It could go down as one of the all-time great bottling jobs in Premier League history as Liverpool have apparently giving away the title after throwing away a three-goal at Crystal Palace on Monday.
With title rivals Manchester City winning at Everton on Saturday, the pressure was on Brendan Rodgers and his side to pick up all three points at Selhurst Park to maintain any realistic chance of ending their 24-year wait for a league title.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan when Joe Allen’s first Liverpool goal gave the Reds a half-time lead, and the match seemed over when Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez scored in two early second-half minutes.
But just as the pressure of being title contenders got to Steven Gerrard in the match against Chelsea recently, this time it was Liverpool’s shaky center back pairing of Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel who folded under the pressure as Palace rescued a point with three goals in nine minutes.
For Liverpool legend and now TV pundit Jamie Carragher slammed the duo, and by association Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers after the game saying:
‘Defensively they’re not up to being Premier League champions,’Carragher said on Sky Sports.
‘Sakho makes you nervous. They always concede together. It’s not good enough.
‘That final 20 minutes was unacceptable. They concede too many goals.
‘The back four and defensive side of this team have shown they can’t cope with pressure. They’re not leaders.
‘You can’t keep inviting pressure. They got out of jail at Norwich the other week and haven’t learned their lesson; It’s gone on and on over the past few months.
‘Well tonight they haven’t and have thrown away the Premier League title.’
