Merseyside kicked off a weekend of derbies with a clash between Everton and Liverpool. It was exactly ten years to the day that Everton last beat Liverpool, having endured a horrid record against their main rivals since that victory during Roy Hodgson’s disastrous Liverpool reign.
It wouldn’t be a bad time for it though. Everton were top of the league with a hundred percent record, whereas Liverpool were coming off their worst result of the Premier League era.
Carlo Ancelotti set up in a 4-3-3 formation, adapting from the 4-4-2 they used last season, and recalled Allan and André Gomes to the starting eleven in place of Tom Davies and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Jurgen Klopp made several changes to the team that was thrashed by Aston Villa – Joe Gomez, Naby Keita, Georginio Wijnaldum and Diogo Jota all dropped to make space for Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara and Sadio Mane – although he kept faith in his usual 4-3-3 shape.
Although Everton attacked in a 4-3-3, when defending they became more of a 4-4-2, as James Rodriguez would stay up alongside Dominic Calvert-Lewin rather than tracking back as Richarlison did on the left. The issue with this became immediately apparent as Liverpool took the lead. They worked the ball down the right, with Henderson making diagonal runs out to the right flank, then switched play out to Andy Robertson advancing in space down the left. The Scot knocked the ball around Seamus Coleman and set up Mane to open the scoring.
Liverpool were repeatedly able to drag Everton towards the left, then switch play to Robertson in space to attack on the opposite flank. Doucouré was left between a rock and a hard place: fail to get out and Robertson had lots of space to attack, but moving wide left space inside where Roberto Firmino kept dropping off to receive the ball and slip passes through to his teammates.
Everton didn’t even really get any benefit from leaving Rodriguez higher anyway, as Liverpool were stopping them from getting the ball to the Colombian with their pressing. Mohamed Salah and Mane would quickly chase down the centre-backs while Firmino blocked the pass into Allan, and Thiago and Henderson would quickly get on top of Abdoulaye Doucouré and Gomes. Several times Liverpool won the ball back in midfield as Everton midfielders struggled with pressure from behind and the Reds countered quickly.
This meant that rather than trying to find Rodriguez with passes to feet, Everton were more often sending long balls towards Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison down the left. Rodriguez was able to get on the ball and whip some dangerous balls into the box, but Everton were first having to get the ball into attacking areas then finding him once it got there, rather than using his talents to progress up the pitch.
Everton’s centre-backs tried chipping passes over the heads of Mane or Salah to the full-backs to evade the press, however it was too easy for Thiago and Henderson to rush across and close down the bouncing ball.
Everton finally found a way round this pressure in the second half though. They stopped pushing the full-backs so high in the first stage of their build-up. This put Lucas Digne in a more realistic position to receive the ball off of Gomes as the Portuguese wouldn’t have to turn out and open himself up to Henderson breathing down his neck – he could receive the ball off of the centre-back and immediately bounce the ball into Digne with his back to play. Digne was then able to advance down the line and, as Trent Alexander-Arnold began to step out to close him down, the Frenchman would hit a pass in behind the full-back to Richarlison making a run.
Elements of this move are visible in Everton’s final equalising goal. By this time Ancelotti had switched to a 4-2-3-1, shoring up the leaky right side by bringing on Alex Iwobi and moving Rodriguez inside. This allowed Rodriguez to take up a position just behind Henderson, who was concerned with substitute Sigurdsson, and receive the ball from Michael Keane as Salah pressed the centre-back. As Rodriguez turned, Digne sprinted down the line, racing in behind Alexander-Arnold to receive the ball, and crossed for Calvert-Lewin to get his now-customary headed goal.
Everton had already equalised once from a corner – Keane and Yerry Mina towering over Fabinho and Firmino, cleverly using their bulk to ensure the Brazilians couldn’t leap with them but not so much as to give away a foul, leaving Adrian flapping at the ball – but Liverpool had retaken the lead thanks to Salah volleying home a cleared cross. A dubious offside call against Mane ensured Calvert-Lewin’s header was enough for the home side to claim a point.
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