Liverpool 2, Everton 1 - Full time analysis

Oct 22 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

FORTUNE favoured the brave at Goodison on Saturday. Everton’s problem, though, was that such courage did not extend to the match officials.

Having been convinced his team are closing the gap on their neighbours, David Moyes would be forgiven this morning for feeling there remain some ways in which Liverpool stand alone on Merseyside.

Eventful even by normal derby standards, the weekend’s 206th running of the fixture contained enough controversy and talking points to make an average episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show seem tame in comparison.

But when the dust finally settles, as Liverpool supporters cherish a sixth win in their last eight trips across Stanley Park, Everton’s fans are numbed by a mixture of disbelief, dismay and disgust at the performance of referee Mark Clattenburg.

Maybe Clive Thomas has a new rival in the Goodison hall of shame. Certainly, Moyes and his players are convinced Clattenburg’s contribution deprived them of at least a draw from an absorbing encounter on Saturday.

While there should be no genuine dispute over the penalties awarded to Liverpool and the subsequent dismissals of Tony Hibbert and Phil Neville, it was just about everything else Clattenburg did that provoked Everton’s outrage, the official refusing to reciprocate the red cards and spot-kicks that helped the visitors to victory.

Evertonians will argue until their faces are as blue as their team’s shirts that matchwinner Dirk Kuyt shouldn’t have been given the chance to etch his name into derby folklore following an ugly 64th-minute lunge toward Neville.

Clattenburg had earlier been right to reject appeals for a penalty after Joleon Lescott tussled with Steve Finnan. But, moments after Kuyt had tucked away his decisive second spot-kick in injury time, the referee again waved play on when the Everton man appeared to be manhandled to the floor by Jamie Carragher inside the area.

On those two major decisions rested the outcome of the game. Had Clattenburg sided with the Goodison outfit on both occasions, there would have been few complaints.

Instead, Liverpool made the most of their reprieve and, bolstered by a show of nerve and audacity on the field and in the dugout, ensured they continue to hold on to the shirt-tails of leaders Arsenal ahead of the Gunners’ visit to Anfield next Sunday.

Such bold action came in the form of Kuyt’s calm conversion of both penalties and the decision of Benitez to risk the wrath of his critics by substituting skipper Steven Gerrard with 18 minutes remaining as Liverpool sought a winner.

You could almost hear the jaws dropping around Goodison when the number eight was held up on the fourth official’s electric board. And while Benitez’s later assertion that Gerrard was playing “with too much passion” was perhaps somewhat lost in translation, the impressive, ultimately influential cameo from young Brazilian replacement Lucas emphatically vindicated the Liverpool manager.

While Gerrard would be the first to admit his form remains below the standard Liverpool have come to expect, there were signs of improvement on Saturday, albeit on the right and later left flank as Benitez rotated his resources once more.

And the captain played a significant role in altering the course of the game in the 54th minute, a lung-busting break from his own half on to an Andriy Voronin pass curtailed by a foul challenge from Hibbert narrowly inside the area which allowed Kuyt to send Tim Howard the wrong way from the spot.

Irrespective of whether Clattenburg was initially reaching for a yellow card and whether any passing word from Gerrard may have changed the referee’s mind, the red card for the Everton man was the right decision.

And instead of questioning the official, Moyes in this case should concentrate on how his team contrived to concede on a counter-attack from their own corner kick.

The equaliser came at a time when Everton were imposing their authority on the game having been gifted the lead seven minutes before half-time when, in attempting to clear Lescott’s flick on from an Alan Stubbs cross, Sami Hyypia succeeded only in crashing a shot into his own net via Pepe Reina’s left-hand post.

Lescott, pilloried in some quarters for his part in England’s downfall in Moscow last Wednesday, was the best player on the park on Saturday and a constant threat down the Everton left.