Liverpool’s stuttering start to the season continued after Jurgen Klopp’s side played out an entertaining 0-0 draw with Everton at Goodison Park today in the latest instalment of the Merseyside derby.
Today’s encounter began in the full-blooded nature we’ve come to expect from this famous fixture and both sides would trade chances early on. Firstly Everton’s new signing Neal Maupay would drag a shot just wide of the post before the returning Darwin Nunez failed to connect properly with a header at the back post.
On the half-hour mark, the Goodison Park faithful thought their side was about to take the lead only to see academy graduate Tom Davies’ delicate effort clip off the post.
Just before the break and Liverpool burst into life with Nunez forcing Jordan Pickford into a superb save from a wide angle before Luis Diaz gathered the rebounded and hammered a powerful strike against the post.
Liverpool upped the intensity after the break and on the hour mark, Everton ‘keeper Jordan Pickford had to pull off a couple of fine saves to deny Brazilian duo Roberto Firmino and Fabinho.
The Toffees still carried a threat of their own though and a lightning-quick counter-attack ended with Maupay squandering a glorious chance by firing straight at Alisson from inside the six-yard box.
Minutes later and Everton thought they had taken the lead through former Liverpool man Conor Coady, but VAR stepped in and adjudged the England international to be marginally offside when he tapped home at the back post.
With 10 minutes left on the clock, Alisson would once again show his class, the Brazilian goalkeeper arching his body to tip a deflected Dwight McNeil effort over the bar.
The battle of the goalkeepers continued soon after with Pickford having to get down low to keep out a half-volley from Firmino.
As the game entered the 94th minute it looked destined to end as a draw, but there would be one last big chance. It fell to Mohamed Salah and the Liverpool attacker’s effort looked to be heading in at the near post only for Pickford to tip it onto the post to seal a man-of-the-match performance.
37 – There were 37 shots in the match between Everton and Liverpool (14 Everton, 23 Liverpool); since the start of last season, only one Premier League match has had as many while finishing goalless – Brighton v Norwich in April 2022 (also 37). Wasteful. pic.twitter.com/NL3XHVJeJ7
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 3, 2022
Speaking afterwards Reds boss Klopp conceded it’s always a difficult day’s work at Goodison Park and admitted there was little he could do about the quality of some of Pickford’s saves.
“It was a real derby, super intense and full of really spectacular moments,” Klopp told BT Sport.
”They scored a goal – I didn’t see it back but I think it probably was offside. Ali made an excellent save. I think we hit the post three times and there were a few unbelievable saves from Pickford – wow, what can you do?
“In this game, easy and free-flowing is not possible. You have to dig deep, that’s what we did. A 0-0 draw sounds strange, but that’s it.
“It was a super intense week for us. We had a really tough game that went to the wire [against Newcastle on Wednesday], then a few days later you play here.
”If you open up with a goal, the situation can look different. I don’t know how many derbies I’ve had now – quite a few – but it’s always difficult here.
