Another Derby Disappointment for the Blues
By Rhys Lewis March 25 2006
Liverpool completed the double over an out of sorts Everton at Anfield this afternoon winning 3-1 despite going down to 10 men in the eighteenth minute when their talisman Steven Gerrard was sent off for 2 bookings inside a minute.
Liverpool completed the double over an out of sorts Everton at Anfield this afternoon winning 3-1 despite going down to 10 men in the eighteenth minute when their talisman Steven Gerrard was sent off for 2 bookings inside a minute.
Everton also ended the match with 10 men when Andy van der Meyde was harshly sent off when his arm connected with Xabi Alonso.
Everton started the game incredibly brightly, looking the much sharper of the two teams. Tim Cahill had a couple of openings early on but failed to make the most of them. The first was a shot on the turn that was cofortably saved by Reina. The second was a more difficult chance but he failed to make Reina make a save. Ironically it all changed when Gerrard got sent off. Firstly for kicking the ball away and then for a trip on Kilbane on the edge of the box. Although the game did not turn around completely Everton failed to continue with the rhythm that they had got into before the dismissal of the Liverpool skipper. Also you had this feeling that Phil Dowd was going to do his very best to even up the numbers at some point. Liverpool took the lead on the stroke of half time despite not looking like scoring at all, it came from a Xabi Alonso corner headed into his own net by Phil Neville.
At half time the Evertonians sat in disbelief wondering how their team was losing. If that was a shock then it wasn't as big a shock as when Luis Garcia doubled Liverpool's lead just minutes into the second half. Gary Naysmith looked static as Garcia moved past him before lobbing Richard Wright who stupidly came off his line when there was absolutly no need. The game looked dead and buried. Everton though did show some fight and got a goal back on the hour mark from a Tim Cahill header, making it 2 goals in 2 Anfield appearances for the Aussie star. Moyes then introduced the Dutch Superstar Andy van der Meyde, much to the approval of the fans and cult hero Duncan Ferguson for probably his last Merseyside derby appearance.
However it was not to end sweetly for the big Scot, nor in fact for the Dutch Winger. Van der Meyde was sent off just a few minutes after coming on for his derby debut. The Dutch International caught Alonso with his arm as they both jumped for the ball and Dowd capped his inept performance by believing that van der Meyde intentionally elbowed the Spaniard. It was at this point that it was really game over, this was confirmed by a fantastic strike by Harry Kewell from 30 yards although it might have been made more difficult had an Everton player put some pressure on Kewell.
It was a poor performance from Everton. It seemed that the players though the game was won when Gerrard was sent off instead of going into every challenge with the same tenacity they had in the first 20 minutes. Another derby day, another derby disappointment.
Everton started the game incredibly brightly, looking the much sharper of the two teams. Tim Cahill had a couple of openings early on but failed to make the most of them. The first was a shot on the turn that was cofortably saved by Reina. The second was a more difficult chance but he failed to make Reina make a save. Ironically it all changed when Gerrard got sent off. Firstly for kicking the ball away and then for a trip on Kilbane on the edge of the box. Although the game did not turn around completely Everton failed to continue with the rhythm that they had got into before the dismissal of the Liverpool skipper. Also you had this feeling that Phil Dowd was going to do his very best to even up the numbers at some point. Liverpool took the lead on the stroke of half time despite not looking like scoring at all, it came from a Xabi Alonso corner headed into his own net by Phil Neville.
At half time the Evertonians sat in disbelief wondering how their team was losing. If that was a shock then it wasn't as big a shock as when Luis Garcia doubled Liverpool's lead just minutes into the second half. Gary Naysmith looked static as Garcia moved past him before lobbing Richard Wright who stupidly came off his line when there was absolutly no need. The game looked dead and buried. Everton though did show some fight and got a goal back on the hour mark from a Tim Cahill header, making it 2 goals in 2 Anfield appearances for the Aussie star. Moyes then introduced the Dutch Superstar Andy van der Meyde, much to the approval of the fans and cult hero Duncan Ferguson for probably his last Merseyside derby appearance.
However it was not to end sweetly for the big Scot, nor in fact for the Dutch Winger. Van der Meyde was sent off just a few minutes after coming on for his derby debut. The Dutch International caught Alonso with his arm as they both jumped for the ball and Dowd capped his inept performance by believing that van der Meyde intentionally elbowed the Spaniard. It was at this point that it was really game over, this was confirmed by a fantastic strike by Harry Kewell from 30 yards although it might have been made more difficult had an Everton player put some pressure on Kewell.
It was a poor performance from Everton. It seemed that the players though the game was won when Gerrard was sent off instead of going into every challenge with the same tenacity they had in the first 20 minutes. Another derby day, another derby disappointment.
Bookmark or share this story with:
Digg
Delicious
Facebook
Reddit
StumbleuponSPORTNETWORK SPECIALS
More Everton headlines
Everton latest threads
Everton Poll
