By Richard Buxton, Special to Sportsnet
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Christmas has finally come early for Wayne Rooney and Everton on Sunday.
A 229th Merseyside derby may not have delivered a long-awaited end to their search for an elusive Anfield victory in the current millennium, but the Toffees can finally begin to seek optimism from what has become an otherwise thankless task since October 1999.
Hunched shoulders and bowed heads have regularly accompanied Toffees supporters whenever they make their annual trek across Stanley Park, a journey they will have to undertake again in January for a repeat in the FA Cup. Yet it will be Sam Allardyce, rather than Jurgen Klopp, who is more likely to count down the days before that third-round meeting next month after Rooney’s penalty delivered a smash-and-grab point in a 1-1 draw.
Evertonians have failed to warm to the former England coach since he emerged as a prospective successor to Ronald Koeman. They may never truly accept him as the Dutchman’s permanent replacement – Goodison Park’s fabled reputation as a ‘School of Science’ makes him an unpopular choice as its new headmaster. Where Koeman and Roberto Martinez both failed in their attempts to deliver philosophies more attuned to the Toffees’ roots than brass tacks, Allardyce’s reputation for pragmatism may continue to precede him. But it is an approach which is delivering tangible progress for his new side.
He was the last manager to win at Anfield, with a previous visit here in April seeing Liverpool suffer a third consecutive defeat at Crystal Palace’s hands. The former England coach exploited their defensive vulnerabilities and proceeded to revel in the moment. Dejan Lovren’s shove on Dominic Calvert-Lewin allowed him to do so again as Everton were awarded a rare spot kick on their former stomping ground, where they had previously been restricted to just one in 80 years.
“Whatever anyone says, Liverpool possession wise would have a huge amount more than us and yet they had three shots on target and we had two,” Allardyce said post-match.
“That shows we mastered a great side in terms of their goalscoring ability. That had to be our first port of call if we were going to get a result and we mastered that. Our defensive qualities throughout the entire game were very, very good.
“I thought first half that nerves played a big part and we found that difficult to deal with in possession. You can’t knock our defending today when you’ve limited Liverpool, with probably the best goalscoring record in Europe in recent games, to three shots on target.”
Klopp attempted to outwit his counterpart by rotating Liverpool’s prolific forward line, with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino both elected for starts on the substitutes’ bench. It was a gamble which ultimately backfired on the German coach in a game where his side dominated proceedings but, not for the first time, struggled to make their advantage count. Mohamed Salah’s wonder strike, just before half time, appeared to have restored a sense of order.
Everton was there for the taking; Allardyce’s parked-bus approach appeared devoid of an engine for the majority of this encounter, but Liverpool’s inability to kill off their local rivals summed up a familiar predicament which continues to plague their season.
It is also why the Merseyside derby cannot currently hold a candle to its contemporaries in Manchester and north London, as it did in the 1970s and 1980s. Liverpool have to shoulder the burden of that shortcoming with Sadio Mane falling afoul of his own profligacy as much as the inclement weather when he spurned two opportunities to hand the hosts an upper hand either side of the Egyptian’s brilliantly curled effort.
Rooney had scored the winner in two prior Anfield visits with Manchester United but none will have ranked as sweetly as the penalty, 13 minutes from time, which gifted Everton both a point and opened his account in his hometown derby. It typified why the 32-year-old re-joined his boyhood club last summer; to deliver in crucial games where defeatism has been commonplace for far too long. Not everyone agreed with referee Craig Pawson’s judgement.
“I don’t think it was a penalty. It is like it is. We have to take it,” Klopp admitted.
“If you all think it is a penalty, then all the other challenges in midfield between [Ashley] Williams and Dom Solanke should have been a free-kick. They weren’t free-kicks but this was a penalty. That’s how it is. We have to take that.
“In the last moment, for me, Calvert-Lewin makes the step in the way of Dejan Lovren but he doesn’t push him or anything, it’s just body contact. That’s how it was in midfield 60 or 70 times, no free-kick there. We have to take that.
“We didn’t get a red card at Stoke which we should have got. Today, it’s a penalty which was not a penalty. It was so close before the end of the game, so that’s how it feels.”
Richard Buxton is a UK-based writer and special correspondent for Sportsnet. He filed this report from Liverpool’s Anfield stadium.
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