Up went Alisson and, this time, Liverpool did not wriggle off the hook.
It was the 97th minute, and a free kick offered Jürgen Klopp’s side hope of salvaging the bare minimum from a contest that they had contrived to mess up.
Yet this was not a day for heroics from unlikely sources. Or, in Liverpool’s case, from those expected to put the ball in the net.
And so, at this rate, there will be no glorious farewell to Klopp’s reign either, as deficiencies in both penalty areas mean they now lie third in the table and are in danger of allowing their season to fizzle out with a whimper unbefitting of their manager’s tenure.
Klopp had been moved to utter only one word — “Wow” — when Crystal Palace seized the advantage in the 14th minute, which rather neatly conveyed his disbelief at the manner in which his team had just been carved open.
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Palace’s players pinged pass after pass — 21 in total — between them without so much as one proper tackle from an opponent and Eberechi Eze dispatched Tyrick Mitchell’s cutback for what would prove to be the winning goal.
The flurry of chances Liverpool carelessly squandered in the second half — Darwin Núñez, Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones were all culpable of awful misses — would have prompted Klopp to utter some juicier phrases under his breath.
Deep down, however, he cannot be overly surprised at what transpired, with frailties in defence and attack having reared in recent weeks. Titles are not won in such circumstances.
Liverpool’s players appeared crestfallen at the final whistle, some fans were in tears, and why, after Thursday night’s 3-0 Europa League humbling against Atalanta, there was not the required response will eat away at them.
A first home defeat in the Premier League since Leeds United won at Anfield 553 days ago, only the second in the past 59 matches, would have left Pep Guardiola chortling over his Sunday roast.
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The intricacy and ambition in much of Palace’s slick approach play in the opening half superbly harnessed the attributes of players such as Michael Olise and Eze, plus young Adam Wharton in midfield.
It may be unfair to suggest that Oliver Glasner, the manager, has released the shackles that were present under his predecessor, Roy Hodgson, since he took over in February, but all the evidence points to that.
Had Andrew Robertson not raced back to clear Jean-Philippe Mateta’s dink over Alisson off the line after Virgil van Dijk had slipped, Palace would have had a second goal to show for their intent. Thereafter, they rode their luck on occasions but also defended manfully.
Having arrived on Merseyside with only one fit centre back in Joachim Andersen, they should have buckled under the examination that belatedly unfolded. Credit to the right back Nathaniel Clyne and the midfielder Jefferson Lerma for slotting into a back three and never allowing the unfamiliar to faze them. In front of them, Will Hughes ran himself to standstill.
Oh, but how Liverpool aided them. A lack of intensity had been exposed with that opening goal, the 14th time they have fallen behind in the league this season, but the passing was sloppy, and to witness how confidence has seeped from Klopp’s team over the past week has been remarkable.
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That will be a significant concern with a run of four away games now looming — the quarter-final second leg with Atalanta before trips to Fulham, Everton and West Ham United — that will demand a show of character before other qualities even come into it.
Liverpool have players back from injury, but one of the problems is they are trying to find rhythm in games when the stakes are at their highest, and that is not conducive to convincing displays when others are now looking fatigued.
Klopp lamented that while Jones sought to lead the press, others could not follow, and that resulted in a misshapen performance that allowed Palace to establish momentum. Fêting players as the new Steven Gerrard after half-a-dozen good games has proved to be folly and even those who deserve their lofty billing have started to look off the pace.
That they have managed only two clean sheets in the league in 2024 highlights the heart of the problem and, for once, the forwards could not dig everyone out of a hole, with Núñez in erratic mode and Mohamed Salah peripheral. Both appear to have hit the buffers at the same time and, following on from last weekend’s dropped points at Old Trafford, there was again a lack of cutting edge.
There had been chances in the first half — Wataru Endo hit the crossbar and Dean Henderson scrambled across his line to meet Luis Díaz’s acrobatic volley with a telling hand — but opportunities were glaring after that.
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Núñez hit Henderson’s knee from six yards out, Jota had the whole of the goal to aim for but struck Clyne from eight yards and, later, Jones ran through and shot wide after being freed by Cody Gakpo.
At the other end Mateta joined in by somehow allowing Alisson to save his close-range shot after the unmarked Andersen had headed down Eze’s free kick.
Right now, everything that had left Liverpool dreaming of all manner of possibilities — Klopp’s substitutions, the team’s resilience, the ability to always find a way — have been mislaid. Instead of being in charge of their own destiny, they need favours from rivals who do not normally give an inch.
The sight of Alisson being ushered forward in the faint belief he could repeat his audacious stoppage-time goal against West Bromwich Albion of three years ago came to nothing.
And so Liverpool were left with nothing but regrets.
Glasner: Win is special – but I’ll still just wake up tomorrow and have my coffee
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Oliver Glasner hailed the two outstanding faces of Crystal Palace’s win at Anfield as the blueprint for his Selhurst Park revolution (Paul Joyce writes).
Glasner savoured a landmark victory, only his second since replacing Roy Hodgson in February, and delighted in the different ways in which his players kept Liverpool at bay. Palace moved into 14th place in the table, eight points above the relegation zone, after marrying slick football with defensive fortitude.
“It is a fantastic win and congratulations to the team,” Glasner said. “In the first half the performance was about playing football. [I liked] the confidence we had, the chances we created and how compact we were.
“And congratulations to the team for the passion and spirit and how we defended in the second half. We had an outstanding passion to defend as a team and that is the reason we won the game. This is what we are working on.
“I am not really important, but it is important for the team, the club and important for the group too, as it gives us belief. But we have to stay humble. We know we can perform well but we also know more hard work is needed.
“I always want to win every game. This is special because you don’t always win here but I will go to bed early and get up early and have my coffee. Nothing special.”
Palace inflicted the first defeat of Klopp’s Liverpool reign, in November 2015, and the damage from this result could be far reaching for the home side given how it has undermined their title ambitions.
Glasner’s focus is on building on the performance against West Ham United next Sunday and he said: “We expressed ourselves today. You can always lose a game, but we showed who we are and how we want to play. It is important for me that we always play our style.”
Klopp saw his side concede the first goal for the 14th time in the Premier League this season and then fluffed an array of gilt-edged chances to compound a miserable week after a 3-0 home defeat by Atalanta in the Europa League.
“Of course you have to ask these questions, what it means for the title-race, I am not dumb. I know that,” the Liverpool manager said. “The answer is pretty easy. If we play like we did in the first half, why should we win the league?
“If we play like in the second half, we can win football games. If we can win football games, then we will see how many we win and then we will see. We have to be around when the other guys struggle, if they struggle. That’s how it is.
“The criticism in these moments is completely fine and absolutely right. It’s all about how we deal with it.”
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson 6 — C Bradley 6 (T Alexander-Arnold 48 6), I Konaté 5, V van Dijk 5, A Robertson 7 — A Mac Allister 5, W Endo 5 (D Szoboszlai 45, 5), C Jones 5 (H Elliott 82) — M Salah 5, D Nunez 5 (D Jota 66 5), L Diaz 6 (C Gakpo 66, 6). Booked Jones.
Crystal Palace (3-4-3): D Henderson 7 — N Clyne 7 (J Ward 77), J Andersen 8, J Lerma 7 — D Munoz 7, A Wharton 7, W Hughes 7 (J Riedewald 77), T Mitchell 8 — M Olise 7 (J Ayew 69 6), J Mateta 6 (O Edouard 90), E Eze 7 (J Schlupp 77). Booked Lerma.
Referee C Kavanagh.
