Everton vs Liverpool. Premier League.
Goodison ParkAttendance39,240.
Match report as Everton produce a battling display to frustrate Liverpool in 242nd Merseyside derby; Jordan Pickford and Alisson both shine in stalemate as Conor Coady sees close-range strike disallowed following VAR review for offside
Saturday 3 September 2022 22:47, UK
Liverpool dropped further points at the start of the new Premier League season as Conor Coady was denied a fairytale winner by VAR during a frantic 0-0 draw at Everton.
After conceding first in eight of their last nine games, Liverpool were far from their best in the first half - and were fortunate not to extend that statistic when Tom Davies hit the post.
Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz both struck the woodwork within the same phase of play shortly before the interval, with Jordan Pickford getting his fingertips onto Nunez's looping shot.
Virgil van Dijk was booked for a nasty challenge on Amadou Onana - and was fortunate to escape further punishment according to Frank Lampard - before Everton thought they had taken the lead on 69 minutes when Coady tapped home Neal Maupay's cross-shot but VAR ruled out the goal after a lengthy delay.
The excellent Pickford touched Mohamed Salah's stoppage-time effort onto the post but Jurgen Klopp had to settle for a point which leaves Liverpool in sixth place following the remainder of Saturday's fixtures.
Klopp said: "Rule number one: if you cannot win the derby, you don't lose it. We could've won it today but we could've lost it in a few moments as well."
Everton sit 16th and have now failed to win any of their first six matches of a Premier League season for only a third time, also doing so in 1994/95 and 2010/11 - but the outlook is a lot more positive following this latest draw, their fourth in succession.
It was Pickford whose error allowed Divock Origi to score a bizarre 96th-minute winner at Anfield in December 2018, but he excelled on this occasion, denying Salah with his fingertips deep into stoppage time to preserve the stalemate.
Lampard was delighted with Pickford's display, saying: "He was absolutely superb - especially the save in the first half from Darwin Nunez. We had been as comfortable as you could possibly be against Liverpool up to that point in the first half.
"He gets his fingertips to that and then in the second half he makes a string of saves that were of a world-class level. He did it for us in the back end of last season. He gets scrutiny because he's England's number one and I understand that.
"But when you deliver like he did today, everyone understands why he's England's number one and why we appreciate him so much here."
The hosts began brightly and came close inside eight minutes when Harvey Elliott's lazy pass was intercepted by Davies to set Demarai Gray on his way. A cute reverse pass found Maupay - making his debut after his £15m move from Brighton - inside the box but he dragged his shot across goal.
Nathan Patterson was facing a tough assignment up against Diaz with the pair tangling off the ball after a quarter of an hour, referee Anthony Taylor seeing little in the skirmish. But this was a fractious affair, a devilish derby full of bite and needle but low on early quality.
A towering jump from Nunez at the far post met Trent Alexander-Arnold's first-time cross on 19 minutes but his header was wayward. Anthony Gordon was next to try to break the deadlock as his low drive from a half-cleared corner was gathered by Alisson.
Davies was having a fine game as the most advanced of Everton's midfield three, and the local lad came within the width of a post of putting Everton in front on 32 minutes.
Joe Gomez failed to deal with Patterson's cross, Maupay slipped as Van Dijk came across to block his effort with the ball dropping for Davies to curl a shot with the outside of his boot, beating Alisson but not the woodwork.
It was Liverpool, however, who would end the half in the ascendancy as Pickford produced a stunning save to divert Nunez's lofted shot onto the crossbar with Diaz keeping the ball alive to cut inside and hit the inside of the post inside the same minute as Everton somehow survived.
Klopp summoned Roberto Firmino at the interval in place of Fabio Carvalho in a bid to add chaos with four forwards, and it very nearly provided an instant reward when Elliott's low cross was glaringly lifted off target by Kostas Tsimikas at the far post five minutes after the restart.
Nunez's quickly-taken volley from Salah's cross was straight at Pickford as Liverpool continued to look increasingly menacing. Everton had just half chances to show for their efforts at this point with Alex Iwobi's speculative shot following Maupay's acrobatic effort in curling off target.
The game sparked into life during a frantic five-minute spell shortly after the hour mark when Pickford twice kept out Firmino in quick succession, first tipping his low shot wide before fisting his powerful header away.
From another corner, Fabinho brought a third save from Pickford before it was Everton's turn to wonder how they had not scored when Gordon's cutback was swept goalwards by Maupay on the stretch but Alisson shut the door.
Coady was left crestfallen when his close-range finish was then ruled out for offside following a protracted VAR review with the centre-back just the wrong side of James Milner's back heel. The Liverpool end erupted as referee Taylor confirmed the decision.
Dwight McNeil was introduced late on and his deflected curling shot drew another smart save from Alisson. Pickford responded to keep out another instinctive effort from Firmino before Salah was left speechless when his first real sight of goal was tipped onto the post. It was a day when the goalkeepers came out on top.
Sky Sports' Ben Grounds at Goodison Park:
"Three points from their opening five games represented Everton's worst Premier League start in 12 years. They took just three points from their first six games in the 2010/11 season, which was also the last campaign they won a home Merseyside derby.
"They headed into this contest averaging exactly a point a game under Lampard, but that is not going to be enough if Everton are to avoid another fraught fight for survival having spent the last 68 years as a top-flight club.
"In his programme notes, Lampard acknowledged the process of rebuilding and underlined that the side we will get better - and there was plenty of determination and courage in his side's latest performance.
"Those are the foundations his side have shown in every game so far this season. The eight new signings will take time to gel but Lampard's Everton are taking shape.
"The window is finally shut and there can be no more distractions. Here, unlike last season, the side competed with their neighbours and richly deserved this point.
"Everton must now get on with picking up wins. A victory would really have given the Lampard era lift-off, but there was a chasm between these two sides the last time they met at Goodison Park last December.
"Lampard has focused his energy on building a much more solid base and here there were signs of a much brighter future. Liverpool were again far too lethargic and only demonstrated any urgency after the break.
"The chances of a concerted Premier League title challenge this time around are not quite becoming increasingly remote, but Klopp will know there is now a long slog ahead."
Pickford made eight saves in this match, his most in a Premier League fixture in which he did not concede.
This was the first time Liverpool failed to score in a Premier League match in 2022 (25th such game), having last done so in a 0-1 defeat at Leicester in December 2021. That was due in large part to Pickford's brilliance.
Pickford told BT Sport: "Another unfortunate goal disallowed for VAR but it has very tight - we're building, we've got that character and the team spirit is pushing us on. We haven't got a win yet but we've been tough to beat.
"I thought I had a good game today - I helped the lads and you need lots of leaders on the pitch and I think we've got that. We didn't get three points but we got a draw and we can keep building.
"They were good - Alisson made some wonderful saves as well but that's our job, to help the team when we're needed. It's my first clean sheet of the season and that's where we have to keep building and get better and better.
"Four draws but it's hard work and commitment - if we keep building and get stronger then we'll get the wins."
Everton boss Frank Lampard: "I thought it was a great game and a great performance. Full of intensity and quality. I'm really proud of the players as Liverpool are a top team. They can make you feel not OK very quickly. I'm happy with the point. I thought it was an outstanding 0-0.
"It would've been a gamble to let Liverpool control the game [on formation] so I didn't think it was a gamble playing with a back four. We had an extra body in midfield and I thought we dealt with them very well.
"It's an option we had with Idrissa and he came in and showed his quality straight away. We had to suffer in moments at the start of the second half but we flipped it. For the second time in a week, we end up a few centimetres away from three points.
"I'm impressed with the first shoots of improvements. Midfield can start to look like a really strong area for us. The points are unfortunate as we're not on the points yet that we feel we deserve. We should be towards double figures by now in my opinion, but the fans can see we're working hard and are playing well.
"You saw the calmness that Gana Gueye gave us when he came on. If we keep performing around the level that we did today, and get better, I feel those wins will come."
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp: "Rule number one, if you cannot win the derby - don't lose it. The amount of chances we had and they had, I'm surprised there wasn't a winner.
"We had the last chance, which was a massive one, but Ali had to make two incredible saves. It was intense like always, and we were ready to fight after a super game on Wednesday. In the second half, it looked like an end-to-end game. We had good set pieces but we couldn't finish them on. We were a bit open on the break but they didn't cause us too many problems.
"We had to dig deep. They scored a goal - I didn't see it back but I think it probably was offside. Ali made an excellent save. I think we hit the post three times and there were a few unbelievable saves from Pickford - wow, what can you do?
"In this game, easy and free-flowing is not possible. A 0-0 draw sounds strange, but that's it.
"It was a super intense week for us. We had a really tough game that went to the wire [against Newcastle on Wednesday], then a few days later you play here. If you open up with a goal, the situation can look different. I don't know how many derbies I've had now - quite a few - but it's always difficult here.
"Fabio Carvalho - we all think it's the muscle above the knee, with a massive dead leg. It's very painful. Probably Thiago can train on Monday, but that's just two days' training [before Napoli in the Champions League]. The situation is like it is."
Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk told BT Sport:
"They had a couple of opportunities and an offside goal. They had two good saves from Alisson, I think we had a little more [chances] than that. We should have won in my opinion. It feels like we lost two points.
"We wanted to stay calm. They wanted to be aggressive, feed the crowd. We had to keep our cool and play quickly from side to side, because the spaces were so massive between the lines. Sometimes we did that, sometimes we didn't and created unnecessary problems.
"We changed system a little bit [at half-time] but it's still the same principles. At times it went well, but at times we could have done better. It feels like we lost points here but it's still early in the season. We have to stick together, focus on winning games and take it step by step.
"A clean sheet also wasn't a bad thing at this stage."
Everton's fixture list does not get any easier, with a trip to Arsenal on Sunday September 11 - kick off at 2pm - next up. The Toffees then face West Ham at home on Sunday September 18, with kick off again at 2pm.
Liverpool's next outing is on Wednesday, when they travel to Italy to take on Napoli in their opening Champions League game, with kick-off at 8pm.
Jurgen Klopp's side are then back in Premier League action on Saturday September 10 when Wolves visit Anfield, with kick-off at 3pm.
