Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Everton 2 Liverpool 0 in the 2023-2024 Premier League season at Goodison Park…
LIVERPOOL get what they deserve. And so do Everton.
This is your beginning, middle and end. The better side on the night wins and that’s not so much a punch you have to roll with but a series of blows you have to take.
It’s an atrocious performance. That said, we can be grown up enough to give the Blue Brethren some credit.
I like their manager. Others don’t and that is fair enough but I think he is more than capable of having a plan that his players can execute well. I think he thinks through games well from start to finish and he finds moments for his team to flourish.
Sean Dyche has players. The centre halves are excellent. A partnership to die for. Dwight McNeil is bright as a button; I like him an awful lot. Abdoulaye Doucoure is a good player and has long been so.
Today, Liverpool play into their strengths, into their plans, and that is the most frustrating part. They play the game on Everton’s terms. This is the error, this is the core shortcoming – it is Everton’s game and therefore Everton’s win.
Some places you go to, you have to swallow it being on their terms. But not here, not today, not Goodison Park. Everton are a tidy side, but they aren’t good enough to get on top of Liverpool in quite the way it plays out.
No one plays well. The goalkeeper doesn’t breed confidence. The two centre backs are short of what we need on the day. Alexis Mac Allister has his worst game for Liverpool and, good lord, does that sting. It is Trent Alexander-Arnold’s poorest game since returning from injury, but he can look ahead of him and demand more.
Demanding more from the front is perfectly valid – Darwin Nunez needs a better game than this. Mo Salah is anonymous. Luis Diaz is involved, but there isn’t enough final third from him either.
Yet, there still should be questions about the setup and outlook – it was wholly predictable. That meant they played into Everton’s hands. At no point did the forwards feel close enough together. Liverpool were not compact enough. They lacked bravery from one to 11.
That is why they get what they deserve, why it hurts. This isn’t separate to the manager, but instead he is integral to it. Nobody has let him down and we shouldn’t go near that rhetoric. Liverpool lack gumption and structure in both halves. It is a collective failure we all need to accept and swallow.
Consider it swallowed. I spent an adolescence getting beaten by The Blues. Then that stopped, broadly speaking, and I enjoyed an adulthood winning against Everton far more often than not. Alongside it came Liverpudlian trophies. Then there was Jürgen Klopp who should have won more games at Goodison Park, but who won everything with us.
Consider it swallowed because you get beat from time to time and today isn’t unlucky. The better team won. Instead, I am lucky. You are lucky. We are lucky – because we got Jürgen Klopp. We got what all this means. We got our guy. We got the best fella and the extent to which he is the best fella is he even knows before we do that he could do with getting off.
Consider it swallowed because I always back us to find our way, I will always back you and I. We get what we deserve, sunshine. We get what we deserve, gorgeous.
We get what we deserve. Tonight we got what we deserve. Since 2015 we have got what we deserve. And so have Everton.
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A number of players criticised for their below par performance. Jones not mentioned? Perhaps because nobody knew he was playing. He would wouldn’t even make the bench of any top team.
We got what we deserve this season, the league cup. We may not deserve a CL spot if the lads continue to play like this.
I am starting to give up on Nunez deserving to be an LFC player. No, I’ve given up.
We have had bad patches before. Why does this feel worse than the others? Maybe because we aren’t losing after a valiant fight. It looks like everyone is just tired and waiting for the end. Maybe the summer and new manager can’t come soon enough. Weird feeling, this, considering the joy Klopp brought with him. Is this how Dortmund felt?
Jonesie was brilliant for us before his injury. He hasn’t found his rhythm coming back and not have any of the long term injuries. The whole team lost its rhythm when the injured came back. Plus the old Trafford games (where we were brilliant at times don’t forget) put a mental hex on us somehow. Confidence shot. Jurgens game is all rhythm and confidence. We lost both. No one’s fault. I don’t think Darwin will ever be clinical though sadly and Cody will always be too laid back. Plus we need a world class 6 footer no 6
Sigh. Double sigh. Can’t disagree with any of this, Neil, but it still stings.
Injuries, fatigue, rhythm – absolutely. I just wonder, since the narrative is now turning (by necessity, really) to how this squad has overachieved this season, whether it was ever geared towards an assault on four fronts. Easy to say in hindsight but the FA Cup games etc, no wonder we’re wrecked looking.
Interesting to hear Carragher after the game suggest that there could be more player flux this summer than maybe anyone envisaged. The last few weeks have certainly promoted a fresh look at some things – Darwin, the 6 position, centre half, maybe even VVD? I’m not saying they should all go, but if we’ve overachieved with this team, the clearly some parts need upgrading.
It was unavoidable but I think the emotional weight of JK’s departure has also maybe had unintended consequences. You harness it and drive on and run through brick walls, but once you take a bang things can unravel. If anything, our “rushed” mindset of recent weeks suggests lads trying too hard but in the wrong ways, their circuits frazzled a bit.
Anyway, it’s good to dream. We’ve certainly lived it with Jurgen. A strong end to the season and the biggest send-off ever for the great man. We may never see his likes again, but we live in hope.
It could just be that we’ve hit the worst form of the season at the worst possible time.
Countless injuries(as many teams) and the greatest manager for the last 30 or so years announcing he’s leavng kind of caught up with us.
Doesn’t mean we have to give up on this team. For being their first try, they’ve come a hell of a long way towards immortality.
It hurts because this title was here to be won at regular pace.
The boys have done no harm and the’ve mad us proud. There’s nothing wrong in being proud and dissappointed at the same time.
We do what we always do, we go again.
One thing fsg have always got right is keeping their next signing/appointment quiet. Uncharacteristic to have Arne all over the news right before this game. Wonder if it affected the players? Also uncharacteristic for jurgen to be so negative before the game: ‘I hate this game’. He’s so knackered he can’t even pretend
We’ve done well and over achieved this season.
Investment needed as its clear we’re now a step behind Arsenal as well
With rivals strengthening, surely we must flex our financial muscle or fall further behind rivals
Pivotal moments for FSG. Yes they saved us 15 years ago, but now they own any mistakes from here on in