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EPL Arne Slot’s frustration had eased. The pent-up anger that had caused him to question the officials’ decisions during and after the game had now turned to reflection. “We can only blame ourselves, ” the Liverpool head coach told reporters after the 2-1 defeat against Crystal Palace. Despite a slice of bad luck when a corner that shouldn’t have been awarded was then converted for the first goal, Slot was in no mood to dress this defeat up in any other way. No excuses. “If one team deserved to win, it was Palace, ” Slot added. Advertisement It was sharp, to the point and quite the opposite of his side at Selhurst Park, where Liverpool dropped points for the first time this season. In their past eight games against Palace, Liverpool have only won twice. Slot’s reaction after a Premier League defeat is always interesting, partly because it’s only happened five times — and two of those came late into last season when Liverpool had already won the title — but also because it offers insight into his thoughts at such vulnerable moments. The Dutchman’s journey in England has been remarkably smooth, with little criticism and few tough questions about setbacks, largely because there haven’t been many. His side cruised to the title last season and, after the hiccup of a penalty shootout defeat against Palace in the Community Shield, his side began the new campaign with seven wins out of seven games. The perfect start, however, hit its first bump this weekend, marking the first blemish on an otherwise flawless record. Ultimately, Slot couldn’t find the answers on this occasion despite throwing everything at opponents who have found a way to get under Liverpool’s skin — including when the champions tried to sign their prized asset, Marc Guehi, only for the deal to collapse at the eleventh hour. The next game against Crystal Palace, for what it’s worth, is not until the end of April, so there’s a lot of time to learn. Hopefully, by then, Liverpool’s two most-expensive signings, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, are fit and firing, and a decision over who is the best right-back at the club has been made. Mixing Conor Bradley, Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong to such an extent doesn’t feel sustainable. This is no time to panic. If it were not for a last-gasp winner from Eddie Nketiah, Liverpool would have secured another late rescue job of their own (even if a point would have been papering over some of the cracks). Last season, remember, no side won more points from losing positions en route to the title. It says a lot about a team’s mentality when they can fight back in times of struggle, but this was a wake-up call, no doubt. The best team in the league need to be better. Advertisement Slot’s go-to method in times of need has always been to attack. The head coach showed bravery to keep pushing, changing, throwing on attacking players, committing players forward and taking risks despite a first-half onslaught that would have forced other managers to retreat and tighten up. Liverpool were lucky to find themselves only 1-0 down at the break and not completely out of the game, but rather than close the gaps, Slot felt the best way out of the mess was to get on the front foot. It almost paid off. Switching Szoboszlai to right-back helped. Cody Gakpo offered another attacking threat and then Federico Chiesa scored a late equaliser. If any side was going to win it at that stage, it felt like Liverpool. Perhaps that’s why Slot persisted with five players across the front line and kept midfielder Ryan Gravenberch at centre-back, rather than introducing Joe Gomez as an extra layer of security to protect what would have been a valuable point. If Slot left his defence a little exposed, it’s because he trusted he had enough firepower up front to tilt the balance. Not that he framed it that way, though. When asked after the game to explain his thinking at 1-1, he pointed to a mistake by “one player”, understood to be Frimpong, as the decisive factor. “One of our players decided to run out because he wanted to play counter-attack, which was of no use because time was up. It was only about defending, ” he said.

“Maybe we were too offensively minded, or one player was too offensively minded, which led to them scoring the winner and us losing the game. ” Slot balanced that out by saying that “not many other things happened in extra time”, which was as accurate as it was annoying for him. A draw would have been a welcome result, another sign of how this team continually finds a way to grind out results. But it wasn’t to be. Liverpool didn’t have the staying power to see it out. It was certainly not through a lack of trying and if there’s a way to get back into the game when going behind, Slot approached it in the manner most supporters appreciate — on the front foot and with purpose. Advertisement If he didn’t get his message across in the right way, or find the correct system, then consider the answer he gave before the game when asked what was the most important thing he had learned at the club. “That if I make 15 to 20 decisions in a day, not all of them will be good, ” he said. Liverpool made it look so easy when they won 23 points from losing positions last season. To keep doing that, especially against as dogged opponents as Crystal Palace, is difficult. This was the first time this season that Liverpool found themselves behind and failed to recover. That this was Liverpool’s first defeat in the Premier League of any great significance for 12 months suggests that it won’t take them too long to find the right answers. (Top photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Gregg Evans is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering Liverpool. Previously he reported on Aston Villa and spent over a decade at the Birmingham Mail covering West Midlands football. His time with Villa included the drop into the Championship and then an incredible return to European football. He also covers golf. Follow Gregg on Twitter @greggevans40