Liverpool 3 Everton 1
Liverpool: Mané (8'), Coutinho (31'), Origi (60')
Everton: Pennington (28')
Man of the Match: Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)
Some of the 228 Merseyside derbies are instantly recognisable by the mere mention of a name. Gary McAllister brings 2001 to name, Graeme Sharp 1984. If, in the future, references to ‘the Joel Robles derby’ or the ‘Matthew Pennington derby’ trigger unwanted flashbacks for Evertonians, it will be understandable.
For Liverpool, it could be branded ‘the Philippe Coutinho derby’, a game determined by its silkiest player, one which underlined the balance of power on Merseyside and put nine points between the teams. Liverpool look bound for the Uefa Champions League, Everton for its uglier sibling, the Europa.
They have not won at Anfield since 1999 and a game overflowing with plot lines exposed fault lines in both Ronald Koeman’s squad and, indeed, in his argument when, in a strange appraisal, he argued “we controlled the game”.
The Dutchman ought to have recruited a first-choice, high-class goalkeeper by now. Instead, Robles failed to move for Liverpool’s first two goals. Bizarrely, he turned his back on the third.
Meanwhile, Pennington had a largely unfortunate ubiquity, a man who had lingered in the shadows of the second-string side making his first appearance of the season, scoring and yet still looking sadly out of his depth and outclassed.
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It scarcely helped that his immediate opponent was Coutinho, offering reminders of his autumn excellence in the spring sunshine and banishing memories of his winter malaise.
He answered the question of who would cope better in the absence of pivotal players. Liverpool may yet rue the loss of the injured goalscorer Sadio Mane, who will miss Wednesday’s game with Bournemouth, but his replacement Divock Origi came on and scored inside three minutes as, deprived of Adam Lallana and Jordan Henderson, they fared better than an Everton side stripped of Morgan Schneiderlin and Seamus Coleman, plus Ramiro Funes Mori, who would have played if fit, and James McCarthy, who might have done.
Enter Pennington, ushered in from obscurity and making only his fifth start in the top flight. His day began badly, improved briefly and ended in a substitution that marked the abandonment of Koeman’s 3-4-2-1 formation.
The opener highlighted the merits of Jurgen Klopp’s fast, fluid football. Mane, the nominal right winger, ended up in the inside-left channel after sprinting across the pitch. Roberto Firmino, the supposed striker, had dropped deep to swap passes with the Senegalese. Mane’s shot rolled through Pennington’s legs.
“An unlucky goal,” Koeman said. But Pennington’s policy of showing Coutinho infield amounted to more than misfortune. When the Brazilian sauntered past him and shot, save lacked conviction and, Phil Jagielka needed to be on sentry duty to head off the line.
The warning went unheeded. Pennington let Coutinho veer on to his favoured foot again. He curled in just his second goal of 2017.
“We conceded too easily except for the quality of Coutinho,” Koeman said. “World class,” Klopp said.
In an instant, the decision to pay for a private plane to fly Coutinho and Firmino back from Brazil was justified.
It was, too, when with Pennington back-pedalling away from him, Coutinho set up Origi for his first league goal of 2017. “We scored fantastic goals,” Klopp said.
Coutinho went off to a standing ovation as Klopp looked to protect a rare fit flair player. Pennington was replaced, too, put out of his misery, despite scoring a goal that highlighted Liverpool’s enduring difficulties defending dead-ball situations.
Another of Everton’s locals could have departed still sooner. Ross Barkley should have been booked for a challenge on Emre Can. He was for upending Dejan Lovren, prompting a witticism he had committed more bookable offences than he had enjoyed touches.
“Maybe he deserved two yellows,” Koeman said. But he railed at Peter Krawietz, one of Klopp’s coaches, claiming he was urging referee to show Everton “eight red cards” and accusing Liverpool of gamesmanship.
“They didn’t need the physio on the pitch,” he said. “It’s a man’s sport.”
Yet this was a damaging day for one of Everton’s boys: young Pennington.
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