Everton vs. Liverpool: *Bumper* Post-Match Analysis

“Perfectly fine tackle” said VAR David Coote (Possibly)

The final Goodison Mersey derby was given the late go-ahead, and the second shock was that, which Michael Oliver stuck in Newcastle due to Storm Darragh, the hasty exoneration of David Coote from all charges meant he was back at Goodison, home of his worst ever “decision”.

Coote began the game by instantly red-carding Mo Salah for the wrong shade of boots.

Sean Dyche decided to ditch his sub-40% possession tactics and dropped it to 10%, fielding Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Beto, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Armando Broja and Jake O’Brien as a line of five giant attacking totems, lining up just ahead of the false nine of reserve goalkeeper Asmir Begović, as the ball was hoisted high into the tornado, as bits of Goodison fell onto the pitch.

After 38 minutes it was nine free-kicks to Everton and none to Liverpool. (No, wait, that was last season and Andy Madley, with Coote on VAR.)

The game was finally abandoned when a severe gust of wind lifted David Coote and tossed him out into the Irish Sea.

Possibly.

In all seriousness, this could be great for Liverpool’s frantic December and January ahead (after an equally mad October), with a super-rare break between games.

As I showed in the article (link below) from yesterday, Liverpool’s underlying numbers are excellent home and away, and versus good teams and bad. But as I also said, the underlying numbers go out the window in the derby.

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Liverpool’s Record Against the Better Teams Is Sensational

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You also can’t quantify the emotional and physical strain of a derby; especially against a team as physical as Everton.

With the insane number of tough games played without a break, I’ll look at the reasons why I think this is a blessing in disguise.

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