That's how long Roy Hodgson spoiled Crystal Palace fans. They rot. And then their day was simply ruined by a party that had developed an excellent talent for salvaging lost causes.
That's what this Liverpool team can do. They can dance with the best of them, but they fight and they scrap and they continue to find success in the most unlikely performances.
Because make no mistake: this was a bad one. Or rather, it was in the first half. They were slow, disjointed and listless and after 57 minutes they found themselves behind, having fallen on their backs by Jean-Philippe Mateta's penalty.
After starting the day with a chance to go top, Liverpool blew it away against a team with one win in eight and a manager who had this week criticized his own 'spoiled' supporters before apologising. Strange times and a strange game.
But how it turned. First Jordan Ayew was sent off and it had the whiff of a harsh decision, not to mention a momentum changer, as Mo Salah almost immediately leveled with the 200th goal of his Liverpool career. A remarkable result for a remarkable player and what seemed, at best, to be the culmination of an unremarkable display for people and the collective.
Harvey Elliott sent Liverpool to the top of the Premier League after an injury-time winner against Crystal Palace
The second-half substitute smashed a shot from the edge of the penalty area past the dive of Palace goalkeeper Remi Matthews
Elliott's strike sparked wild celebrations from the Liverpool team after a late turnaround at Selhurst Park
And yet there was more, because with the match one minute into 10 stoppage time, Harvey Elliott scored a beauty. Jurgen Klopp burst out, but perhaps there should have been little surprise: Liverpool have won 18 points this season by losing positions. Premier League titles are won by quality, but also by backbone, and Liverpool is full of both.
But some sympathy is due to Palace and Hodgson. They have gone through a tough period and he has shown the stress of that situation, but they were strong here. They were more than a match for Liverpool until the red card, but then they faded. The question is how much more time the 76-year-old will get. His position is in danger and the results show a worrying trend, even though this was a good performance overall.
In the initial stages of this film, they showed the value of patience as nothing happened for a very long time. Anyway, nothing of importance. Liverpool dominated possession but failed to create a single significant chance throughout the first half. A lack of inspiration or good defending? It was a strong dose of each.
Palace were stationed deep by design and their screen from Will Hughes and Chris Richards swallowed everything within 30 yards of goal. They were effective; Liverpool looked a bit leggy. A little jaded. A touch too slow when pulling the triggers and spreading the game.
They adhered to some of Klopp's principles, but without his key ingredient: intensity and accuracy. This was best reflected in the diagonal arrows to Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz, who on a good day can tear a defense apart. Here they were held up by the wind or simply not very well. In that respect, Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has been so resurgent of late, was noticeably off color, knocking two balls out of play in the first half alone.
For Liverpool, on the other hand, there was apparently little going on. In the absence of Eberechi Eze, and with Michael Olize resting on the bench, Palace were inhibited and reserved, until the moment they suddenly tapped into their sense of adventure.
The attack came after 27 minutes and was the first from either side to warrant the description. The team was led on the right by Jordan Ayew, who then played a low ball for Alisson and behind the back line for Jefferson Lerma. He managed a clean goal, albeit too close to Alisson – the save was excellent and also somewhat fortuitous as the loose ball bounced back against the post.
Jean-Philippe Mateta put Crystal Palace ahead from the spot after the striker was fouled by defender Jarrell Quansah
Mateta's effort gave the home side a deserved lead as Crystal Palace responded to their supporters' expulsion in midweek.
The match turned in Liverpool's favor after the home side were reduced to ten men and Jordan Ayew was sent off for two yellow cards.
Ayew received his first yellow card for blocking a quick free-kick and was shown his second after stopping a Liverpool counter
That chance came out of the blue and was immediately followed by Palace's first penalty after Virgil van Dijk had clipped Odsonne Edouard. The call was rightly overturned by VAR when it became clear that Will Hughes had made a mistake on Wataru Endo in the build-up.
That was something of a letdown for Liverpool and Endo; he had already been caught in possession of the ball twice. It may come as no surprise that he was hooked on Klopp at half-time.
Although the hope was for more urgency in the second half, this was not realized. The same applies to the wider match, as illustrated by the nature of the penalty awarded on 57 minutes when Andy Madley was belatedly warned by VAR for a foul by Jarell Quansah on Mateta. The fact that a minute and 45 seconds had passed before the error was issued does not bode well for the system.
When that situation was finally resolved, Alisson dived to the right, Mateta fired through the middle and Palace led. Klopp looked completely stunned, but the revival was coming.
Firstly, that meant a red card for Ayew, the sharpest player in the game so far. He had clumsily ended a Harvey Elliott counter and was shown a second yellow card. Moments later, Liverpool scored with their first shot on target, which was scored when Olise failed to clear a Gravenberch cross and Curtis Jones got on the heels of Salah to power a finish through traffic for his milestone goal.
If that was eerie for Palace, the real kicker came in the opening minute of stoppage time, when Elliott collected possession on the right, cut inside and struck a lovely strike from the edge of the area. Klopp burst out and did so again when Luis Diaz scored, but the goal was disallowed.