Liverpool head into the November international break in a far healthier state than when they arrived in south London, with Florian Wirtz scoring one and setting up another as Andoni Iraola’s side beat Crystal Palace by three goals to one at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon.
The win carried real weight after back to back defeats against Fenerbahce in the Champions League and Arsenal in the Premier League, which led Iraola to make five changes to his starting lineup, with Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo all returning.
Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring five minutes before half time when he headed in a Dominik Szoboszlai free kick, and Wirtz doubled the lead in the 54th minute by meeting a low Bradley Barcola cross at the end of a swift counter attack and guiding it into the bottom left corner.
Isak added a third late on from a Wirtz pass before Eddie Nketiah scored a stoppage time penalty for the hosts.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Wirtz put the result down to his side’s clinical edge.
“It was a good game from us. I’m really happy about the win. I think that’s all that counts,” he said.
“I would say that we were just efficient in front of the goal. We didn’t have so many clear chances.”
”Maybe we did, I don’t know, but it felt like we didn’t have so many big chances.”
“I think scoring three goals is always good.”
”I think we defended also quite well. So, a good team performance.”
The most revealing part of his assessment came when he described his own goal, which he credited to an instruction his manager kept repeating.
“It was a great pass to Bradley into the space.”
“The manager was talking so much to us to arrive into the box and I think we were with three players in the box,” Wirtz explained.
“Luckily, the ball came to me and I could score.”
That detail matters because Iraola had urged his players before the game to attack the opposition box in greater numbers, and the second goal showed that plan in action.
For Wirtz personally, the finish ended a run of 12 Premier League matches without a goal, which also noted that two of Liverpool’s £100m players had combined to create it.
Liverpool now sit fourth and remain unbeaten away from home this season, although Wirtz admitted the side still has work to do at Anfield.
“I think we are always confident because we know what a team we have and what quality we have,” he told Sky Sports.
“It doesn’t really matter if it’s away from home but for sure we need to get more points also in the home games.”
Iraola will want his players to keep filling the box when those home fixtures resume after the break, and if they do, Wirtz looks well placed to build on his first league goal of the season.
Read more: Andoni Iraola admits he is very upset despite Liverpool’s win at Crystal Palace
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