80 min: Klopp’s still berating his players. Not happy at all. Ancelotti cuts a more pensive figure.
79 min: Salah sends an oscillating snapshot towards Pickford, who makes a meal of parrying, but completes the job.
78 min: Both sides make a change. Everton replace Doucoure with Iwobi, while Liverpool send on Jota in place of the Firmino, who was quiet again by his own standards.
77 min: From the corner, Matip plants a header towards the top left. It’s in all the way ... but Pickford extends a telescopic arm and turns it away! What a save, his second big contribution of the afternoon. Well, third, but you get the general point.
76 min: Alexander-Arnold nearly flicks Salah free down the inside-right channel, but Keane manages to bundle out for a corner. “It is more likely that Pickford will decide the match with a baffling blunder,” adds Jerome Brost. “In which case, it will be us Everton fans lamenting that he was not sent off.”
74 min: Fabinho gets past Keane down the right but, upon entering the box, and with Salah and Firmino in space in the middle, allows the defender to bite back and clear. Here’s Matt Dony: “To be fair to Duncan Edwards, Pickford does have a history of last-minute match-winning contributions in this fixture.”
73 min: That was a goal of effortless brilliance. Everton respond by replacing Gomes with Sigurdsson.
What a finish this is! Salah has done next to nothing this afternoon ... except this! Fabinho slides Henderson into space down the right. Henderson’s cross is half cleared by Mina. Salah swings his left boot gracefully, sending a power curler into the bottom left, leaving Pickford no hope whatsoever!
70 min: This is getting all a bit scrappy. And fiery, Henderson and Gomes getting involved in a trenchant, and utterly pointless, back-and-forth.
69 min: Gomes is booked for a cynical trip on Fabinho. “Often when a player ‘escapes’ a red card he pops up later with a match-winning contribution to a chorus of ‘arguably shouldn’t have even been on the pitch’. It’d be fun if Pickford nodded home in the 95th minute, no?” Duncan Edwards stirring the pot there.
67 min: Mane and Digne tangle in mid-air, eyes on the ball, both players leaping with feet up. Digne comes off worse, and Mane is booked.
66 min: “There’s nobody on the second ball!” Jurgen Klopp there, on the touchline, bollocking his players in the grand style. He’s far from happy.
65 min: Rodriguez is allowed to advance towards the Liverpool box. Just before reaching the area, he opens his body and curls powerfully towards the bottom left. Adrian does well to get down and turn the ball away from danger.
63 min: Fabinho floats a chip down the middle. Salah hopes to get on the end of it, but Pickford’s out to the edge of his box to claim well. Good luck guessing who scores the next goal.
61 min: Thiago, Salah, Henderson and Firmino combine well down the middle, a thrusting move that eventually earns a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but that’s the first time Liverpool have shown in attack for a wee while.
59 min: From the right corner of the Liverpool box, Rodriguez floats a delicious ball to the far stick. Richarlison slams his header off the post. He received a gentle shove in the back before that effort, and he’s not happy as a result, demanding a penalty. He’s not getting one.
58 min: Everton have enjoyed 75 percent possession in the last five minutes. They’ve clearly taken their pressing up a notch since the break, no doubt on the receiving end of a very elegant talking-to at half-time.
56 min: Robertson is up and about again. A thumbs up to the bench, and it’s relief for Liverpool. “Commentators in the US are saying that had Pickford committed that ‘tackle’ inside the centre circle, he’d be off,” reports Justin Kavanagh. “Had he committed it inside a UFC cage, he’d be off.”
55 min: The referee and VAR decide it was simply some scrappy nonsense. But Robertson stays down, more worrying signs for Liverpool.
54 min: Mina shoves Robertson from behind. Robertson goes down, then stretches out in frustration at Allan, who in turn collapses. The referee needs some help from VAR to find out what went on.
52 min: Everton knock it around with confidence. Rodriguez, Gomes, Doucoure and Allan seeing plenty of the ball right now.
50 min: Rodriguez caresses a glorious right-to-left diagonal pass to Digne, who fizzes a low ball into the centre for Calvert-Lewin. The in-form striker should score, ahead of Gomez, but takes a fresh-air swipe, allowing Adrian to smother. What a chance ... and that was a truly sensational pass by Rodriguez.
48 min: Robertson crosses from the left. Keane half clears. Henderson ambles onto the ball as it drops by the left-hand edge of the D, and fizzes a riser towards the top left. Not far away at all; Pickford might not have reached it had it been on target as intended.
47 min: Thiago sprays a fine diagonal ball towards Salah, who interchanges with Henderson. Salah can’t quite control the return, the ball breaking to Fabinho, who aims for the top right but flays it well wide.
Everton get the second half underway! No changes at the break.
Pickford’s out-of-control scissor tackle on Van Dijk doesn’t get any better upon repeated viewing. As Peter Crouch says on BT Sport, it was a potential leg-breaker. “It’s horrendous.” Leon Osman agreed that it was a potential “career-ender”. Even notorious company man Peter Walton, who usually jumps through hoops of fire to argue the referee got it right, admits: “The foul is still relevant because even though the whistle may have gone, or the game had stopped, players are still accountable for their actions. Personally I think it was serious foul play, and Pickford is lucky not to be sent off.”
Half-time reading.
A breathless half of football comes to an end. Both teams will be happy with their work up front, perhaps less so with their efforts in defence. Jordan Pickford is lucky to still be on the park. The second half promises much. No flipping!
45 min +4: Salah drifts in from the right. He’s got space and time to size up a pass, with Mane to his right and Firmino to his left. He dallies and finds neither.
45 min +2: Gomes crosses from the left. It’s threatening to float into the top right - think Paul Konchesky for West Ham against Pepe Reina in the 2006 FA Cup Final - and Adrian is forced to tip over the bar. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
45 min +1: In the first of four added minutes, the free kick is half cleared, then pearled back goalwards by Thiago. It’s a screamer, but one blocked magnificently by Godfrey, improvising bravely, flinging his chest in the taking-one-for-the-president style. Magnificent play all round!
45 min: Rodriguez is booked for a cynical clip on Mane, who was making good towards the Everton box down the left. A free kick just to the side of the area.
44 min: Richarlison spins and hoicks a poor effort miles over the bar from the edge of the box. He’d worked some space and should have tested Adrian. Meanwhile here’s some perspective on the Van Dijk / Pickford incident from Guardian Unlimited’s (ask your granny) favourite Evertonian: “I really do think that Pickford got away with a stone cold red card there,” writes Gary Naylor. “The offside doesn’t matter really - most punch-ups happen in the aftermath of a free kick. Pickford spends 90 minutes out of control and that ‘challenge’ definitely endangered an opponent.”
42 min: Henderson takes a whack in the mouth while trying to prod home a fizzing low right-wing cross by Firmino. It’s accidental, as he runs into Godfrey while the ball clanks off Mina. Liverpool’s captain is back up and running quickly enough.
41 min: Doucoure flashes a ball across the face of the Liverpool box from the right. Calvert-Lewin tries to flick home, but can’t get enough purchase on it. Then Rodriguez plays a glorious no-look through ball down the inside left for Gomes, but the flag goes up for offside. This is so open.
40 min: They’ve just shown a replay of Pickford’s challenge on Van Dijk. I have no idea how the keeper wasn’t sent off, wrapping both legs around the defender’s standing leg and twisting his knee. An awful challenge. That could be a serious injury for Liverpool’s defensive lynchpin.
39 min: Another soft Salah finish as he interchanges with Thiago down the inside right. Thiago looks very impressive, like that’s breaking news.
37 min: Robertson hauls down Rodriguez. A free kick’s flung in from the right. Liverpool clear and nearly bust Everton open on the counter, Mane and Henderson combining cutely in the middle, Alexander-Arnold nearly freeing Mane with a crossfield pass. Not quite.
36 min: Liverpool are beginning to press Everton back. Allen fouls Mane. Thiago flicks the free kick into the box, Salah nearly finding enough space to get a shot away from a tight position on the left. He’s crowded out, and nothing comes from the resulting corner.
34 min: Liverpool nearly retake the lead with a sensational move down the left, Firmino nutmegging Doucoure and freeing Robertson, who cuts back for Mane. Mane opens his body and nearly finds the bottom right with a guided sidefoot. Close, and I’m not sure Pickford had it covered.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3dBCbtQ
via IFTTT
No Comment