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Everton have been in a worrying situation recently, with only one win, three draws and two defeats after five rounds at the start of the season. Lampard's coaching career has suffered a setback, and what's worse is that the team is suffering from a wave of injuries, with Lewin, Godfrey, Holgate, Mina, Doucoure and other mainstays going down. In addition, Richarlison was scouted by Tottenham, a blow to Everton. Lampard has not been able to lead the team out of the predicament so far, while Liverpool's situation is not much better, the injury problem is still serious, the strength of the midfield is weak, some of the players are in low form, and the team's overall cooperation is not as good as that of last season, but in comparison, Liverpool's overall strength is still slightly better.
Illustration: CreateFormation website
Liverpool's 433 formation has been tweaked with the introduction of Tsimikas at the back, Fabinho, Elliott, Fabio Carvalho in midfield (almost all the other midfielders are injured), Darwin back from suspension up front, and Salah & LuisDiaz still on the wings.
At the beginning of the match, Everton adopted a tough defensive strategy, even when Liverpool controlled the ball at the back, Everton pressed aggressively high up the pitch. Especially Iwobi was active, not only did he give his all in the 90 minutes, but he was neither a midfielder nor a striker, he was everywhere on the field, using his body and precise positioning to put pressure on Liverpool.
Everton's tactical core is to target Liverpool's only defense back Fabinho, his partner is the young Elliott and Fabio Carvalho, the two are not only young, height is only 170cm, which is precisely the key to Everton can hold the position. Because Everton midfield six in addition to Maupay height 173cm, the other five height at least 180cm, of which Onana is as high as 192cm (Iwobi height 180cm, TomDavies height 180cm, Gray height 180cm, Gordon height 182cm).
When all six of these tall players entered the midfield for an intense physical confrontation, it was obvious that Liverpool's three midfielders could not withstand it, and the connection between Liverpool's front and midfield was not smooth. Now Liverpool is more like splitting the area, the midfield only move in the center of the field, while the attacking group is looking for opportunities in front of the field, facing the crazy counterattack Everton, Liverpool seems to have the feeling of being cut off.
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Iwobi and Onana were the most outstanding in Everton's midfield tackling. One sweeps through the midfield and even goes high upfield to press Liverpool out of the ball, the other carries one when he sees one in the middle of the field, and with his quickness and lack of fear of body rushing, Everton relied on the efforts of these two men to spoil many of Liverpool's organizational chances, while Patterson was quite good at the back, and Gordon in the forward line was also in fine form.
Everton's strategy is to play counterattack and raid, 22 minutes Gordon had a beautiful box raid shot, 31 minutes Maupay received the ball in the penalty area attempted to sweep the shot was blocked, but next to TomDavies quickly followed up with a shot, this shot is quite accurate, almost about to break the goal, before the end of the first half, Liverpool also returned the color, Darwin sprinted into the box to receive the ball directly, chest stop and shot hit the crossbar bounced out, then followed by LuisDiaz again 15 yards shot, still hit the post (the goal post is blocked continuously). Liverpool returned the favor just before the end of the first half when Darwin raced into the box and took a direct pass, stopped the ball on his chest and fired a shot that hit the crossbar, followed by Luis Diaz from 15 yards out who fired another shot that still hit the post (which was continuously blocked by the goalposts).
At the start of the second half, Klopp replaced Fabio Carvalho with Firmino, who had already been badly hit by Everton in the first half, and then replaced Tsimikas and Arnold, who had hardly played at all, with Robertson and Milner in the 59th minute, at which point Liverpool had already started to change formation, with Milner having to juggle attacking and defending on the right, and Gomez filling in on the right. Milner in the right side of the attack and defense have to take care of, and Gomez at this time will be to the right side of the complementary position, Liverpool began to change the formation into 424, but Arnold due to only 58 minutes and only one key pass, he almost did not help the attack, but also do not dare to press too deep, the result of Robertson came up to the left side of the back of the Liverpool up to the right side, but can not play advantage.
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Darwin Núñez is very eager to score, he has been attacking the goal since the first half, and there is nothing really wrong with it, except that Everton has already tried their best in this game, and with no win in five rounds, if it continues like this, Frank Lampard may be at risk of being dismissed too. A draw against Liverpool would go a long way toward keeping his job. Everton's defense against Darwin Núñez was also very tough, but I think that's good enough. Lampard isn't a violent manager, and if it was a Merseyside derby in the past, Everton would have already suffered injuries, but Darwin Núñez is too eager to win, and he shoots when the ball is at his feet, and I can see that now. wherever it was, and of course it was a quick straight shot, which Pickford were able to cope with.
