LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool looks on during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park on September 27, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)
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Liverpool’s perfect start to the season is over. It came to an end at Selhurst Park where Crystal Palace beat the defending Premier League champions, exposing some of the weaknesses in Arne Slot’s team. One wonders if Liverpool’s first loss of the season kept the Dutch coach up at night.
While Liverpool’s results to start the 2025/26 campaign have been strong, its performances have been at a lower level. The Anfield outfit has made a habit of scoring late goals, masking some of its other issues. On Saturday, it was Palace that found the back of the net in stoppage time to secure a big result.
Crystal Palace’s Eddie Nketiah scores their side’s second goal of the game during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London. Picture date: Saturday September 27, 2025. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
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Both of Crystal Palace’s goals came from set piece situations. Liverpool was caught sleeping in the second phase of the attacking moves and was made to pay for it with Ismaila Sarr and Eddie Nketiah finding the back of the net. The Reds got exactly what they deserved. They were second-best.
Perhaps most concerning about Liverpool’s performance at Selhurst Park was that Crystal Palace caused so many problems on the break. This has been a theme for Liverpool this season – Slot’s team has looked vulnerable in defensive transition. Palace made the most of this on Saturday.
“Palace have a few threats. Set-pieces are one of them, but counterattack and balls in behind are number two and three,” said Slot, highlighting how Crystal Palace was able to hurt Liverpool so frequently over the course of Saturday’s defeat which gave hope to the chasing pack including Arsenal and Manchester City.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Florian Wirtz of Liverpool in action during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park on September 27, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)
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“From all these situations, they’ve created a lot of chances. We were able to create quite a lot against a Palace team, which hardly ever concedes a chance. But when you look at the first half, they totally deserved to win. In the second half, it was a much better performance from us. If one team deserved to win, it was Palace.”
There are also concerns over Liverpool’s ability to create in possession. Florian Wirtz has suffered a challenging start to life in the Premier League after the summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen with the German playmaker not currently a nailed on starter in Slot’s lineup. He hasn’t made much of an impact so far.
Alexander Isak is similarly in the process of being integrated into the Liverpool team after joining from Newcastle United for a Premier League-record transfer fee. Slot boasts the strongest, deepest squad in English soccer, but the loss to Crystal Palace exposed some vulnerabilities that the Dutchman can’t afford to ignore.