Everton: Beto 54’
Liverpool: Salah 29’, van Dijk 90+10’
Please, not in the face. It’s Everton, team. If there’s any match we should win, it’s the first Merseyside Derby at their new stadium on the docks. Our old neighbors got so sick of being near us and our celebrations that they moved clear across the city, and we should remind them of why. Do we have the mettle for that after the demoralizing result midweek? That question may or may not be rhetorical. A win would do wonders for morale, and would put Liverpool in fourth place (unless Aston Villa win their match against Sunderland), but if there’s one thing that Everton like to do is to ruin any good morale we have. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come with any more tragic and long term injuries, which they also like to give to us.
We get underway in the sunshine and get over for a goal kick, and the real battle begins. It’s been very back and forth to start off, with neither team getting a good handle on possession to make anything of it, until Mamardashvili is forced into a stretching save to stop a long range shot. Everton look spry and up for it, though, and we’re playing a little bit of catch up. If anything, the hosts are doing better at winning balls back and playing around us, and we look a little flustered which is not anything any of us wants to see.
Everton win a free kick in an advantageous area in the 13th minute after Ryan Gravenberch goes a little wild, and their effort is well placed but almost every Everton player is offside and the linesman calls it early. Beto gets forward, breaking away from one of our defenders in the first open chance for them but his effort is well wide and doesn’t even glance off the keeper. Liverpool win another corner and there is a chance it could go in but Jordan Pickford also gets to full stretch, barely getting a finger on it but pushing it away. These opening twenty minutes have unfortunately been controlled by Everton and though it is still possible for us to exploit one of their many weaknesses, we look the more exploitable side at the moment. And of course, it doesn’t take long for Everton to take the lead through some clever passing and Ndiaye finishing it off to become a trivia answer. There is a brief VAR check and thankfully, the goal is ruled offside and ruled out due to literally everyone being offside in the buildup play. NOW WHO IS THE TRIVIA ANSWER AS LIVERPOOL RESPOND AND MOHAMED SALAH BECOMES THE FIRST PERSON TO SCORE! Liverpool lead!
It appears the goal has injected a little bit more fight into this side as we work to unsettle the hosts in the way that they’ve been doing to us, including tackling from behind and not getting called for it. It’s the Merseyside Derby after all, we have to live up to it’s violent history. Of course we’re getting all the foul calls, and things have settled a little towards the end of the first half, but we’ve been able to take over more of the possession. Vintage Cody Gakpo makes an appearance with a successful cut in and a rocket towards the goal, but Pickford somehow gets a hand on it to send it over the bar. Another would be nice before the end of the half, but we look a little gassed from the last fifteen minutes. Isak finally gets a productive touch on the ball, a clear shot but the effort goes right into Pickford’s short arms. There’s two minutes added to the half for stoppage, and Liverpool have picked it up a little more, with Szoboszlai having a go but getting blocked.
Unfortunately, the tide has turned and Everton were there to pounce on a mistake, with Beto actually finishing through a battle with Andy Robertson, and the hosts have equalized. It comes with another injury, of course, as Mamardashvili needs to be stretchered off, and 29 year old keeper Freddie Woodman is called to duty unexpectedly. What a way to make your debut, in a Merseyside Derby, so hopefully he does well by not letting in any other goals. We look deflated after the goal and the injury, so the mentality of the match might be the bigger opponent right now, and Everton smell the blood.
Back and forth play has come back, with both sides desperate for a winner. With 15 minutes left in the half, we look no closer to it than we did in the beginning of the half. We’re tired and starting to make bad decisions and take too long to get to the goal, leading to turnovers and Everton doing the same. Another change looks to be coming, with Alexis Mac Allister and Jeremie Frimpong coming on for Florian Wirtz and Cody Gakpo, taking off the player that has been the best on the day and putting on a midfielder who is run down already. There appears to be a second thought there, with Slot bringing on Kerkez to take off Robbo and that ends Robertson’s last derby.
11 minutes of stoppage are added due to the various injuries and treatments in the half, so the potential of finding a winner goes a little further, but now even Mac Allister is down pleading injury after taking a boot to the knee. He’s back up, but no one gets penalized for it. This match is a mess and everyone is to blame (except Rio, he’s a child). There’s a chance for a corner in the 99th (!!) minute, AND IT HAPPENS! VIRGIL VAN DIJK GETS A HEAD ON IT AND SCORES! WE TAKE THE WIN!
WE DID IT! WE WIN THE FIRST MERSEYSIDE DERBY AT THE HILL DICKINSON STADIUM! EVERTON REMAIN LOSERS.
