Crystal Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson believes Liverpool's 3-1 Premier League victory at Selhurst Park was "tough to take," but admitted the home side's stoppage-time consolation came from a penalty that should not have been awarded.
Goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak secured the win for the Reds on Sunday afternoon. Palace created several chances before Mac Allister's opener but found Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker in inspired form.
Henderson on the defeat and Palace's performance
Henderson said: "It's fairly tough to take. We come in at half-time as the better team by far. We created opportunities, we had one ruled out, hit the crossbar then our Achilles heel again, set-pieces."
"Obviously, we go in 1-0 down but still full of belief and went after it first 15 minutes of the second half but just couldn't find a way through. It's tough when you're chasing the game. We've been done by three counter-attacks really, which is tough to take."
"We just couldn't put the ball in the back of the net and it's tough to take when things are going against you. Then every chance they seem to get goes in."
"That performance first half, if we play like that every game we'll pick up a lot of results. We pick ourselves up and go again."
Penalty admission and looking ahead
Palace, who now sit bottom of the table, were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time after a VAR check, despite it appearing Liverpool left-back Milos Kerkez had been accidentally caught in the face by home substitute Dario Osorio.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Henderson added: "We went toe-to-toe and it's just so frustrating because you're looking for a lucky break, the ball to fall for you, which it did in the 93rd minute. It's probably not a penalty but if you get that in the first half, it changes the game completely."
"It's about getting back up off the canvas. Togetherness is the key and we'll come back. We know we've got the players in there, we've done it before. Get one or two back and we can really kick on."
