ReactionJames Milner reflects on stalemate at Selhurst Park
James Milner reflected on Liverpool's stalemate against Crystal Palace after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park.
The Reds were unable to register a third successive Premier League victory as both sides struck the woodwork on the night.
Milner spoke to Liverpoolfc.com following the final whistle – read the No.7’s reaction in full below…
WATCH | Crystal Palace 0-0 Liverpool: Match action
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On his assessment of the game…
It was a tough away day in the Premier League. You always know what you’re going to get here, it’s going to be a tough game, they have some very good individuals and make it difficult. It was always going to be that. We were difficult to beat, obviously keeping the clean sheet, defended well at the end the couple of set-pieces they had, which is the most important thing – you keep a clean sheet, with the players we have more often than not you’re going to get a goal and win the game. It didn’t quite happen today. We would like to play a bit better and create a few more chances but we’ve had more than enough chances to win the game, hit the woodwork a couple of times, free-kick, Cody going through. We’ve had more than enough chances to win the game on the road at a difficult place to come. When things aren’t going your way it’s easy to just look at all the negatives and it’s another draw and we didn’t take our chances, but we have to look at the facts as well and when you’re winning a lot of games like we have done in past seasons, they weren’t brilliant performances every week, we found a way to win the game and we’ve won games with a lot worse performances and a lot less chances than we had today.
On trying to find a rhythm when players are reintegrating back into the team after injuries…
Of course it does [take time] but that’s football, we always have that thing and that’s all part of it. It’s not excuses, it’s reasons why maybe the performance isn’t as fluid as you would like but it’s seen as excuses if you’re not winning games, whereas if you win a game with a poor performance and things are going alright, these things are brushed away. It’s football, it’s part of it. I thought Jots did well, he’s been out for a long time and he’s had bits and bobs, he’ll be very tired tomorrow. A few other lads coming back, Virgil – the amount of football he’s played since he’s had an injury and things like that. The boys gave everything they had, you saw the desire and the willingness and the drive to try to get the result. It’s a point, it’s not a defeat but sometimes it feels like that when you’re desperate to get the win.
On what he feels is ‘not quite happening’ at the moment…
I think obviously when things aren’t going your way there’s obviously a loss of confidence. When things are going well in a general period and you have a game where you hit the post and it doesn’t go in or you misplace a pass, it doesn’t affect you as much, you shake it off and go again. Obviously at this moment in time with the confidence a bit lower and a few bad experiences, it probably gets us down a bit more than it should do at this moment in time – and that’s something we need to try to fight through. It’s hard when you’re not getting the results you want to see the good things in the performances. It’s important that we don’t get too down on not getting the results and things that don’t go our way in games, we have to bounce back and be a bit mentally more strong than that, and also still see the good parts in the games.
On a big week coming up with home games against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United…
Every week is a big week. We want to finish the season strongly, there’s still so many games left to go. It feels a bit strange because normally at this stage of the season you’re probably a bit further in, but there’s so many games to go. It’s important when we’re not getting results that we shake ourselves off, don’t get too down and disappointed about it. There has been some good performances in there recently. There was a great 40 minutes or first half against Madrid, a couple of sloppy goals but other than that it was a good 45 minutes. You come away second half and all the good things are forgotten about. It’s important that we remember there has been some good signs over the last few weeks. This was a gritty away performance, it wasn’t our best performance, it wasn’t the most fluid performance but ultimately we have come to a tricky place, kept a clean sheet, had enough chances to win the game, not our best but we could easily be standing here talking about a gritty 1-0 win and everyone be happy. So it’s important we don’t always just get down on ourselves and we stick together. You’ve seen the amount of fans who were here again today and they’re backing us every single game, which is obviously incredible. We know how frustrated they are because we’re frustrated as well, but hopefully they know that we’ll be giving absolutely everything and working as hard as we can to try to get some form going and finish the season strongly.