How we have relished this season the advent of that Merseyside cultural phenomenon, pure Blues from the David Moyes Big Band. But yesterday, on an afternoon when that special young member, Wayne Rooney, had to give best to his new England companion Michael Owen, Moyes' men were rarely allowed to harmonise and strike up their typically impressive rhythm. Everton finished with only nine men in a contest when 10 yellow cards were brandished by Paul Durkin. But long before that it appeared that Gérard Houllier's side were enjoying numerical superiority.
Nick Townsend, Independent
Liverpool stole a march on Everton in the chase for Champions League qualification yesterday with a victory that put the Goodison Park club's marked improvement this season into an unflattering perspective. Goals by Michael Owen - his first from open play in 10 Merseyside derbies - and Danny Murphy deservedly took them into fifth place, two points above their city rivals.
Colin Malam, Telegraph
There is an e-mail doing the rounds about an England player allegedly chasing off a pair of boys who stood outside his house taunting him with the name of Wayne Rooney. A newspaper suggested the international might play for Liverpool but yesterday nobody in Gerard Houllier’s side had cause to envy the Everton youngster, least of all Michael Owen. Owen scored exactly the sort of audacious, quick-footed goal that is supposed to be the preserve of David Moyes’s striker.
Jonathan Northcroft, Sunday Times
Back in the 1970s, the Leeds United firebrand Billy Bremner, having some experience of these things, titled his auto-biography You Get Nowt for Coming Second . Nowadays it would have to be called 'You Get Nowt for Coming Fifth'. Never has so much store been set by finishing fourth, such are the riches available in the Champions League. And never can these great rivals have fought so fiercely in a derby without a trophy at stake. With eight bookings and two dismissals, Everton's David Weir and Gary Naysmith departing late on for second yellow cards, the game also carried echoes of the 1970s. Liverpool deserved their win, courtesy of a typical piece of predatory finishing by Michael Owen and a delightful shot by the excellent, deserving Danny Murphy after David Unsworth had levelled from the penalty spot, for their greater ability to pass the ball in such a frenetic atmosphere. Champions League football is vital to them, it seems, while for a rebuilding Everton it would simply be nice.
Ian Ridley, Observer
