Sluggish start condemns Everton to more derby misery at Anfield

Anfield. Once Everton’s home; now the place where their fans’ hopes go to die. Just once in 30 years have Blues fans witnessed in the flesh a victory at this now despised venue and the wait for another away victory over Liverpool to add to the behind-closed-doors triumph under Carlo Ancelotti four years ago goes on.

So, too, does David Moyes’s quest to win on the Reds’ turf as a manager. Much was made of the fact that in 22 visits as manager of four Premier League clubs, he had failed to register a victory here and any prospect of him ending that sorry record today had been swept away within the first half hour of this 247th Merseyside derby.

If the Scot had believed that an attritional, Dycheian approach based around long balls forward to the hapless Beto would reap the dividends he sought, he was quickly disabused of the notion. Far from encountering a fatigued team entering their third game in six days and coming off a testing examination by Atletico Madrid in mid-week, Everton ambled their way into Arne Slot’s slick and expensively-assembled machine in the first 30 minutes.

Ryan Gravenberch’s 10th minute opener sank Evertonian hearts; Hugo Ekitike’s second in the 29th presented the Blues an impossible mountain to climb for a club that has only come from behind to win a derby once since the War. But Everton eventually found their feet, a way back into the contest and finished it enraged that they would be given just three minutes of stoppage time to try and plunder an equaliser.

It was not the only highly suspect decision from referee Darren England who kept a finger on scales to tip them in Liverpool’s favour throughout with a series of “micro-aggressions”, that ranged from glaring inconsistencies prior to the first goal to a bewilderingly petty booking for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for trying to take a quick free-kick as Everton chased the game in the second half while the official insisted on micro-managing the proceedings.

Ultimately, though, despite quelling the Reds’ first-half fire and, arguably, having the better of the game in the second period, the Toffees failed to sufficiently build on the fine goal that halved the deficit to 2–1 with more than half an hour to play. Indeed, after Idrissa Gueye had raised their hopes with an emphatic finish and despite the best efforts of the effervescent Jack Grealish , Everton failed to create another clear-cut opening.

On the ground of the reigning Champions who came into the weekend with a 100% record, so much was dependent from the Blues’ perspective on how they not only set about containing Liverpool but finding ways of impressing their own game on the opponents.

Unfortunately, Liverpool were at it from the first whistle — rapier-like with their passing, relentless in their tempo and the Blues simply couldn’t cope. Where Everton’s press was haphazard and ineffective, the hosts pushed the visitors back and, ill-equipped to play their way out, Moyes’s men resorted to hopeful punts forward that routinely skidded off the well-watered turf and bounced harmlessly through to Alisson Becker.

It didn’t help that England was choosing to allow play to continue when suited Slot’s side and after Grealish was man-handled by Conor Bradley and Iliman Ndiaye appeared to be caught by Coady Gakpo (replays show a foul in that instance would have been a harsh verdict) with no action from the officials, Liverpool took the lead.

Mohamed Salah cut in from the touchline and spotted Gravenberch’s untracked run between Gueye and Michael Keane, dinking a ball into the box that the Dutchman expertly guided over Jordan Pickford and inside the far post.

Salah curled an effort of his just past the angle of crossbar and post a few minutes later, Alexis Mac Allister and Bradley had shots charged down and Gakpo bounced an half-volley over as Liverpool kept their foot on the pedal but Everton carved out their first chance with 26 minutes gone.

As he did against Wolves prior to the international break, Grealish slipped Dewsbury-Hall in but, facing a more acute angle than had been the case at Molineux, the midfielder slashed his shot wide and within a minute it was 2–0. Once again, the Blues’ central midfield was slow to react and this time it was Ekitike who stole in all too easily down the same channel and fired low past Pickford.

With the way Everton had started and the ease with which Liverpool were cutting through them, there was a danger the floodgates would open for the Reds but the Blues found some composure and finished the half with a bit more purpose. Grealish saw a couple of efforts blocked and Gueye finished poorly with his weaker foot on the stroke of half-time from Dewsbury-Hall’s cut-back, but there were signs that better could come from Moyes’s men after the break.

And, after Beto had been hooked and Thierno Barry thrown on and Salah had failed to unduly test Pickford with a trademark cut-back and shot, Everton made a breakthrough with their first real move of quality.

Unsurprisingly, Grealish was at the heart of it, teasing Bradley down the left before whipping in a cross that found Ndiaye at the back post where he laid the ball off perfectly for Gueye to smash home from around 10 yards out.

Having given themselves a platform from which to try and nick a point, it was unfortunate that Everton’s best opportunities to do just that came from set-pieces as Barry’s superior hold-up play allowed the ball to stick and forward areas and Grealish continued to be the outlet down the left flank.

James Garner wasted one free-kick with a shot from distance that bounced wide, Ibrahima Konaté did well to take another Grealish cross off Jake O’Brien’s head at the back post and Grealish himself snatched at a 90th-minute volley that he miscued well off target instead of trying to keep the ball alive and that was more or less that.

As ever these days, Everton’s season isn’t going to be defined by defeat in the Anfield derby to what is, sadly, the best team in the division at the moment and there was enough in the performance in the second half for the manager to draw from as he prepares for the next few challenges ahead.

There is an argument to be made that his substitutions — Carlos Alcaraz for Ndiaye and Tyler Dibling for Vitalii Mykolenko — came too late for either player to make any impact but both will hope to use Tuesday’s return to Wolves in the Carabao Cup to press their claims for greater inclusion.

Both cups will provide viable routes to Europe for the Toffees this season while back-to-back home games in the league provide the chance to establish a firm foothold in the top half heading into the next international break.

This report has been updated with clarifications around certain refereeing decisions made during the game