Cissé caps demolition of Everton's tactics

The famous yet overrated effect of local rivalry could not disguise the realities. One team are Champions League holders, the other trying merely to hang on to Premier League membership. Everton, exasperated and conscious of their precarious position in the table, eventually lost control. Phil Neville, with 22 minutes remaining of his first Merseyside derby, and Mikel Arteta, in stoppage time, were both sent off for second bookable offences on, respectively, Momo Sissoko and the substitute Luis García.

Like many beleaguered sides Everton are also being crushed by misfortune. At 2-0 down they were denied a goal by Beattie when a linesman judged dubiously that the ball had gone behind before Tim Cahill crossed. When the side did score, preventing a ninth Premiership clean sheet in a row for Liverpool, Everton were rallying with boldness if not finesse.

Despite that, the prevailing impression was off the strides being made by Liverpool, who have taken full points from their past nine fixtures. It is always confidence that unlocks talent and the belief that a win was waiting to be collected at Goodison wavered for only a brief interlude.

The rollicking match that rapidly developed here was not the type of encounter that David Moyes had wished for and, as the manager dreaded, Liverpool's superior quality took its toll because Everton, having been breached twice in the opening 18 minutes, were too busy attempting a comeback to stifle the visitors.

Moyes' tactical plan would have made sense only if Everton could have smothered Liverpool and so played on their nerves. A club that has previously scored only four times in the Premier- ship at Goodison this season had chosen to dispense with one of its strikers, leaving Beattie to comprise the entire attack.

All of that scheming was rendered obsolete as early as the 11th minute when Peter Crouch, as Cissé would later do, helped himself to a goal on his debut in a Merseyside derby. The move smacked of his self-belief and that of the whole side. Liverpool, pressing hard after José Reina kicked downfield, assembled the move out of a Momo Sissoko header, a Cissé flick and the piercing pass by Steven Gerrard that released the striker to round Nigel Martyn before shooting home from an angle.

Moyes' logic, however, had not been all that tortuous. In the wake of a pair of 4-0 drubbings he was making it a priority at the very least to throw bodies in Liverpool's path. There was a sensible decision to prise Neville out of the left-back berth and ask him, in a holding role, to confront the most potent department of the visitors' team, even if it would have taken more than him to staunch the flow of Gerrard and the others.

Rafael Benítez, whose side's hobbling league form last season included a defeat at this ground, now has the comfort not only of that potent midfield but also of a squad with the sort of assurance that lets him vary his approach for specific purposes. Cissé, for instance, was allowed to start the game because his pace promised to be more of a terror to defenders such as the veteran David Weir than the know-how of Fernando Morientes would have been.

Everton were harassed by the Frenchman and even, at the second goal, by an enterprising centre-half. Sami Hyypia stopped them from clearing in the 18th minute as he nipped play out to Steve Finnan on the right. The full-back's cross was headed out by Cahill but Gerrard jinked on the edge of the area and fired past an unsighted Martyn, with the ball brushing the chest of Joseph Yobo on its course to the net.

Cissé failed to convert a Crouch knockdown three minutes later but Everton then started to bring more fire to their attacks. Liverpool, uncertain for a spell, were broken at last after 42 minutes. Arteta squeezed over a delivery to the far post and Kevin Kilbane met it before Simon Davies hooked the ball on for Beattie to head past Reina.

Everton must have hoped that they could open the second half by keeping the action frenetic but Liverpool had too much poise to allow that. They struck on the counter-attack as Cissé acted exactly as his manager had envisaged. Harry Kewell struck the ball smartly to the forward down the left in the 47th minute, giving Cissé space to run at Weir and beat him before mustering a precise, low finish with his right foot into the far corner of the net.

The composure and judgment were just the qualities he has too often lacked before. Cissé thereby epitomised the progress of Liverpool. With wins in their two games in hand needed even to cut the gap on Chelsea to nine points, a Premiership title is extremely unlikely this season but they are the side best equipped to challenge the champions in future.