"Everyone seemed to be thinking this was going to be an easy game but we all knew that wouldn't be the case," he said.
"We knew they were going to make it hard for us and they'd be defensive. They were hard to break down, but we should have played better. We didn't have many chances. We needed to pass and move better and put more pressure on," he added.
And Riise agrees that the Sunday showdown must result with the Reds gaining all three points for the race for fourth place to stay alive.
"Obviously we have to win on Sunday now. It's a must win game because that's the only way to put some pressure on Everton," he said.
"We wanted to win last night to give us a chance to reduce the gap to just two points. Now we know there's no option but to win. Then we'll still have hope. We know there's a lot of pressure on us now. I'm sure Everton will be happy with a point if they can get it, but a derby is always different and I'm sure all our players will be up for it," he added.