By this time of the season, spirited performances mean little if you don’t have the results to go with it.
Pierre Sage, who was sacked at Lyon two years ago, knows as much as anyone that this is a results-based business.
And he simply has not had enough results. Despite having Liverpool on the ropes at times here, Crystal Palace failed to land a knockout blow and that could be that for their under-fire manager, who looked like a dead man walking when he trudged off the pitch at full-time with a face like thunder.
Former Lens over-achiever Sage now seems set for a stuffing six weeks before Christmas and though he may curse at the small margins that denied his team a chance of a heavyweight and potential job-saving scalp here, the boss knows two wins in 10 league games is not good enough.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had the width of the crossbar and a throwback performance from goalkeeper Alisson to thank. In contrast to Sage, Andoni Iraola‘s side showed grit and determination to win when far from their best.
Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak all scored as the Reds put a tough week behind them that saw them lose back-to-back games for the first time in the Iraola era, which prompted a chorus of the old terrace classic ‘Poetry in Motion’.
Florian Wirtz scored a rare Liverpool as they won 3-1 at Crystal Palace in the Premier League
Wirtz scored Liverpool’s second on 54 minutes as they ran out as 3-1 winners at Selhurst Park
Things are looking ominous for under-pressure Palace manager Pierre Sage after another loss
This performance was hardly William Wordsworth levels of poetry and Liverpool were far from on song during large swathes of this match but when it really mattered, the attackers demonstrated just why the club spent so much money on them.
Mac Allister resumed his bemusing role of the team’s best aerial threat despite being their smallest player, Wirtz got a goal and assist, while Isak made it eight for the season to continue his prolific streak.
Bradley Barcola, meanwhile, proved what an asset he is despite a wasteful first half.
Those attackers were worthy of praise but no one deserved plaudits more so than goalkeeper, Alisson, who was player of the match in an illustration of Palace’s first-half supremacy.
‘I’m very pleased with Alisson’s performance,’ said Iraola. ‘He has commanded the box very well and in games here a lot of things are normally happening in the boxes. He has shown the level he has for us. Overall we are getting good results away from home at difficult stadiums.’
The Brazilian is in the last year of his contract but put in his best performance for 18 months, dating back to a 1-0 win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League knockouts. He will not go on international duty and instead rest up after an injury-hit few years.
He denied Adam Wharton with a glancing header, thwarted Daichi Kamada with a fierce shot and then tipped round Quenten Timber’s effort from distance. Palace also rattled the bar through Yeremy Pino in a first half that really should have ended up differently.
Jorgen Strand Larsen also had the ball in the net but was offside.
As it was, though, Liverpool were the team to take their chance when it came after a period of dilly-dallying and playing the wrong ball, guilty again of indecisiveness similar to the flaws shown against Arsenal last weekend and in the 3-2 defeat at Fenerbahce in midweek.
Liverpool led on 40 minutes when Alexis Mac Allister (centre left) scored from close range
The Argentine celebrates after breaking the deadlock for the Reds in the Premier League clash
Mac Allister was the scorer as he continued a fine resurgence this season, with Dominik Szoboszlai the supplier after a week where he too had been criticised. The Hungarian whipped a cross towards Mac Allister, which was glanced past Henderson for 1-0.
The former Brighton player ran straight towards the Palace fans behind the goal and taunted the supporters that were once his rivals on the south coast.
Liverpool weathered another storm at the start of the second half and soon found themselves two up. Barcola, who had left lots to be desired in the first half, swapped wings at the break and made his first attack count.
The Frenchman put the after-burners on and motored down the pitch before feeding Wirtz, who composed himself and passed into the net for 2-0. Iraola praised the run of Isak which took him away from the ball but dragged defenders with him to create space for his colleague.
Isak squandered a one-versus-one chance not long after but was not going to miss another one minutes later, when a blisteringly quick counter-attack was started by Trey Nyoni and ended with Wirtz feeding Isak, who skipped past Chris Richards and finished calmly.
The three goals will delight the hierarchy, with all three of the £100m boys – Isak, Barcola and Wirtz – registering at least one goal or assist apiece, one each in Wirtz’s case.
Alexander Isak scored the visitors’ third in the 89th-minute with this right-footed finish
Eddie Nketiah pulled one back for Palace from the penalty in second-half stoppage time
This victory would not have been possible, though, without Alisson, now 34 and in the final year of his deal. For all the attacking talent at Iraola’s disposal, the Basque will be delighted at his team’s defensive determination when under the kosh here as Palace had 10 first-half shots.
Iraola knows his team has flaws and they remain a work-in-progress. But despite a few challenging afternoons, they appear to be heading in the right direction.
The same cannot be said for Sage, whose side pulled one back in stoppage time through an Eddie Nketiah penalty after Milos Kerkez committed a careless foul.
Palace were unlucky in this game but the cold, hard truth is that the recent FA Cup and Europa Conference League triumphs feel a world away now as they enter the international break rock bottom of the Premier League.
West Ham also won a European trophy in the last five years and look where they ended up — that should set alarm bells ringing that no success lasts for ever and Palace are not too big for relegation.
Nketiah’s goal felt like it was too little, too late and the sage advice for Palace supremo Steve Parish might be a reluctant change in the dugout.
