The final Merseyside derby of Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool reign proved his worst, his first loss at Goodison and the most cowardly performance of the season.
Everton 2-0 Liverpool
Premier League (34), Goodison Park
April 24, 2024
Goals: Branthwaite 27′, Calvert-Lewin 57′
Alisson Becker – 5 (out of 10)
Escaped damage after conceding a penalty on five minutes when VAR ruled it offside, but there was no reprieve when he couldn’t keep out Branthwaite’s finish.
Nowhere near the second which was off a set piece. Decent save from McNeil just before it.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 4
Played two extremely good passes in behind the defence, but aside from that, a dismal first half. Stopped very little defensively, wasn’t on the cover a couple of times and other passes were overhit, too straight, too stray.
Absolutely shit himself when Calvert-Lewin jumped in front of him for 2-0 and was the wrong side to begin with. Atrocious, horrific and abysmal lack of effort to stop him simply nodding in.
A gutless all-round showing from the local who is supposed to be vice captain.
Ibrahima Konate – 3
Given the absolute run-around by Calvert-Lewin on the ground and in the air. Nonsense defending to give away a succession of free-kicks and not deal with dangerous balls into the box.
A genuinely awful attempt at clearing led to the opening goal, beyond schoolboy poor. Lucky to have lasted an hour.
Virgil van Dijk – 3
A lot of pointing and shouting at his teammates but our captain also missed out on plenty of moments to deal with threats and clear danger in the box.
Booked near the end of the first half for berating the ref after Diaz gave a foul away, also lost the header for 2-0.
Andy Robertson – 4
Got forward on the overlap a couple of times and then stayed forward near the end of the first half, but the deliveries were not great. Struggled to stop attacks down his flank.
Fluffed his lines when well-placed after the restart, made a good block when Everton threatened a third. Kept making runs forward at least.
Alexis Mac Allister – 4
That purple patch of elite form has very much gone. Saw lots of the ball in deep areas but unable to do enough with it. Didn’t pass it quickly enough, committed too many fouls.
Moved forward after the treble sub but still got nowhere with any kind of creativity. Looks knackered, completely overplayed.
Dominik Szoboszlai – 3
When we saw him walk off the pitch to the dressing room at half time, that was about the first visual confirmation we had that he was playing.
An absolute ghost display, more concerned with pretending he’d been fouled than anything else second half. Shouldn’t start again this season on his recent showings.
Curtis Jones – 3
Outfought in the first half and committed a lot of silly fouls, admittedly some of which were incredibly soft but still pointless contacts.
Definitely upped his work rate second half but no greater quality on the ball, which was required as well.
Mohamed Salah – 4
Almost anonymous in the first half. We gave him very little although he did create two almost-goals: a knock across the six-yard box, cleared from under the bar, then a touch into Nunez’s path for a clear shot.
However when it comes to his own chances, at the moment it really looks like he’s never kicked a ball in his life. Two sliced, scuffed shots were way off target before the break, about another four blocked after it. Skied another from near the penalty spot.
Nothing was clean and smooth, more to the point, nothing was accurate.
Darwin Nunez – 3
Couldn’t control a ball for the first half-hour then smashed a shot straight at Pickford with the whole goal to aim at.
What did he do thereafter? A header or two, teed up Salah once and Diaz once, very little else. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere near enough.
Not clinical, not ruthless, not what you want for your centre-forward. Plays like a petulant child.
Luis Diaz – 6 – Man of the Match
Just about the only outfield player who can have any pride in his performance.
Plenty of forceful running, attempted dribbles and actual work rate off the ball. Almost equalised right on half time, an awkward half-volley saved by the keeper.
Started the second 45 with the force and intensity the entire team needed, but too few matched him. Brilliant first touch throughout and smacked the post with one ferocious shot. Booked late on for giving a shit.
Substitutes
Wataru Endo (on for Jones, 63′) – 4 – Won the odd loose ball but nothing too progressive. Couple of silly fouls. Looks miles off the pace.
Harvey Elliott (on for Szoboszlai, 63′) – 5 – A bit of energy but not the impact we’ve seen previously. One shot tipped over. Done little wrong all season.
Jarell Quansah (on for Konate 63′) – 7 – Played a normal game, which was a ridiculously big upgrade on some. Actually put in a tackle, too.
Kostas Tsimikas (on for Robertson 83′) – 6 – Seven minutes, resting Robbo for Saturday.
Joe Gomez (on for Alexander-Arnold 83′) – 6 – As above.
Subs not used: Kelleher, Clark, Gravenberch, Danns
Jurgen Klopp – 3
Everything about the players’ performance is on them, every single misplaced pass, every single tackle they failed to win, every single time they opted against running with their man, challenging forcefully, doing enough to win a header.
That’s on the players.
The selection, the set-up, the preparation and the substitutions? They are on Jurgen Klopp, and none of them were right, none of them were effective.
Far more damning, nothing changed the flow of the game, the danger Liverpool posed or the approach taken to try and… you know, score a goal? Let alone two to not lose, or indeed three to win.
Liverpool would be joint top of the Premier League with a win with a few games left; the performance was as though nobody told the club, or if they did, they were scared of it.
Either one is an indictment of Klopp’s handling of the group ahead of this game.
And in the context of the derby, the Reds absolutely shit out of the challenge of it. They looked surprised that Everton played the way they did, forced the fouls they did, played as hard as they did.
Why? This was basic, obvious, blindingly stupid. And on the sidelines, nothing was done about it or to change Liverpool’s way of coping with it or matching it. What on earth was the double sub of full-backs with seven minutes to play for? Given up.
A pathetic night.
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