Liverpool reaction speaks volumes after baffling Everton call shows difference

Liverpool reaction speaks volumes after baffling Everton decision shows difference between teams

Analysis from Chris Beesley after the Merseyside derby with Liverpool at Anfield

Bookmark

If a week in football is – like in politics – a long time, then seven weeks between two Merseyside Derbies are a relative eternity. Just 49 days had passed since Everton and Liverpool last faced each other (as EFO Statto pointed out, the shortest league turnaround in this fixture after the 42-day gap in 1968/69) but the way the decisive goal in each encounter was examined – or not as the case may be – could not have been sharper in contrast.

Back on February 12 when James Tarkowski produced a fairytale moment with his thunderous volley to earn Everton a 2-2 draw in the last-ever Goodison Park derby and ensure the hosts did not finish with a losing record at the ground after over 130 years of battling with Liverpool with a goal from the Blues’ final kick of the game, the microscope under which the goal was examined, felt like the forensic examination of a crime scene.

There were complaints over the amount of time added on – it can increase if there are further stoppages you know – while imaginary fouls were pored over, time and again. The normally ice cool Arne Slot admitted he lost his head during his post-match rant with the referee, marching onto the pitch in anger and telling Michael Oliver that it would be his fault if Liverpool didn’t win the league.

The Dutchman needn’t worry in that respect, but it appeared that his side benefited from a huge piece of good fortune here, yet it was met with something of a relative shrug rather than another major investigation. Just how Luis Diaz is not interfering in play when he stands offside in the build-up to the night’s only goal is baffling.

For all their neighbours’ complaints when they didn’t get their way last time out, Everton getting a raw deal from referees in derbies has been going on for generations. Mark Clattenburg, Graham Poll, Wembley handballs or Clive Thomas’ outrageous decision that still hasn’t been explained to this day... the list goes on and on.

Myko battles on

Given that he’s the only natural left-back in the Everton squad, Vitalii Mykolenko’s importance to the team is perhaps greater than it would be if they had a plethora of options in his position, but to his credit, he always seems to turn up on derby day. An ankle ligament injury forced him off at half-time in the Blues’ 2-0 triumph at Goodison Park last April and he didn’t play again that season.

Up until that point though, Mykolenko had been shackling Liverpool dangerman Mohamed Salah expertly, just had he had also done in the reverse fixture at Anfield with the Egyptian kept uncharacteristically quiet until Sean Dyche removed the defender in a tactical switch and, having broken the deadlock from the penalty spot, he added a second in the last minute. With 182 goals in 279 Premier League games for the Reds, including 27 in 29 this term, that’s no mean feat.

However, after winning his personal fitness battle to just make it onto the Anfield turf, the former Dynamo Kyiv man again defended doggedly against one of the all-times greats. Potentially next up is a fit-again Bukayo Saka, but then it was when facing the Arsenal star that Mykolenko also produced one of his most-impressive displays this season in the Emirates Stadium stalemate back in December.

Anfield wait goes on for Moyes

A publicity-hungry bookmaker with a penchant for stunts, who you might hear more about in the coming days while the Grand National Festival is taking place at Aintree, once erected a mock statue of David Moyes outside of Anfield, with the cheeky inscription: “For services to Liverpool Football Club.” When first appointed Blues boss back in 2002, as a 38-year-old Premier League rookie, Moyes compared the Merseyside football dynamic with the situation in his native Glasgow and dubbed his new employers “The People’s Club.”

While the tag struck a chord with Evertonians and in time went on to be used in a quasi-official status, it irked some Kopites and over two decades later, continues to do so. True, Moyes has still yet to win at Anfield, but then none of his fellow Blues bosses since fellow Scot Walter Smith have done since in front of fans with the sole exception being the great Carlo Ancelotti behind closed doors in 2021.

Unlike his successor Roberto Martinez though, who twice got trounced 4-0 when crossing the park, Moyes has often frustrated Liverpool on their own turf and it was after a battling goalless draw in 2007, that his side’s tactical resoluteness, prompted Rafael Benitez to make his petulant “small club” outburst that he’d later have to do some serious back peddling over. This was almost, another such occasion but after nine Premier League games unbeaten, Everton couldn’t quite hold on for a fifth straight draw.

“Crossing the park” has been a trail of tears for Blues fans throughout this century. They will hope that the move from Goodison to their new stadium also marks the start of a new era when it comes to derby away days.

Story Saved
You can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.