Ian Wright was part of the Crystal Palace team that suffered the unfortunate 9-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool in 1989
By Kehinde Okeowo
Arsenal legend and former England striker, Ian Wright has narrated his not so pleasant experience when his team lost 9-0 to Merseyside club, Liverpool.
He recounted the moment while speaking after Liverpool steamrolled Bournemouth 9-0 in Saturday’s week four Premier League fixture at Anfield.
The result by Jurgen Klopp’s men equalled the record margin of victory in a Premier League fixture and marked the second time Liverpool will be annihilating a team 9-0 in English football top flight at Anfield.
Back in 1989, Liverpool spanked Crystal Palace by the same score line, as they marched towards their 18th league title.
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Ian Wright was part of the team that suffered the unfortunate drubbing in the hands of Kenny Dalglish’s side and he recalled what it was like to be on the receiving end.
According to him, the result was even more painful because his team missed an opportunity to score a goal, when his team mate, Geoff Thomas missed the spot kick, having denied him the opportunity of taking it.
Ian Wright said: “I was crying. Do you know when I was crying? When Geoff Thomas missed the penalty at six. Not just because I wanted to take it but because it was devastating. The fact is, it’s humiliating. I remember at half-time, Steve Coppell saying we’ve got to be careful here because we’re playing against an elite team.
“This is the type of team you want to end up playing (for). We couldn’t get anywhere near them. It was really bad for us, but he (Coppell) got us to pick ourselves up quickly simply because they were so good.
“We saw what happened later in the year. We beat them 4-3 in a (FA Cup) semi-final, but it was tough. It was one of the most harrowing weeks of training, because we needed to get something.”
There were some similarities in both games, as just like Luis Diaz did on Saturday, the scoring was opened and closed by the same player against Palace – Steve Nicol.
Nicol was joined by Steve McMahon, Ian Rush, Gary Gillespie, Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge, John Barnes and Glen Hysen.
However, unlike the 1989 game, where there were eight different scorers in the match, the latest victory had 7 scorers and one of them plays for Bournemouth.