Klopp’s bubble bursts

LONDON. — Jurgen Klopp suffered his first loss as Liverpool manager, seeing his side beaten by Crystal Palace at Anfield.

A pulsating game was just drawing to a close when a spontaneous chant broke out from the visiting section of the Anfield Road.

“You must be sick of us!” Crystal Palace’s fans repeatedly shouted. No response was forthcoming from The Kop because the answer was obvious. No team has heaped more misery on Liverpool than the men from Selhurst Park and now they have inflicted the first defeat of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.

Defender Scott Dann nodded in the 81st-minute winner, reacting quickest after Simon Mignolet parried his header.

The visitors had taken the lead through winger Yannick Bolasie, who swivelled inside the box to fire in after the Reds failed to clear the ball.

Philippe Coutinho curled in Liverpool’s leveller three minutes before half-time following Adam Lallana’s flicked pass.

But Liverpool-born Dann pounced to inflict a first defeat in 13 matches for the Reds.

Palace moved above their hosts – and their city rivals Everton – into eighth place in the Premier League, having ended a four-match winless run.

Palace are quickly becoming Liverpool’s bogey team, inflicting damaging results on the Reds over the past three seasons.

In the the 2013-14 campaign, when the Reds were in the hunt for their first league title since 1990, Palace came back from 3-0 down by scoring three times in the last 11 minutes to dent their championship hopes.

Last season, the Eagles spoiled Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard’s farewell appearance at Anfield, winning 3-1 as they completed a league double over their opponents.

This time, boss Klopp experienced his first defeat in seven games since taking over from Brendan Rodgers.

And, although Liverpool dominated possession and territory, Palace held firm defensively and posed a threat on the attack through the pace of Bolasie, Wilfried Zaha and Jason Puncheon.

With Liverpool returning from a near 5,000-mile round-trip at Russian side Rubin Kazan in the Europa League on Thursday, Eagles boss Pardew spoke to his players about the importance of making a fast start at Anfield.

And it looked like the travelling had taken its toll on the home side in the early exchanges.

The Reds made a slow start to the game as Palace pressed high up the pitch and attacked with speed.

The Eagles had 63 percent possession in the opening 20 minutes, making it count as Bolasie drilled in a finish after some sloppy Reds defending.

Liverpool eventually picked up the tempo and grew into the game, equalising shortly before the interval through go-to man Coutinho, who collected the ball and finished, much like he did against Chelsea in the last league match.

That game at Stamford Bridge was won from 1-0 down, but they were unable to push on and get any points in this contest, even though Christian Benteke came close with a header and Coutinho drew an excellent save from Wayne Hennessey late on.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp expressed his feelings after the game: “Today is a bad feeling – it was not necessary to lose this game. We were the better team but for the first 15 minutes we were not on the pitch. We got the goal, we were awake, we started creating chances.

“But after the break, we gave them chances to cause us problems. Then we woke up again, but then couldn’t make a goal. It feels so bad because it was not necessary. This was not enough for us – we can do more. We have to learn from this.”

However it was a different story for Pardew: “We came here with ambition. The worst thing that happened to us was scoring, we then lost the ambition. Liverpool came on to us.

“We went toe-to-toe against Manchester United and got a draw, we went toe-to-toe with Liverpool and got the win.

“Sometimes it is about our own belief. We have been unlucky in the last few games. We have been good this year and started really well. We need to make sure we capitalise on that.”

The international break. But when Klopp’s squad returns they have to regroup for a trip to Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday, November 21.

Palace return to action a couple of days later, hosting second-bottom Sunderland at Selhurst Park on Monday, November 23. — BBC Sport.