Liverpool boss Arne Slot issued a thinly-veiled dig at one of his defenders after his team's winning run came crashing to a halt at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Eddie Nketiah's added-time winner brought the Reds back down to earth after five straight wins and ensured Crystal Palace are now the only unbeaten team in the Premier League.
Discussing how Palace managed to breach the Liverpool defence late on, Slot said 'one of our players' left his defensive post to be in position for a counter-attack as Liverpool looked to build on Federico Chiesa's 87th-minute equaliser.
'We can only blame ourselves. Defending the way we did,' a clearly frustrated Slot said afterwards. 'One of our players decided to run out because he wanted to play a counter-attack, which was of no use because time was up.'
He did not name the player, but the Dutchman's words seemed to be aimed at Jeremie Frimpong who stepped up away from Nketiah, expecting the ball to fall his way while leaving the striker free.
'It was only about defending. Maybe we were too offensively minded. One player was too offensively minded in that moment, which led to them scoring the winner and us losing the game.'
Slot added: 'There was only one team that deserved to win and that was Palace. They had more than only two set-piece goals.
'They didn't score more, but they had chances from open play, from transition. So there were more things not to like than only defending the set-pieces.
'The good thing was that in the other moments, Alisson saved us. Palace have a few threats. Set-pieces are one of them, but counter-attack and balls in behind are number two and three. 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.'
SmithBradshaw1990
183
he who lives by last minute goal dies by last minute goal
DaniloBossy
98
This should be addressed internally, Stop playing into the hands of the media by stylishly calling your players out, this is like the 3rd time he's trying to blame a player openly. if He had scored from that gesture, you would also be happy, correct players internally.
Vewamsyz
65
someone to tell slot, chiesa is far better than gakpo and jones
Charlesugwu
35
Since the beginning of the season, they have always won their matches in the last few minutes. If the guy had succeeded, he would have said genius
MikelatySogwa
20
This is not a good sign from a coach. last time you said some word to EKitiki after he remove his cloth and collect red card ,now you still single out Frimpong .He has to learn how to hide such on media and adres it in dressing room
sodcltyz
19
This man just rode on what Kloop built to success and want us to believe he is good. Very soon we shall see the length of the toad.
☆Adithyasharma☆
8
he who lives by last minute goal dies by last minute goal
Wow that's some quotes for so-called Last Winner Champions!!🤣🤣👍
Kudaoruz
8
someone to tell slot, chiesa is far better than gakpo and jones
Chiesa and Jones play different positions. If you were watching the game Jones became our anchor in the second half and we played better and managed the game well. Please don’t hate a player for no reason because Jones is a very stable midfielder who does not lose the ball anyhow but as for Gakpo I think he is overdoing things and if I was the coach I would tell him to go back to doing simple things