Harrington, ought to have penalised Jefferson Lerma for a foul on Gakpo.

It was a soft award but the decision was right. It did not excuse Palace’s inability to defend the Szoboszlai set-piece. Mac Allister darted for the near post and it was just too easy for him to direct the header. Liverpool might have scored from yet another Szoboszlai free-kick in first-half stoppage time only Ronald Araujo could not properly reach a Jeremy Jacquet flick.

Palace felt the belief crumble after the Wirtz goal and it became a gentle slide towards the inevitable. Liverpool have a tonic.