Liverpool vs. Everton *Bumper* Post-Match Analysis

Paul Tomkins, Andrew Beasley, Daniel Rhodes and other TTT regulars will give their thoughts on the match for 24 hours after the game, so the article received via email is unlikely to be the final version. There's statistics from the match and videos too.

Post-Match Thoughts

Paul Tomkins

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A great result, from a strange, mixed game. But in the derby at noon, which is easy for neither fans nor Liverpool players after the international excursions, victory is the priority; especially after the debacle at Spurs that halted the Reds' rise up the table.

But ah, narratives.

I’ll get onto the game itself later, but it seems that Liverpool are not allowed Big Decisions according to the broadcasters.

Liverpool wait 303 games, or around 30,000 minutes of playing time (and over eight years) for a league opponent to finally be sent off for a second yellow (a point I happen to have been making in recent weeks), and the broadcaster TNT spends the game talking about how unlucky Everton were with the “decisions”; Rio Ferdinand throwing in a “well, it's Anfield”, which ignores the data.

Maybe the PGMOL read my recent study after all, and while not a generous ref to Liverpool, Craig Pawson is at least not as dangerously bad as all the newer, younger and weirder refs who, collectively, give nothing at Anfield and little to Liverpool in general. Indeed, too many refs are scared to give Liverpool big calls, as I’ve shown.

Then there’s how rarely Liverpool get penalties in general compared to even mid-table clubs (and no, that wasn't a dig at Manchester United).

Pawson now finally starts to follow the trend of only experienced referees giving Liverpool Big Decisions (unless it's Paul Tierney, and even he buckled late last season, after over 20 games without one.)

With my international break proving eventful (a double-whammy of fractured spine and glaucoma diagnoses ), it will be nice to update the refereeing data (no more full studies like this recent massive undertaking) with something to add to the positive column.

Prior to today, Pawson was another ref who had given Liverpool far fewer Big Decisions than ‘expected’ vs the usual rate for the most successful four teams.

Then Liverpool, who I've shown get about half the number of home penalties in the Jürgen Klopp era, get given a stonewall penalty via not the referee but the VAR (who was the same one who failed to send off Jordan Pickford for almost ending Virgil van Dijk's career in 2020) … and only then the ref, for a hand-out handball block of a cross, and even then it's treated as “a decision that goes Liverpool’s way” from the commentary team who spent the last 20 minutes acting as the Everton PR team.

(No, it was not a decision that went Liverpool’s way as if an arbitrary call; it was a stonewall handball! And for foul-related VAR interventions, Liverpool remain insanely badly treated by the men at Stockley Park; the big positives have been from objective offsides, albeit Coote was also the VAR who disallowed Liverpool’s ‘level’ last-minute winner at Goodison in the Pickford/van Dijk game, before the offside process was improved.)

The same commentary morons also spent much of the game moaning at Liverpool's team and fans for not making a better atmosphere – for what is essentially almost a morning kickoff after the mad international fortnight, due to their bullshit arrangements. (We had subscribers on this site getting up at 3am to fly from Ireland.)

So TNT, you're just another bunch of hypocrites who criticise the fans that you're screwing over. Yes, clubs benefit from the TV revenue, and people like me who cannot go as regularly anymore can get to see the games; but it’s not a fair time of day to expect atmosphere or good football. Most people are only half awake.

And yes, next month [edit: the Manchester Police and Sky] are to consign Liverpool to their 14th 12:30 Saturday kickoff (therefore more difficult) in the Klopp era when no other team has had more than six.

As with the the lack of an opponent second yellow in eight years and Big Decisions at Anfield for Liverpool in general, these trends need changing, and the Reds got a little bit of fairness today (for once). That seemed to absolutely infuriate the TNT team.

The sending off of Ashley Young, who also escaped a second yellow for kicking the ball away and then for demanding a yellow card for a Liverpool player (rules that were applied to Liverpool players in the opening weeks for yellow cards), made Liverpool edgy, but it probably helped grind Everton down.

Ibrahima Konaté could have received a second yellow, but it wasn’t like the Reds have already had four harsh reds this season. And it wasn't 100% clear; just a judgement call that could go either way. (Plus, Luis Díaz was fouled in the box by a reckless challenge that didn't get the ball but got the man, when the Everton defender slid on his knees into the winger, but it wasn't given.)

So for TNT to literally spend the last 20 minutes moaning about all the decisions was maddening, given the decisions Liverpool have faced this season, including overturned red cards and non-allowed legitimate goals, sometimes in TNT matches. Did they mention that it was the first red card for two yellows for an opponent of Liverpool’s since Klopp’s first home game, eight years ago (Sadio Mané for Southampton)?

No. They just talked about how many of the recent red cards in the fixture had been to Everton players, which reminded me of Frank Lampard saying you don’t get penalties at Anfield, when the previous two penalties at Anfield in the derby went to Everton.

Anyway, all that nonsense aside, I'll focus on the Reds' performance after the paywall, with a lot of good, but also a lot of frustrating elements to the play; whilst rejoicing about the result and a return to the top of the table, even if only temporarily.

The second half of my analysis and the analysis of the others follows for subscribers only.