Everton see red as Liverpool snatch a dramatic victory in this season's first Merseyside derby.
Toffees manager David Moyes was left fuming after his side finished with nine men and Liverpool scored an injury-time penalty to win their match at Goodison Park.
Tactical battle
The game’s first half was a tense, tactical battle begun by Rafael Benitez but won by David Moyes as The Blues took a one-nil lead into half-time.
Initially, Liverpool had surprised Everton by starting the match with three players, including captain Steven Gerrard, in central midfield. This formation allowed The Reds to dominate the early possession and resulted in a chance for Andriy Voronin which was saved by Tim Howard.
In response Moyes changed his side’s set up to one similar to Liverpool’s and, whilst the majority of The Red’s play was condensed into the crowded centre of the pitch, Everton had an outlet out wide in the form of left back Joleon Lescott.
With Liverpool extremely narrow in midfield, the quick and powerful Lescott was free to run at Red’s defender Steve Finnan, continually tormenting the right back.
Finally, in the thirty seventh minute, Everton’s increasing pressure resulted in a breakthrough when Liverpool defender Sami Hypia attempted to clear a cross with his favoured right foot, rather than his more suitable left, and sliced the ball into his own net.
Refereeing decisions
In contrast to the tight first half proceedings, the game’s second forty five minutes were a more open affair that turned on a number of key refereeing decisions.
The first of these came on fifty three minutes when Liverpool were awarded a penalty after a run from Steven Gerrard ended with The Reds’ skipper tumbling in the area following a coming together with Tony Hibbert .
The initial contact between Hibbet and Gerrard appeared to begin outside the Everton area but, after Hibbert was dispatched to the dressing room with a straight red card from referee Mark Clattenburg, Dirk Kuyt dispatched the spot kick to level up the scores.
Minutes later Kuyt was involved in another incident when he needlessly jumped into a challenge with Phil Neville on the half-way line. In many games the tackle would have resulted in Kuyt being able to share Hibbert’s shampoo in the showers but, on this occasion, Clattenburg decided it was only worthy of a yellow card.
With Liverpool having escaped losing their one man advantage, the team’s fans expected their side to push on for an important win. It came as a huge shock to many then that, on seventy one minutes, Benitez, with almost certainly at least one eye on Wednesday’s crucial Champions League match against Besiktas, withdrew Gerrard and replaced him with inexperienced youngster Lucas.
On another day the match would have finished in a draw and the Liverpool manager would have received severecriticism in the press for the continued use of his rotation policy at the expense of Premiership points, but on this day the Merseyside footballing gods were smiling on him.
As the match entered injury time, a well constructed Liverpool move ended with a Lucas shot that Phil Neville pushed off the line with his hand. For his actions Neville became the second Eveton player to receive his marching orders and Kuyt again scored from the penalty spot to give The Reds the lead.
In a final moment of drama Jamie Carragher appeared to foul Lescott in The Reds area, but referee Clattenburg dismissed the appeals and his final whistle left Everton fans angry and Liverpool supporters relieved, but once again questioning whether Benitez is the man to take the club to the next level.
