Strengths and weakness of Liverpool on show against Crystal Palace

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Liverpool move back to equal top of the ladder with win.

Finding the resolve to fight back when challenged is a sign of a great team. This Liverpool squad have shown this season that they are up for the battle and proved it yet again against Crystal Palace yesterday.

Reds’ defender Dejan Lovren underlined the point by recovering from a very poor clearance that gifted Palace midfielder James McArthur his first goal of the game, to head home from close range to give the Liverpool the lead back just three minutes later.

This match symbolised the career of Lovren at Liverpool as no sooner had he corrected his initial error, his fragility against the aerial ball resurfaced for all to see, allowing McArthur to score his second equaliser of the game.

The Reds found the resolve to hit back again through a Joel Matip headed goal and from that moment there was only going to be one winner.

Liverpool were fantastic going forward throughout the game with Phillippe Coutinho in sublime form pulling the strings, and in many ways it was reminiscent of their attacking play in the 2013/14 season.

The beauty of this Liverpool team is that they have a number of different weapons to attack the opposition with.

If Sadio Mane has a quiet day, then Roberto Firmino will pop up with a goal or two and if Adam Lallana is ineffective then Coutinho will have a major impact. That is in contrast to three seasons ago when a lot rested on the genius of Luis Suarez, with Daniel Sturridge proving to be a very trusty sidekick; a far cry from the peripheral role the striker plays in this current squad.

Defensive frailties were the undoing of Liverpool in that campaign, and there is little doubt that it is the area that will still cause Klopp some concern.

No team is ever going to be perfect in a single facet of the game, but if the German can eradicate some of the preventable defensive mistakes that currently occur, then it will be a major step towards ending their long title drought.