The celebrations when Diogo Jota scored told the story. A stadium wracked with anxiety burst into emotion when the breakthrough came. It was hard to take for Everton - not least because there were legitimate questions about whether the offside Luis Diaz was interfering with play in the build up.
But it was also tough to stomach because once again Everton pushed their cross-city rivals to the limit. David Moyes was right when, on the eve of this game, he said the gulf between his side and Liverpool had never been greater. Yet once again his Blues have pushed this Liverpool team to the edge.
That was why the celebrations were so intense. Liverpool and their supporters may not want to admit it, but one of Everton’s worst sides has been a nightmare for one of their greatest. And do not for one second think the red half of the city is serious when it claims this is a game of diminishing importance. Again, the celebrations showed the truth.
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None of this will be a salve to the wounds felt in the Everton dressing room. Nor will it make this result easier for Moyes or Blues supporters to stomach. The record books will show a 1-0 win to Liverpool. They will show Everton escaped the last Goodison Park derby with a draw through a goal at the death. And defeat here last season will look straightforward on paper.
The reality for each of those games was very different. Everton could have won across the park seven weeks ago - they certainly did not deserve to lose. The monumental Blues win at Goodison last year will never look as emphatic as it truly was. And in this fixture last year the game swung on the controversial call to give Ibrahima Konate a reprieve when he should have been sent off with the game in the balance.
The same is true of this latest derby. While no-one in Blue will want to remember it, those who do will have to acknowledge how close their side was to making this a very different spectacle. When the ball broke to Beto in the first half, he had destiny in his grasp. It was stolen from him by the inside of the post.
Everton fought with determination and were a serious threat on the break. They created better chances and, at times, showed greater desire. The failure to extend their nine game unbeaten Premier League streak was less about what Liverpool did and more about what Everton could not.
Too often the final ball eluded them. That failure offers a glimpse of the challenge faced by Moyes during his summer rebuild. How does he find the quality to take advantage of key moments in games like this without losing the doggedness that makes this side capable of punching above its weight?
That is a question for the weeks to come, however. One for the present is the call that decided this game. Jota was only able to twist through on goal because James Tarkowski’s interception fell his way. Tarkowski only intervened because of the presence of Diaz, offside, behind him. The ECHO understands VAR did check this but ruled the goal should stand because Diaz, though beyond the last defender, was not in a position to impact Tarkowski’s ability to clear the ball.
And so another trip to Anfield ends in defeat. And it ends with that all-too familiar feeling that a major decision has proved costly for the Blues in the game they want to win most.
As a result Everton were unable to exploit the hard work of a first half that ended with frustration over missed chances. The Blues lived on the edge at times, physically and tactically. When Tarkowski won the ball but caught Alexis Mac Allister high with his follow through there was little surprise when VAR intervened. Officials ultimately deemed the Everton captain’s challenge to have been reckless but no more - therefore sticking with referee Sam Barrott’s original call, which was to book the 32-year-old and leave it at that.
Like on the other side of the park in February, Liverpool struggled to create meaningful chances and Everton were able to survive Mo Salah’s tame back post header and then again when Ryan Gravenberch’s cross bounced through their defence but landed just behind the sliding Jota.
As it happened, it will have been the away side that entered the dressing rooms with the greatest regret. Having fought through a nervy first 20 minutes, Moyes’ side grew into this match. Rising frustration in the home end then combined with the sight of Beto battling his way through Virgil van Dijk and rampaging on Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal to add to the home end’s worry. On the first occasion, Beto muscled behind van Dijk to poke the ball through Kelleher’s legs - only for him to be judged narrowly offside.
Minutes later he fought past the same centre back and was through on goal and facing destiny, only to slot past the onrushing goalkeeper but on to the post. It was the best chance for either side in the first half - but not Everton’s only missed opportunity. As the away side gained confidence they turned the ball over on the edge of their own area several times, sparking threatening counter attacks. Too often, the final ball was missing.
But at the break there was an increasing sense that Liverpool were, once again, struggling to solve the riddles posed by their cross-city rivals and that history could be on the cards with a bounce of luck or a moment of precision. Yet again, both fortune and quality eluded them in this corner of L4.