Sunday 2 December 2018 21:21, UK
Everton will soon realise they can play attacking football and win away at leading Premier League clubs after a narrow Merseyside derby loss to Liverpool, according to David Weir.
Everton were seconds away from securing a well-deserved point at Anfield on Derby Day, but Divock Origi's 96th-minute header after a mistake by Jordan Pickford consigned them to defeat.
Everton are winless at Anfield since 1999 but the result could have been very different had Yerry Mina or Andre Gomes put away favourable first-half chances, leading former defender Weir - who played for Everton in 13 Merseyside derbies - to suggest their barren run could soon be over.
"When the midfield players took the ball, they took an element of risk in the game but they got the benefit - they created chances and they were in it the whole game," Weir said on Renault Super Sunday.
"Give them a bit of time and when they settle down, they'll realise they can come to places like this and play and hopefully start getting results."
Fellow pundit Graeme Souness, who played for and managed Liverpool, said Marco Silva's side had set down a marker of the level of performance the club should expect from big away games, having held a Liverpool team chasing the title so well for 95 minutes.
Souness said: "They'll be greatly encouraged by their performance today. They'll have the disappointment of losing the way they lost, but the way they turned up, there is no inferiority complex.
"Big teams have come here before and not wanted to take Liverpool on but that was not the case with Everton today. They felt like they could match them and for the most part, they did. Idrissa Gueye in midfield along with Andre Gomes were more than a match at times for the Liverpool midfield.
"The supporters should be encouraged by the performance. Everton were a very good team today. If that's going to be their normal standard away from home at big football clubs, they can be delighted with themselves."
