Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on April 25, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)placeholder image
Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, applauds the fans following the team's victory during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on April 25, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Liverpool moved up to fourth in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield
Arne Slot heaped praise on Freddie Woodman as he once again answered Liverpool’s SOS call.
The goalkeeper was handed a full Premier League debut for the Reds in the 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield. Woodman, who is third choice in the pecking order, had to come off the bench in last week’s Merseyside derby victory against Everton after Giorgi Mamardashvili suffered a deep wound.
With Alisson Becker still recovering from a hamstring complaint, Woodman - signed from Preston North End on a free transfer last summer - had to feature between the posts. He made two big saves from Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix.
Woodman also thwarted Palace forward Ismaila Sarr in the second half but suffered an injury. When down in pain, Daniel Munoz finished into an empty net, with Slot and the Liverpool fans incensed the goal was allowed to stand.
Still, it took nothing away from the performance of Woodman, who was serenaded by the Kop at the full-time whistle. Asked about Woodman stepping up again, Liverpool head coach Slot replied at his post-match press conference: “That is an understatement. I think I have said it many times, we have created a lot of good chances then the first one of the other team went in. I cannot say that today because they have had enough good chances and enough moments they were really close.
“I think the moment of the game was the lead up to our 2-0 when Freddie made a big save, otherwise it would have been 1-1 and seconds later, it is 2-0. These are the margins in the Premier League and today they were on our side as so many times, they haven't been on our side.”
On Palace’s goal being allowed to stand, with Woodman not suffering a head injury, which immediately prompts games to stop, Slot replied: “But do the referees only stop the game for head injuries at this time? The amount of times that players were pretending they were injured and referees buy into this, it has become a tactic in football. I have said many times over here and we are not known for [dives] but once or twice this season we have done this.
“In general, the referee today gave a penalty which was correctly overturned by the VAR because there was no contact - why was there no contact? That’s important to ask. Mo jumped over the tackle, where I can come up many examples of players of other clubs where they leave their foot and the tackle comes in and then there is coomnatct and it is a penalty. I think as a refere, there comes times where they know who they are refereeing.
“This since incident happened to us against Man United when Mac Allister was on the floor with a head injury, Michael Oliver [say] ‘keep on playing’ on and five stitches. The amount of times the referee stops the play - you can probably feel my big frustration about this.
“People saying ‘you always talk about the Paris Saint-Germain game’. Yeah, there was no diving, there was just fair football. The amount of times games have been stopped because players have been pretended to be injured - that has happened so many times that I can’t believe when you are refereeing Liverpool and there is a goalkeeper on the floor and the referee doesn’t stop the game. The only reason I can come up with is that the moment he saved the ball, the ball went to a different position. He looked at that and then looks up and sees the goalkeeper. That would be the only dair explanation why he didnn’t stop the game. Otherwise, I think he should have stopped the game.”
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