Liverpool 2, Everton 2: Waiting for the Results

By: Ed | January 16th, 2011

meireles

Goals from Meireles and Kuyt aren’t enough as the points are shared.

For the first 45 minutes, the script seemed to be playing out almost exactly as planned. Kenny Dalglish back on the Anfield touchline facing Everton in the derby, and Liverpool playing positive, pressing, attractive football.

Intermittent spells of back-and-forth play chopped up a largely dominant first half for Liverpool, which saw the hosts take the lead on Raul Meireles’ smashed effort from the edge of the area in the 29th minute. There were a host of other opportunities—Fernando Torres curled one off the far post after doing well to get past Sylvain Distin and another defender and Maxi Rodriguez crashed one off the roof when another Torres effort was saved by Tim Howard.

We got the Liverpool we’ve been tantalized with at times this season, and it was pitch-perfect. Heading into halftime the Reds were the deserved leaders and nearly had another just before the break through another well-worked Torres half-chance. It wasn’t quite “only a matter of time,” but they were damned close.

And then we got the other Liverpool we’ve been tormented with for most of the season for a disastrous ten-minute spell to start the second half.

Everton had the equalizer from a corner within two minutes of the restart, with Sylvain Distin beating Martin Skrtel at the far post to head between Pepe Reina’s legs. Replays later in the match would show that the corner should have actually been a goal kick, but that’s little consolation when Liverpool’s marking (and Martin Skrtel’s overall play) has been so awful.

The worst possible start only got worse after an extended spell of Everton pressure, with Jermaine Beckford slotting past Pepe Reina after Leon Osman played him through. The build-up was questionable—Victor Anichebe clattered in Martin Kelly, but play continued with Kelly writhing on the ground despite Liverpool’s protests, which eventually earned Reina a yellow.

At that point Liverpool started to find their bearings a bit, but they initially struggled to impose themselves on an Everton side that was flying high. They slowly worked their way forward, though, and in the 68th minute they leveled. A Raul Meireles free kick eventually fell to Martin Skrtel at the back post, and after the Slovakian whiffed, Maxi darted in to the rebound and was dragged down by Tim Howard. Dirk Kuyt, scorer of four derby goals prior to today, stepped up and sent Howard the wrong way, drawing Liverpool level.

Neither side had any great chances after that—both were able to get the ball into dangerous areas and had a share of set pieces, but the final minutes were ultimately uneventful. Not how this one was supposed to play out, and another disappointing result for Liverpool.

As I mentioned, it didn’t come without its positives, and the bitterness of the result can’t wipe those away. At times in the first 45 minutes Liverpool were nearing top gear, with Torres covering ground and looking to regain his eye for goal. Martin Kelly continue his stellar play at right back, Glen Johnson looked a bit more settled on the left, Dirk Kuyt looked to regain a bit of form, and Jay Spearing and Lucas were both solid in midfield.

In fact, I’d say that the only real worries in terms of personnel are focused on the reasons for Daniel Agger’s substitution at the half and the continued woe of Martin Skrtel. We can expect news on the former sometime soon, but questions about the latter aren’t so easily answered. He seemed to recover a bit at Old Trafford alongside Agger, but today was another dismal day for the Slovakian. Eventually you’d have to guess that he takes a spell on the bench, and if it’s not soon I’d be surprised.

A ten-minute spell in the second half and the struggles for Martin Skrtel don’t change the fact that Liverpool are playing better football, and football that’s deserving of better results. They’re doing it with the same squad that “wasn’t good enough” to do so for the first few months of the season, and that’s got to be seen as encouraging.

They’re also doing it with a number of younger players; Kelly’s leading the charge, but we’ve now seen a start for Jay Spearing and three consecutive substitute appearances for Jonjo Shelvey in the time since Dalglish’s arrival. It’s clear that there’s an investment and commitment being made in the squad that Liverpool have—Dalglish has preached plenty about the need for confidence, and at least early on, he’s following through.

But there’s still something missing for this squad—something that allows for spells like we saw early in the second half, that allows for silly mistakes that let the other team back into the match, that prevents them from running away with a match. Both individually and collectively, there’s massive improvements to be made. For all the encouraging things we’ve seen in the past week, that’s still worrying, and it’s also probably the part that takes much more time.

In the end, though, a point is better than zero, and Liverpool look to be piecing things together. I’ve got faith that the results will come, it’s just a matter of hoping they come sooner rather than later.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Match Recaps, Miscellaneous, Premier League

« Matchday: Liverpool v. Everton | Home | Raul Meireles is Still a Central Midfielder »

Shirish K.

hope liverpool is get to play in europe at the end of the season
steven.

if we keep playing like this there just might be 3 points in our future....
Noel

Oh to dream that glorious dream!
RedDownUnda

....To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste....etc....etc...

I sure hope King Kenny does better than poor old Don Quixote. Mind you, Sammy Lee has more than a smattering of Sancho Panza about him doncha think? Good Lord, is that a windmill I see over at Goodison?

Recorded the match this morning, so I'll steel myself and watch it tonight, then I may clutter your blog with some drivel later. At least we have goals.
RedLiverBirdFC

Well at least the reds got two goals. I haven't seen them get more than 1 goal in a while. Baby steps. We'll get there.
GalahadThreepwood

Not the result I was hoping for, but I'm encouraged by the way the team is playing now. In the first half we were dominant, and if a couple of the chances had been converted (particularly Torres' shot in the 17th), I think we would have won the match. The Reds need to improve play on defense, especially from set pieces. With Carragher on his way out and Skrtel suffering a significant dip in performance, we might need to make a change in central defense. Soto's all right, but the gap between him and Agger is enormous. If we can find cover at left back, I would advocate moving Kelly to center back and shifting Johnson back to the right.

I hope Comolli has some good moves up his sleeve for this transfer market. IMO we need to find a steady replacement at left back (Aurelio's good but too fragile to be reliable), as well as a backup striker and at least one quality winger. Still, even without those improvements, the squad looks much better, and I think we'll see Kenny's first win on Wednesday against Fulham.
Noel

A backline of Johnson-Kelly-Agger-Aurelio is tempting if not for how thin it leaves the fullback positions, but with how poorly Skrtel's been playing it's hard not to hope for something else.
Eddie

personally i would prefer kelly- agger- wilson - aurelio. and push glen johnson out at right mid in order to have a natural wide player. kuyt is great, but his technique at times lets him down. With johnson we know he can go past players for fun, and is a very good crosser of the ball.
GalahadThreepwood

A backline of Kelly-Agger-Wilson-Aurelio would be better than the one I suggested, actually. Had forgotten all about Wilson (probably b/c he's been used so little this season), but he's a promising defender and I would love to see him get a chance with the first team. I think we need to do something, though, because Skrtel's play is killing us right now.

Oh, and for some reason I thought we were playing Fulham this Wednesday. Obviously that was wrong. I think the full week of prep will help drive the improvements Kenny's making to the side, and expect to see his first win against Wolves this weekend.
Noel

He goes past players for fun because coming from the back gives him the space to build up speed. Doing the same from a more advanced position requires a different skill set--primarily close control and acceleration--neither of which I'm fully convinced are his strong suits. Meanwhile, if the system is set up for Johnson to do that from the back there's no need for Kuyt to dribble the ball in confined areas, as his main position becomes supporting the central striker moving in from a tucked in wide forward position.

Under Hodgson, Johnson might well have been more suited to midfield than defending in a static, old school flat back four, if only because he was hideously suited to be a defensive fullback. So far, Dalglish is setting out in a much more modern/continental manner, and with only three functional fullbacks on the squad and a set up that favours his natural skill set as a wingback/attacking fullback from his natural position, I don't understand what pushing him forward gains, really.
steven.

i was going to say something along the same lines but....uhhh....fuck it.
Russell

Kelly certainly seems strong enough to play at centre-back, and Ayala may be coming back soon as well
king kenny ha ha ha ha

goal kick corner kick , that was not the only one works both ways , Anichebe clattered in to some horrible stinking dirty kopite , never happened it was a fair challenge so all you kopite fucks who are going to come out with your knobhead replys FUCK OFF kopites are gobshites ha ha ha ha ha
Mike

I tutor English for free, let me know if you are interested.
steven.

ME LIKEE EVERTON. NO NEED ENGLUSH.
Ed

That one part rhymed, nice.
Eddie

to sum it up. dissapointing result. but very much improved performance. i have been genuinely impressed with how we have played the last 3 games, despite the results. Encouraging signs are begining to grow at anfield and there does seem to be green shoots of recovery. torres is playing with more desire. younger players such as shelvey spearing kelly are given opportunities. and as a whole there is a collective improvement to become more of an attacking threat which we simply did not see with hodgson. add that to the meireles screamer! also the fans have been fantastic over the last couple of weeks. lets just hope that continues, and dalglish really does bring back the glory days.

A few more players will do it. john henry witnessed the lack of depth and when agger goes off, the defence looked vulnerable. hopefully there is still time and money to buy the likes of young, suarez, nzogbia.