THE NOTEBOOK: Adam Wharton has justified his transfer fee… and Crystal Palace have cemented themselves as Liverpool’s bogey team

Anfield is famed for its atmosphere but the last two match days, for some reason, have been a reminder of difficult days in the past. 

Complacency and quietness reigned on Thursday against Atalanta, which is remarkable considering that game was a European quarter-final.

Here everything felt tetchy and twitchy from early on, missed chances and squandered passes being greeted by impatient growls. 

Jurgen Klopp was the catalyst for transforming the feeling inside this stadium but you wonder whether the ambivalence that was prevalent is a glimpse into the future.

Wharton has justified his transfer fee

Adam Wharton’s January move from Blackburn to Crystal Palace was held up as a sign of how inflated the transfer market has become. A fee rising to £22million for a 20-year-old was seen as being excessive but credit to this young man for how he has handled things.

This, arguably, was the biggest game he has played in but he was superb, dealing with the intensity and aggression with ease. He’s got a lot of developing to do but he is going the right way and as a young English player, his progress must be followed.

Mac Allister’s missed opportunity  

Liverpool had a fantastic opportunity to equalise in the first half, when a free-kick was awarded on the edge of the 18-yard box, dead centre. 

Alexis Mac Allister had the shot but it was charged down brilliantly by a raft of bodies. So delighted with the commitment from his players, Oliver Glasner jumped up and down in his technical area, punching and hollering like a goal had been scored.

Palace are Liverpool’s bogey team 

What is it about Crystal Palace for Liverpool? If ever a side deserved the tag ‘bogey team’ it is them: Reds of a certain vintage still wince about the 1990 FA cup semi-final defeat at Villa Park, while more recently there was ‘Crystanbul’ – an infamous 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park in May 2014.

It doesn’t end there. In May 2015, Palace ruined Steven Gerrard’s final Anfield appearance with a 3-1 win and they were also the team who, six months later, inflicted Jurgen Klopp’s first defeat as Liverpool manager. They will be glad to see the back of them for another year.

Liverpool’s leaky defence 

Sometimes in football, you wrap yourself in knots looking for explanations and theories when the answer is staring you in the face all along. 

If you want a conclusion as to why Liverpool’s foundations are shaking to the point that they may fall in, consider the following.

In 23 games since January 1, Liverpool have kept five clean sheets. In the last nine fixtures, they have conceded 15 goals and their most recent clean sheet was on March 2 at Nottingham Forest. Teams know they can get at Liverpool. It as simple as that.

 Steve Parish, Crystal Palace’s always impeccably dressed Chairman, did his best to make a speedy escape from Anfield but walking through the media mixed zone was an invitation for him to be asked for his thoughts. One reporter did just that, opening up with: “A couple of words, Steve?’

‘No,’ he replied, fixing the buttons on pastel blue suit, before thinking twice. ‘I’m happy – there’s a couple of words.’ With that, he breezed away. And why not? There’s no need to speak at length when you can wrap things up so succinctly.