For Liverpool, rivalry with Everton is matter of history not current concern | Jonathan Liew

Home team rested key players, underperformed all over the pitch and treated game like a perfunctory training session

A rivalry is only really a rivalry if both protagonists want the same thing. They don’t have to be evenly matched, but they do need to share a target. Think Richard III and Henry VII. Ali and Foreman. Girls Aloud and One True Voice. Alas, it’s been a while since this was the case on Merseyside. Liverpool v Everton may be a treasured heritage fixture. But as these 90 skittish, uneven minutes demonstrated, it’s no longer much more than that.

The game ended with Liverpool eight points clear at the top, 11 points clear of Manchester City. With Everton in the bottom three, still two decades without a win here. But you didn’t need to know any of that to grasp the divergence in priorities. It was in the tone and feel of the game, the suck and blow of the Anfield atmosphere, who wanted the ball and who didn’t. Liverpool wanted to win. Everton just wanted to compete.

Related: Divock Origi leads Liverpool feast to raise pressure on Everton’s Silva

Continue reading...