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Then the game kicked off… and it wasn’t long until our pace demon Sadio Mane broke through the Evertonian defense and finished wonderfully with his left foot into the bottom corner of the goal past Joel Robles. The man from Senegal netting his 13th goal in the Premier League this season, someone who is truly turning out to be making an insane difference to the reds as a attacking force.
A couple of efforts from Coutinho and one from Emre Can started to make Evertonians fear that it could end up as a complete rout at Anfield, whilst it only being in the 19th minute. Mind you, it wouldn’t be the first time would it?
Tackles were flying in from both teams as the game went on, with Tom Davies being cautioned for a silly tackle on Sadio with the Red Man flipping into the air, somehow this was only the first yellow card of the match. I think it’s fair to say that the referee was being very lenient with his little yellow pieces of plastic in the first half, with plenty of tackles that would normally warrant a yellow card being let go. I guess we can let the referee off, being that it normally is a bubbly affair between the two sides.
The inevitable was about to happen, as in the 28th minute, Liverpool failed to defend a set piece once again, with the man who hadn’t started a game this season before yesterday’s game, Matthew Pennington slotting a shot low and hard into the net six yards from goal. Not being able to defend set pieces, whether they are corners, free kicks or even long throw-ins has been a serious problem for Liverpool for quite some time now and nothing seems to be able to be done about it, which is a worrying issue.
Not even 5 minutes went by, and Liverpool grabbed their second of the afternoon. A beauty of a shot from Philippe Coutinho curled round the goalie and nestled into the top right hand side of the goal. Probably still during the time that the Everton fans were celebrating their goal. This was a bitter moment and a lesson learnt the hard way for Pennington, as everyone, including my Nan, would know not to let Phil cut onto his right and let him get an effort off on goal. An interesting few minutes for the young lad in blue.
A stupid stamp from Williams and Barkley with a horrendous tackle soon followed, with the Welsh defender and the overrated Englishman showing what they were all about as the first half came to a close.
As the second half opened, Liverpool began to show their defensive flaws once again as Ashley Williams just missed a glorious opportunity to sink Everton’s second and the equalizing goal, but he couldn’t take it. The laissez-faire style of refereeing continued into the second half as Emre Can puts his studs onto the arm of Ross Barkley, nothing but joy for a Liverpool fan to see after the tackle Barkley himself made in the first half.
Then the worst happened, and it wasn’t a goal for Everton. Sadio Mane ended up on the floor in pain as he twisted his ankle in a fair tackle with Leighton Baines, which looks to be a nasty injury for Sadio. Divock Origi then came on for the injured Mane, as the Red Men pushed on looking for a third to kill the game.
Origi answered his sides call in great fashion as the Belgian powered home an effort into the back of the net for the Kop to admire, following a ridiculous run from Coutinho, the best player on the pitch yesterday. What Joel Robles was doing that far out of his net I will never know, I will also never complain about it.
The ugliness of a Merseyside Derby started to edge it’s way back in, with another bad tackle from Ashley Williams and Emre Can flew in with a high studded challenge, luckily the Red Man pulled out of the tackle as many feared he would be shown a red card as he had jumped into the tackle.
Everton began to enjoy a lengthy spell of possession after this, Holgate had a deflected shot saved very well from Simon Mignolet in the Liverpool goal, after not having too much to do throughout the entire afternoon. All this, followed by a header which was headed upwards and out from Gareth Barry, who really should have done better. Nothing too hard for the Reds to defend, however.
Despite some Blue chances, it was not meant to be for the Everton, giving the Blues the Blues and leaving Liverpool Red once more. A smile from me and gratefulness for Lucas in particular, I thought he had a wonderful game in the midfield, and he didn’t even get booked, a rare occurrence for the long and brilliant servant to our club. Proving to his doubters that he still has what it takes to perform at the top level in the big games.
A great win for Liverpool, and nothing that was too tricky to come past in the end, a result that is a huge help in our battle for a prestigious top four place!
Written by @Flanallana follow him on twitter and check out his blog flanallanablog
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Easy win for you on Saturday but top 4 is a step too far for LFC which is a shame considering you’d won the league in November.