Photo credit: Sports Vision
Everton's recent situation is worrying, only one win in the opening five rounds, three draws and two losses, Lampard coaching career for the first time suffered a trough. To add insult to injury, the team is suffering from a wave of injuries, with core players such as Lewin, Godfrey, Holgate, Mina, Doucoure and others going down. And Richarlison's poaching by Tottenham dealt a huge blow to Everton. Lampard has not been able to lead the team out of the predicament so far, while Liverpool is also in a difficult situation, injury problems continue to plague, the midfield is understaffed, some of the players are in low form, and the overall cooperation is not as good as last season, but in comparison, Liverpool's strength is still better.
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Liverpool's 433 formation has been tweaked, with Tsimikas starting at the back and Fabinho, Elliott and Fabio Carvalho (all other midfielders are injured) in midfield, while up front, Darwin is back from suspension and Salah continues to be partnered with LuisDiaz.
At the beginning of the game, Everton took a strong defensive stance against Liverpool, even when Liverpool controlled the ball at the back, Everton took a high press, Iwobi darted all over the field and was unusually active, not only as a midfielder but also as a striker, being everywhere, and exerting constant pressure on Liverpool by virtue of his excellent physical condition and choice of position.
The key to Everton's tactics is to target Liverpool's defensive back Fabinho, who is partnered by young players Elliott and Fabio Carvalho, both of whom are only 170cm tall, but it is these two who are the key to Everton's ability to hold on to their defense. Everton's midfield six in addition to Maupay height 173cm, the rest of the five are more than 180cm, of which Onana is as high as 192cm.
Liverpool's three midfielders clearly couldn't handle the pressure when these six tall midfielders were in full force, and with problems linking up front and midfield, Liverpool appeared to be in a divided position.
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Everton's tackling in the midfield was mainly done by Iwobi and Onana, Iwobi sweeping through the midfield and even pressing Liverpool out of the ball high up the field, Onana seeing one carry the other in the middle of the field, moving with agility and not being afraid of body rushing, and the two of them together spoilt many of Liverpool's organised chances, while at the back Patterson was quite good, and Gordon in the forward line was quite a bright spot.
Liverpool returned the favor just before the end of the first half when Darwin raced into the box to receive a direct pass, stopped the ball on his chest and fired a shot that hit the crossbar. LuisDiaz then took another shot from 15 yards out, hitting the post again (goalpost double).
At the start of the second half, Klopp replaced Fabio Carvalho with Firmino, Carvalho had already been hit by Everton in the first half, and replaced Tsimikas and the underperforming Arnold with Robertson and Milner in the 59th minute, at which point Liverpool began to change their formation, with Milner playing both offense and defense on the right. Both have to take care of, Gomez at this time began to fill the right side, Liverpool changed to 424, but Arnold's performance was not good, only one key pass in 58 minutes, he almost did not provide help for the attack, and did not dare to press too deep, Robertson came on the left back of Liverpool went up, but the right side can not play.
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Darwin Núñez was desperate for a goal, and was all over the goal since the first half, and although Everton have not won a single game in five rounds, a draw against Liverpool would help Lampard to keep his job. Everton were also tough on Darwin Núñez, but Lampard is not a violent manager, and if it were the Merseyside derby of old, Everton would have adopted a more aggressive defensive strategy. However, Darwin Núñez was too eager to score, his shots were too direct and from close to goal, and of course in a quick straight line, which was too much for a nervous Pickford to resist.
