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Liverpool full-back Glen Johnson has hit out at what he called “sofa experts” after the Reds surrendered a three-goal lead at Crystal Palace.

Liverpool's title chance took a major blow at Selhurst Park on Monday night after Brendan Rodgers' side looked to be cruising to a big win over the Eagles, only for Crystal Palace to hit back in dramatic fashion.

Joe Allen, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez gave Liverpool a commanding 3-0 lead, only for Damien Delaney and a Dwight Gayle brace to peg the Reds back in an extraordinary 3-3 draw.

While the point does put Liverpool back on top of the table, the general feeling was that nothing less than all three points would be required to keep their realistic hopes of winning the Premier League alive, with Manchester City facing home games against Aston Villa and West Ham United in their remaining fixtures. 

After the game, full-back Johnson took to social media to voice his clear frustration as he hit out at “sofa experts” who have “absolutely no idea about football”.

The England international wrote on his Twitter account: “Absolutley clueless.....

“So many sofa experts in this game.... Absolutely no idea about football what so ever!

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers says free-scoring Liverpool are filling rivals with “fear” because of their potent attacking play.

The Reds smashed six past Cardiff City on Saturday afternoon to take their league tally to 82 this season – a club record in the Premier League.

Luis Suarez grabbed his third hat-trick of the season to cement his place as the division’s leading scorer with 28 goals while Martin Skrtel scored twice and Daniel Sturridge also found the back of the net.

Liverpool are the top flight’s leading scorers and Rodgers says their threat in front of goal leaves him supremely confident heading into every game – and has the opposition running scared.

And even when the Reds went behind for the second time in South Wales at the weekend, the Reds’ manager knew they would fire their way back into the game.

“I think we showed our power in the offensive game,” said Rodgers.

Manchester United may have come out on top in today’s 0-3 win at West Brom, but there were still a few areas of concern very much apparent.

David Moyes’ side have had a lot of problems recently and when Juan Mata was bought to add creativity, he came with his own liability to the side.

Granted, he is one of best playmakers in the world but only when deployed in the central position. Moyes currently favours Wayne Rooney for that role and Mata has too much quality – and too big a price tag – to sit on the bench.

So, he is slotted in on the right. It has its perks going forward, of course, but there is a defensive worry there.

Mata lacks the athleticism to close-in on an attacking full-back or the pace to keep up when tracking back. There were a couple of moments where West Brom could have easily cashed in because of that.

Da Silva lining

Fortunately, the solution could be nearby.

Rafael is a worry every time he plays. He is so committed, and it usually pays off for him, but sometimes he pays for it. He is just coming back from an injury where he landed awkwardly after a committed challenge against Olivier Giroud when Manchester United visited Arsenal in February.

He has a desire that has been rare in a Manchester United shirt this season. No West Brom player got past him in this game, yet he made intelligent runs forward.

In the 33rd minute, he made a clever cut inside and was fouled by Chris Brunt. United scored from the resulting free kick.

The Brazilian also picked an accurate cross for Rooney’s goal. He was here, there and everywhere.

Unlike Smalling, who can defend well as a covering right back but lacks piercing runs and accurate crosses, Rafael also add natural width going forward.

Midfield worries

Then there are the well-documented problems in the middle of the park. When United play Tom Cleverley alongside Michael Carrick in central midfield, the young Englishman is accused of lacking a box-to-box threat.

Marouane Fellaini seems to be taking that to that to the other extreme; he bombed forward too much today and when United lost the ball he was slow to recover. This leaves Carrick exposed, especially if there are several runners. Yaya Toure is sometimes guilty of the same sin but he offers much more going forward to more than make up for it.

There are some chronic problems like the urgency with which they move the ball. No doubt Moyes is working on but there are also a couple of areas they can improve on.

With more work, Mata’s lack of pace can be helped by Rafael’s urge to go forward. The main worry for Moyes should be Fellaini and getting him to find the right balance in his game.

Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez has emerged as a summer target form Valencia, according to reports from CalcioMercato.

The Mexican forward has been somewhat a peripheral figure at Old Trafford over the course of the past year, with Sir Alex Ferguson and now David Moyes choosing to overlook him on numerous occasions.

This has alerted Valencia, who are keen to offer the goal-getter an escape route at the end of the season.

The Spaniards see Hernandez as the ideal man to become the focal point of their attack after struggling to a degree since losing Roberto Soldado to Tottenham last year.

‘Chicharito’ himself is said to be frustrated by his lack of playing time this term, which even led to talk of a January move away from the Red Devils.

With Moyes expected to spend big in the summer, Hernandez is likely to slip further down the pecking order, and could be set for an exit.

The majority of the 25-year-old’s appearances this season have come in Cup and European games, but he has managed two Premier League strikes in 16 showings – with many of those short stints from the bench.