Both teams strived through the rain to start off the match
at enormous pace. Nuri Sahin and Joe Allen, debutants of Merseyside Derby,
slightly struggled to catch up with the speed but Kevin Mirallas did not show
his nerve and nearly forced Daniel Agger on to an own goal.
There were already a lot of talking points prior to the
match, but nothing is more dramatic than having Suarez to start the scoring.
The controversial striker followed Enrique's cross and his powerful shot would
have gone out of the byline if it did not hit the thigh of a helpless Baines.
Luis Suarez made use of the lucky goal to further irritate the home crowd with
a "diving" celebration in front of David Moyes.
Captain Phil Neville warned Everton before the match that
they got to keep their heads cool. Surely the goal was hard to swallow and even
Phil Jagielka couldn't recover promptly. The defender twice stopped Suarez in
the final third early in the game, but the loosely-organised defence saw
Jagielka leave Suarez with acres of space to head Gerrard's freekick into
Everton's net.
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| Osman struck one back for Everton |
20 minutes and it's 0-2 down. There was a mountain for
Everton to climb, but the home supporter s made sure the players were not
alone. Leon Osman quickly responded with a well-struck shot, which was slightly
deflected off Joe Allen to make it harder to save, but it was goalkeeper Brad
Jones who started the trouble by punching Baines' corner right at the centre
edge of the box to set up Osman's shot.
All of a sudden, Everton was all over Liverpool. Brad Jones
nearly made another error in set piece but was rescued by the referee's whistle
on Distin's innocent foul on Jones. Everton decided to pile the pressure on
Liverpool's right back Andre Wisdom. Sterling intended to help ease the
pressure of Wisdom but nearly got himself sent-off. Finally, the defence was
torn apart. Jose Enrique let Naismith run at his back to meet Fellaini's cross
from the left to level the match. The thrilling first half ended with two goals
for each side.
Several changes were made after interval. Magaye Gueye came in
for Mirallas who limped off. Liverpool made a couple of tactical changes. The
invisible Nuri Sahin was replaced by the more physical Jonjo Shelvey, and
defender Coates came in for Suso. Sterling moved to a more central role to impose
a more direct threat. However, the young prospect wasted a fantastic pass from
Enrique and could not make it 3-2 early in the second half. Everton was indeed the
more threatening side after the break, but Liverpool slowly consolidated the
defence. Another out of favour midfielder was then converted by Rodgers into
full back. Jordan Henderson came in for Andre Wisdom, who might be exhausted by
the physical Derby.
There were more whistles than shots in the second half.
Liverpool was looking increasingly dangerous in counter-attacks. Jonjo Shelvey
restored the stability in the midfield and Everton did not help themselves with
the substitution. Gueye never looked sharp and Everton could not reproduce
their fluency on the left. The French winger was nearly the man to blame when
he was robbed near his own byline, but Jagielka rescued him with a brave block
over Gerrard's shot.
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| The dive without caution |
Being booed is already a norm for Suarez. Whether he enjoys
playing under it or not, he seems to care little about intensifying hatred from
other supporters. A cynical foul on Distin could have easily got himself sent off
for an early bath, although the referee did not listen to the crowd to produce
the red card. Suarez was not distracted and remained focus in the game. He won
the battle against Distin minutes later but only to see Baines’ sliding block stopped
his shot to end up behind Tim Howard’s goal.
The game slowly developed into a stalemate, with both sides more
interested in tackles rather than scoring. The latest drama was induced by a
stupid tackle by Osman. Gerrard made another excellent delivery in the box and
Suarez easily tapped in Coates' squaring header. When Suarez and Gerrard were
celebrating, the linesman disallowed the goal with his flag up. While there was
no sign of offside, Coates appeared to jump unfairly with Jagielka to win the header. Silence
in the crowd was soon turned into a sigh of relief.
It
was a very entertaining match and leaving Goodison Park with a point is never a
poor result for Liverpool. However, will Brendan Rodgers address the problem
that his team failed to hold onto the lead again? In truth, they were never the
better side in the match, but they should have done better to defend the two
goals advantage. Liverpool still looks promising, but Brendan Rodgers still has
a lot of work to promote them into top 6 in the league.
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