Photo: Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
Liverpool punished the opponent in the derby. And the expensive newcomer interrupted the unpleasant streak
Gakpo scored the first goal in the Premier League, and his team passed Chelsea in the table.
In the final match of the 23rd round of the championship of England, two Merseyside clubs met – Liverpool and Everton. The meeting of principal rivals ended with the victory of a more status team.
Liverpool were in 10th place in the table before the match with the principal rival. Could anyone have imagined this before the start of the season? In their last seven matches in all competitions, Jurgen Klopp’s team has won one win, suffered four defeats and scored just six goals. Everton, in turn, was in third place from the end, but ended the previous match in their favor. And he did not beat anyone, but the leader of the championship – Arsenal (1: 0). And all this happened a few days after the appointment of Sean Dyche as head coach.
Before the derby it became known that referee John Brooks was removed from the game. He was supposed to work for VAR, but a mistake cost him dearly in the Crystal Palace-Brighton match. In that game, the referees incorrectly drew an offside line and erroneously canceled the winning goal of the guests. Brooks was removed not only from the derby, but also from the Arsenal-Manchester match, which will be held on Wednesday.
In the championship of England the inexplicable happened. Referees forgot about offside in Arsenal match
Everton did not land a single shot on target before the break, lost significantly to the opponent in possession of the ball (32% vs. 68%) and broke the rules much more often (13 fouls vs. five). At the end of the first half, the guests almost upset almost the entire stadium, but the ball hit the post after James Tarkovsky’s strike. The defender hit after a corner, and the opponent immediately dispersed the counterattack, which ended with a goal.
In the final phase, Darwin Nunez gave the transfer to Mohamed Salah, and the Egyptian calmly sent the ball into the goal. Firstly, the African interrupted a series of five matches without goals – he did not score for more than 400 minutes. Secondly, he participated in 100 scoring combinations at Anfield (71 goals, 29 assists).
“Liverpool” — “Everton” — 2:0
Immediately after the break, Liverpool strengthened the advantage – Cody Gakpo closed the cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold at the far post. The striker was bought from PSV in the winter for €42 million, but in the first six matches for the new club, he did not score a single point. On the first replay, there was a slight suspicion of offside, but the offside line drawn later confirmed the legitimacy of the goal. Liverpool again penalized the opposition as a result of a counterattack.
In the 70th minute, a significant event took place – Klopp released Diogo Jota onto the field. The Portuguese missed four months due to a tibia injury, the last match with his participation took place on October 16, 2022. By the way, then Liverpool beat Manchester City (1:0) at home. And later, the return of Roberto Firmino took place – the Brazilian entered the field in an official match for the first time in three months.
Why is Liverpool so bad and is it time for Klopp to leave?
Liverpool brought the meeting to victory, bypassed Chelsea and climbed to ninth place in the table. True, the gap from the fourth line (it gives the right to play in the Champions League) is still decent – nine points. On February 18, Liverpool will play an away match with Newcastle, which is just in fourth place. In the meantime, Klopp’s team won the first victory in five rounds in the Premier League.
Source: “Championship”
Head photo: Alex Livesey — Danehouse/Getty Images