An overview of the wider coverage of Everton's 2-1 defeat to Liverpool
Virgil van Dijk scores the winner in the Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk scores the winner in the Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Everton’s failure to test Freddie Woodman proved costly according to most reports from the Merseyside derby - though all acknowledged positives about the Blues’ performance.
Reporters were clear in their belief Everton started the first derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium the better side and would have deserved the lead had they taken it.
The inability to test Woodman after Giorgi Mamardashvili was stretchered off was highlighted as a factor in the hosts falling to a late defeat courtesy of Virgil van Dijk’s header, though, as was the impact of the substitutions made by both sides.
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Paul Joyce highlighted the spectacular scenes that started the occasion and that Everton posed a threat in the match, adding of Beto: “Whatever the limitations of the Portuguese forward, he always causes a degree of panic against Liverpool.”
But he also pointed to the game “conforming to type” as Everton’s woeful derby record continued, adding the fervour at the start of the game, on and off the pitch, was not backed up later in the game when they had the chance to put the third choice keeper under pressure.
He wrote in the Times: “They could not back up that boldness and they failed to really test Woodman for the 40 minutes he was on the pitch. That cost them.”
In the Telegraph, Dom King wrote that Everton would have deserved the lead had Iliman Ndiaye’s first half goal not been disallowed before praising the Blues for mustering a response: “[Mo Salah’s opening goal] was the kind of sucker-punch that could have ruined Everton’s afternoon but Moyes has put fighting spirit in this team and they clambered back into the contest in the second period when Beto atoned for a dreadful miss in the first half by sliding in from close range.”
He also highlighted the inability of Everton to test Woodman though: “Everton could not put him under sufficient pressure to expose any weakness. This was something they were left to rue…”
Andy Hunter wrote in the Guardian that “a new £800m setting for the Merseyside derby contained an old and familiar script”. He also said Everton “merited” the lead Ndiaye’s goal would have provided, adding that “Moyes’s side produced the more controlled, inventive football”.
He highlighted the substitutions as a vital difference: “Having exited the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday Liverpool would have been forgiven for tiring in the closing stages. But Slot utilised his five substitutions wisely and the visitors seized the initiative late on. David Moyes’ introduction of Thierno Barry and Tyrique George, by contrast, sent Everton’s performance plummeting. Barry was dreadful, his lack of effort in particular a disgrace, and the loss of Beto and Jarrad Branthwaite to injury badly disrupted the home performance. For all the justified criticism that Liverpool have received, they still possess the quality to torment their local rivals in novel ways.”
In the Mail, Ian Ladyman wrote: “It was hard on Everton. David Moyes’ team deserved a point.” He was clear in his view that Everton started the game well and hinted at growth in how the side had approached the match: “Everton had been exactly as we expected them to be. Full of energy and ambition but also enterprise. There have been many times when Everton have approached these games looking for ways to stifle their rivals, to stop them playing.
“Up until the Liverpool goal this was not about that. This was about a team playing with confidence seeking to have one over on a fierce opponent that was not. Everton were the better team for 25 minutes and maybe nobody was surprised.”
In the ECHO, there was also an attempt to draw positives from a cruel afternoon: Everton’s ability to suffer torment in these derbies is sickening and this was another bodyblow. But that the pain of this defeat will cut so deep also signifies just how far this team has come in such a short time.
“For all the momentum they had going into this fixture, and for all the frailties that had been exposed in the Reds' miserable defence of their title, there was a reason every bookmaker marked Arne Slot's side down as favourites for this game.
“Two summer signings in their starting XI cost more than the combined Everton first team and, with that, comes a quality and ruthlessness David Moyes' men still crave. They are improving, though - a fact that is important to remember as they attempt to pick themselves up for five games of the season that could yet yield a place in Europe.”