'Bad decision': Don Hutchison names which Liverpool player was to blame for Crystal Palace's late winner today
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Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday after failing to hold on against Crystal Palace.
The Reds hauled themselves back into a game they barely deserved to be in, Federico Chiesa levelling with just minutes left on the clock.
But where Liverpool have been brilliant at scoring late winners this season, they soon got a taste of their own medicine.
Former Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah did his old team a favour by slotting past the terrific Alisson Becker to win the game for Palace.
It was a bitter blow for Liverpool, but no less than they deserved after an incredibly shoddy day at the office.
While fingers will be pointed at several players following defeat, former Liverpool player Don Hutchison has claimed that one was perhaps more to blame than anyone else.
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Liverpool fans have become so used to scoring late this season that many may have expected another showing against Palace.
At the very least it had looked as though Chiesa’s goal had given them another moment to savour towards the end of a match.
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But there was a sting in the tail and it came from Palace.
Nketiah somehow got free at the back post after Liverpool failed to deal with a long throw in and won the game for the Eagles.
There were plenty of Liverpool players at fault for handing Arne Slot his first defeat of the Premier League season.
But according to Hutchison, plenty of blame lay at the feet of Milos Kerkez, who was the man to give away the throw in the first place.
“The bad decision in the build-up was Kerkez not clearing the ball with his right foot – he kicked it out cheaply for a Palace throw-in, and how they’ve made him pay,” the pundit told premierleague.com.
“It’s a brilliant finish from Nketiah.”
It was not only Kerkez who should be feeling disappointed for the part he played in Palace’s late winner.
Curtis Jones gave the home side a big helping hand by somehow heading the ball towards the back post and into the path of Nketiah.
Jones only had to connect with the header and it would have been clear of danger and the final whistle would likely have gone.
Instead, the midfielder flicked it on, needlessly diverting it to Nketiah.
Liverpool arguably deserved nothing from Saturday’s match and many of the players should be taking a hard long look at themselves.