‘Not We’—Arne Slot Singles Out One Liverpool Player After Dramatic Crystal Palace Loss

One of Liverpool’s summer signings came under fire after the Reds were beaten at Selhurst Park.

Liverpool fell to a 2–1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon. / Alex Broadway/Getty Images

Liverpool manager Arne Slot indirectly blamed Jeremie Frimpong for the Reds’ first defeat of the 2025–26 campaign, suggesting the Dutchman was “too offensively minded” in the dying embers of the contest.

The champions fell to a 2–1 defeat at Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon, having started their title defence with five wins from five.

Federico Chiesa had seemingly rescued a point for the away side late on after Ismaïla Sarr’s early opener, but former Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah subsequently struck in the seventh minute of added time to secure a memorable triumph for the Eagles.

Oliver Glasner’s side are now unbeaten in 18 games across all competitions.

Eddie Nketiah scored Palace’s winner on Saturday. / Alex Broadway/Getty Images

It was another imperfect performance from Liverpool, but escaping Selhurst Park with a point would’ve been far from a disastrous result. However, a late lapse meant they were handed a taste of their own medicine by Nketiah, who finished at the back post after the Reds failed to clear Jefferson Lerma’s long throw into the box.

Slot was “disappointed” with his team’s first-half display and, of course, the conclusion, but curiously pointed out summer signing Frimpong for criticism, seemingly for the role he played in Nketiah’s winner.

The Liverpool boss was asked in his post-match press conference whether he and his team were going for the win at 1–1, to which he failed to provide a definitive response. Instead, he thrust blame onto Frimpong: “One of our players decided to run out because he wanted to play a counter-attack, which was of no use because time was up, so it was only about defending.

“Maybe we were too offensively minded. Not we, one player, was too offensively minded in that moment, which led to them scoring the winner, us losing the game.”

Frimpong was marking Nketiah from Lerma’s throw, and did make an initial step to push forward when Liverpool made their first attempt to clear. However, the second ball was won by Will Hughes, and a subtle push from Nketiah opened up enough space between the striker and Frimpong for him to score after Marc Guéhi’s flick.

Frimpong replaced Ibrahima Konaté for the final 16 minutes of the game after the Frenchman endured another torrid afternoon. The Dutchman, an early summer arrival, is yet to make a discernible impact at Anfield, and Slot’s latest comments are unlikely to ignite a fire.

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