Crystal Palace wanted Andoni Iraola last summer. When Liverpool hired him instead, Palace turned to Pierre Sage. On Sunday at Selhurst Park, Iraola's Liverpool won 3-1 and left Sage's Palace at the bottom of the Premier League, with a defense that has now conceded 24 goals in 10 league games, the club's most at this stage of any league season since 1980-81, according to Opta.
Alexis Mac Allister headed Liverpool in front in the 40th minute, Florian Wirtz added a second in the 54th and Alexander Isak made it 3-0 in the 89th. Eddie Nketiah's penalty with the last kick of the game was Palace's first goal in four straight league defeats.
The manager Palace didn't get
Sky Sports reported at the time of Sage's appointment in June that Iraola had been Palace's primary target to replace Oliver Glasner before Liverpool moved for him. Sage, 47, arrived from Lens as Ligue 1's manager of the year after a second-place finish and the first Coupe de France in that club's history, and signed a contract through 2029.
Five months later, the two coaches met with their clubs heading in opposite directions. Liverpool came into the weekend after losses at Arsenal and at Fenerbahçe, the first time they had dropped back-to-back games under Iraola. They leave London fourth, with 18 points from 10 games and 13 points on the road, more than any other side in the league. Palace sit 20th.
A good first half, and the same old set-piece problem
Palace were not bad for 40 minutes. Yéremy Pino hit the crossbar in the 18th minute, Jørgen Strand Larsen had a goal ruled out for offside, and Alisson had to make sharp saves from Daichi Kamada's volley and Adam Wharton's header. He finished with six saves, and even Jamie Carragher said on Sky that it "would have been one of the best Crystal Palace performances this season."
The goal that changed the afternoon came the way Palace keep conceding. Quinten Timber lost Mac Allister at a Dominik Szoboszlai free kick, and the Argentine had a free header. Opta has Palace on six goals allowed from non-penalty set pieces this season; only Chelsea, with eight, have given up more. After that, Liverpool got the open space they wanted on the break, and Bradley Barcola's low cross for Wirtz's first-time finish ended a 12-game Premier League scoring drought for the German.
The De Boer comparison Nketiah only half-erased
Nketiah's late penalty, awarded after Milos Kerkez was judged to have fouled Dario Osorio, kept Sage from becoming the first Palace coach since Frank de Boer to lose four straight games without scoring. It did not change the bigger parallel Sky Sports drew: De Boer was fired after his fourth loss in that run.
Sage would not speculate about his own future. Asked whether the board still has faith in him, he told Sky Sports: "You have to ask them. In my position, I'm focused on what I have to do. I analyse what happened and try to change things. All the other decisions are not for me."
He sounded more confident speaking to the written press. "I have not gone from the dream to the nightmare," he said, according to The Guardian, adding that Palace have "a lack of efficiency" and that he wants to "adjust a few things in the winter transfer window." The Guardian also noted there were no boos at full time and little sign the crowd wants him out, with much of the blame aimed at a summer recruitment that was not good enough.
The international break now gives Palace's ownership two weeks to decide whether that performance is a reason to keep going or whether the table already made the decision. Carragher expects a new manager before Palace's next league game at Coventry on Nov. 21. Iraola, meanwhile, said Liverpool "needed this win, definitely," and goes into the break with the coach Palace wanted first sitting in the top four while Palace look for answers at the bottom.
