Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace: Hits and flops from the game

#2 Hit: Sadio Mane

Crystal Palace v Liverpool FC - Premier League

Letting Phillippe Coutinho go half-way into last season could have been the worst decision Liverpool ever made if it wasn’t for the likes of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and Sadio Mane.

This season, wearing his former colleague’s number 10, Sadio Mane has a point to prove and prove it he has, so far at least.

The Senegal international has been a fire-plug for Jurgen Klopp, scoring three goals in his first two Premier League games and has defenders wary every time he touches the ball.

Today was no different, as the 26-year-old hurried and hassled the Palace backline time after time, even dropping deeper to play his teammates forward.

He even struggled to score for most of the 90 minutes but did brilliantly to get his goal, keeping his nerve after stumbling at the final hurdle to coolly slot it past Wayne Hennessey.

#2 Flop: Patrick Van Aanholt

The Dutchman failed to make an impression against Liverpool and struggled with both Mohamed Salah and Trent-Alexander Arnold testing him together. Handling the Egyptian itself can be a nightmare for many defenders but keeping an eye on both Arnold and Salah, can be tough for anyone.

The Liverpool right-back made full use of Salah’s tendency to cut inside and made sure he was always available to cross the ball into the Palace box.

However, this simply put Aanholt under more pressure and the 27-year-old buckled at times and didn’t have too much of an impact going forward as well.

However, unlike Wan-Bissaka, Van Aanholt was very lucky to stay on the field after slicing James Milner across, with a cynical tackle. While Michael Olivier took a dim view of the challenge, the former Chelsea star was awarded a yellow card for his efforts.