MY ACCOUNT
Jamie Carragher labelled Liverpool’s start to the season “terrible” as they dropped more points against Crystal Palace.
The Reds have had to come from behind in both their opening two games, drawing away to Fulham and at home against the Eagles last night.
Luis Diaz’s brilliant strike rescued a point for them at Anfield after Wilfried Zaha had put Palace ahead and Darwin Nunez was sent off for a headbutt on his full debut.
While Reds legend Carragher was impressed with the reaction of the side, sitting four points behind champions Manchester City is far from ideal.
He said: “It’s been a terrible start points-wise, but I thought they were outstanding tonight with the way they reacted with 10 men.
“Draws are defeats now as Manchester City set the bar so high.
“To give City a four-point head start, yes there is a long way to go, it’s a tough act to catch one of the greatest teams in the Premier League.”
Nunez nightmare
Nunez’s red card was the main talking point as his first Anfield start turned into a nightmare.
After a difficult 57 minutes, the 23-year-old inexplicably headbutted Joachim Andersen and had to be shepherded off the pitch by skipper for the night James Milner as he completely lost his cool.
A three-game ban will follow, with Carragher unsure when he will be able to force his way back into the starting XI.
Carragher added: “It’s a nightmare start for him as a player at Liverpool, it’s a nightmare for Jurgen Klopp as he is trying to integrate him into a new team.
“The issue wasn’t tonight, the problem is how long it will be until he is back in the team as he’ll likely only be on the bench after the suspension to get up to speed so it could be five or six weeks until we see him back in the Liverpool starting XI.”
Neville: Dressing room will pick Nunez up
Gary Neville labelled it a “moment of madness” — though admitted he had similar incidents during his career.
And the ex-Manchester United defender backed Liverpool’s dressing room to rally around the young Uruguayan.
Neville said: “We don’t know why he’s done it. I’ve done two or three things like this in my career. We don’t know why we react. We have no idea. We go off and think ‘what did I just do?'”
“I kicked a ball at a fan at Everton and did a similar thing in a game against Steve McManaman. It’s that red mist. It comes over you.
“When you get sent off like that it’s the loneliest place in the world. You might have a kit man with you but it’s horrible.
“You are in that dressing room and your team-mates are out on the pitch. You’ve left them down and you feel so bad.
“You don’t need to say too much to a player that has been sent off as it’s awful anyway and they take responsibility. I’m sure he’d have gone around the dressing room to apologise.
“The rest of the lads in that dressing room will pick him up as it’s a good dressing room.”
Liverpool will look for their first win of the season at Old Trafford on Monday night, when they take on fierce rivals United.
