I am not having Liverpool excuses after lucky Crystal Palace win - they are just easy get-outs

I think we’re all looking for excuses for what’s gone wrong in the last few games.

You can blame tiredness, you can blame fatigue, you can blame the injuries. You can always say you’re tired but it’s just an easy get-out clause.

Yes, we’ve played a lot of games. But Jurgen’s been playing the squad game, and done it really well until the last two games. And this intensity isn’t anything new for Liverpool.

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I think tiredness can be an easy get out of jail card. Of course, it can be mentally tiring. But not physically. Some players have played more than others.

You don’t hear Virgil van Dijk complaining. He’s played nearly every game. None of the players are complaining about it. So no, I’m not having tiredness as an excuse.

Maybe it’s pressure. Mental pressure can get to them and it does seem to have gotten to them the last few games.

The timing of Jurgen saying he was leaving, I think that is being used as an excuse too.

They want to win anything for Jurgen, of course they do. But we can’t say that’s a justifiable excuse for losing the last two games. I don't buy into it.

You can’t afford any slip-ups, like we did against Palace. Palace did get lucky. They defended really well and the goalie had a stormer, their defence had a stormer. But everything went their way. The saves, the blocks, the clearance off the line.

They had chances themselves though. And they had like 20 passes before they scored. It was quite plain pattern play from training, how they carved us up. It was just too easy for them.

Before the last couple of weeks, we had been brilliant. And it’s such a fine line. Years ago, teams would get beaten five, six or seven times in a season and still win the league.

We’ve only been beaten three times, the same as Man City and fewer than Arsenal, and we’re now behind both. It’s fine margins. City have raised the bar, and you now have to win every game!

A few years ago, before City changed things, it would still be enough for Liverpool to be top of the league.

Stranger things have happened

Man City will finish first or second now, and it’s going to be hard to topple them. It’s out of our hands.

I’m not really bothered about other teams, I’m just bothered about Liverpool. We know we need to win every game.

Whatever happens with Man City and Arsenal, I’m not really bothered. I don’t care about them.

Obviously, you want them to lose. If Liverpool don’t win the league, I’d probably want Arsenal because it’s monotonous what City have done now.

They’re a machine, they’re like Liverpool of old. They’re a machine and won’t drop many points, if any. I can’t see it.

But football’s a funny game. Unexpected things can happen, as we saw on Sunday. If there is a slip, we need to be in a position to take advantage. It can happen and Liverpool just need to keep on going.

Forget what’s happened in the past week, look at the remaining games and take each one of them one-by-one. If we win the three away games in a row after Atalanta, which is a big ask, you never know what can happen.

It’s a big ask, a really tough ask to win those three games away from home against Fulham, Everton, and West Ham. But stranger things have happened.

Never forget the 97

We’ll all never forget what happened 35 years ago at Hillsborough.

The most important goals of my life, you don’t need to pick up a cup to score the biggest goals of your career, were in the replay against Forest when I scored two.

That’s the biggest game I ever played in. It meant the most and they were the biggest goals I ever scored. The 97, the people and the families, will never be forgotten and they cannot be forgotten.