James Milner analyses Liverpool's draw with Crystal Palace

ReactionJames Milner analyses Liverpool's draw with Crystal Palace

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James Milner was left disappointed after the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace but pleased with the fighting spirit displayed by 10-man Liverpool.

Extended highlights: Liverpool 1-1 Crystal Palace

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The Reds overcame a Wilfried Zaha opener and Darwin Nunez's dismissal to take a point from the Anfield contest, courtesy of a brilliant equaliser from Luis Diaz in the second half.

Milner, who played the opening 63 minutes, saw plenty of things to be encouraged about during the game, though couldn't shake his frustration at not being able to take all the points on offer.

Read on for the vice-captain's post-match interview with Sky Sports…

On how he saw the game...

Disappointing obviously, we always want to win our games, especially at home. I thought we started pretty well and lost our way a bit in the middle. They've obviously got quality and are always going to cause you problems on the break, which we could've defended better. We had chances really that we didn't take.

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On going into half-time 1-0 down after such a strong start...

That's football, that's the Premier League, it's always going to be tough. You're coming up against organised teams, teams with quality, teams that will try to hurt you on the break as well. They're well organised but they've got a lot of very good individuals as well who are unpredictable and caught us on the break. It's disappointing but ultimately the main thing is that at least we created those chances. I think if you're not creating anything, that's obviously a bigger problem. We're creating, we need to take them. But it's not the ideal start to the season but we need to keep playing the way we started and finished the game. I think the reaction going down to 10 men was very, very good. The crowd helped us out as well. And Lucho scored an incredible goal.

On Nunez's sending-off...

I didn't see the incident. Obviously he's going to be disappointed with that and it's down to us to get round him and rally. I'm sure he'll learn from it. I think the reaction was the most important thing. The team reacted very, very well and the ground reacted very well – as they always do – they got right behind us and we could've nicked a winner. It wasn't to be but we move on.

That's what good teams do, they get together with disappointments and you stick together. We've got a great team spirit at the club and you don't have to say too much about the fans here, they're obviously incredible and always get behind us, especially when things are tough. They did that and we rallied. It was disappointing not to get the winner but I think the reaction was incredible from the boys – 10 men and kept pushing. It's not the ideal start but you see the readiness for the season and it's obviously a long, long season. It's not the start we would want but you see the fight there. We've had a week of tough things that have gone on and preparation hasn't been ideal. I think it's disappointing but you see the fighting spirit was there and no-one can deny that. We fought until the end.

On Diaz's goal...

When we had the chances we had and the moments around the box and didn't quite get the break, sometimes you need that moment of brilliance. Obviously when you've got players like him on the pitch that can create something out of nothing, it was an incredible goal and hopefully there'll be many more to come this season from him.

On Liverpool's start to the season...

It's very early days. Obviously we go into every game wanting to win, so when we drop points it's disappointing, especially here at Anfield. It is a long way to go and we have to make sure that we rally through this tough period that we've got with a few injuries here and there. We reorganise, recover and go again next week.

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