Up until that point, it seemed as if things were on the up for Liverpool. The team looked on their way to an efficient 1-0 victory.
We looked to approach the game sensibly. Once again we saw Liverpool indulge a much more controlled and disciplined game plan – a far cry from the high octane performances last season.
Often switching from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3, Liverpool had many bodies behind the ball, inviting Everton onto them. The central midfield rotated intelligently – Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson often swopping, one holding whilst the other occupied the right side. Then the midfield settled into a double pivot with Gerrard and Henderson.
In keeping with his start to the season, Gerrard’s performance was shaky – he looked slow and unable to turn quick enough to deal with Everton attackers. We can count ourselves lucky that Everton’s Steven Naismith was more-or-less off the boil, and did not effectively shut off Gerrard when he was in possession.
Gerrard’s superb free-kick in the 65th minute seemed to inject life into him, and his performance improved.
Liverpool looked as if the plan for this game was inspired by the three scrappy 1-0 wins that kicked us off last season. Much like in those opening fixtures, we saw Liverpool play pragmatically, forgoing flair and style for measured play in wide areas.
What’s more is that, after scoring, we looked to close off the game rather than gunning for a second goal. All 10 outfield players dropped into our half and we absorbed Everton’s pressure. Raheem Sterling even dropped from left wing to left back, allowing Alberto Moreno to play as a third centre half.
Lone-striker Mario Balotelli once again looked solid, but his lack of explosiveness and shrewd movement negates our ability to play in the way we do when Daniel Sturridge is up front. Constantly the midfielders – especially Henderson – tried searching through passes that came to no avail. When we attacked down the wings, Balotelli looked to rather plant himself in the six-yard box rather than make intelligent runs to the near or fast post.
You get the feeling, when watching Balotelli that he requires a much different kind of service than Sturridge does. When he drops to link up play, Balotelli looks confident and makes decent use of the ball. But the runs he makes and his approach to the game hinders our attacking philosophy and therefore the ability to create chances.
Reassuringly, there are positives to be taken from the result – something we haven’t been able to say in many games this season. The defensive blunders so far seem to have forced our hand in making Liverpool adopt a system that looks to plug gaps and occupy space rather than maraud forward recklessly.
The conservative style used against Everton can be seen as a necessary stop gap that both allowed us to deal with their attacking threats, as well as ask modest tasks of the back five who are far from having an understanding or rhythm.
The coherence of the midfield and transitional play in general looked better than previous games, and we seemed to, much like in defence, adopt a simple and straightforward means of getting up the field. We are still, however, not anywhere near the fluency expected from a Brendan Rodgers team.
Worryingly, many of the signings on show still do not look settled. Lazar Markovic, Dejan Lovren, and Javier Manquillo all appear to have serious problems in adopting our style of play and gelling with teammates. Whilst we did see solid performances from Moreno, the aforementioned Balotelli, and a particularly solid Adam Lallana, the other signings do leave questions as to how they are to be embedded properly. With new attackers in particular, it is on Rodgers to carve out a system that will accentuate the skillsets of each.
We were very close to what would have been a good win. We showed desire to win and, whilst few, we created decent chances. Major issues with the team are still present, but this game, performance wise, is a tentative step in the right direction. It’s just that perhaps the desire to get three points via pragmatism may have sold us short in this instance.
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