Jota goal enough to see Everton feeling the Blues
Liverpool 1 Everton 0, 2nd April 2025
LIVERPOOL 1 (Jota 57)
EVERTON 0
With barely any time remaining and Anfield bouncing to the tune of “We Shall Not Be Moved”, Arne Slot, normally so placid and reserved on the touchline was frantically telling every Red shirt within hearing distance on the pitch that there were seconds left, the game as good as over, and with the final shrill of Sam Barrott’s whistle it was and after celebratory hugs with his coaching team and a handshake for Everton manager David Moyes, the Dutchman had an extra fist pump or three for The Kop as quite clearly the boss wanted this win, and for arguably the first time in his 10 short months as manager, boy did he show it. A statement win after the devastating loss at Wembley? Bragging rights in the city? His first ever Merseyside Derby win? To dispel the demons of the 2–2 draw at Goodison Park earlier in the season? To reinstate his team’s 12 point advantage at the top of the Premier League with just 8 more games to go?
Questions. Questions. Who has time for such questions?
The astute among you will note I’ve posed another question, but let’s leave such rhetorical frippery where it belongs and focus instead on the facts we’ve just witnessed and the plainly obvious starting point being this was a hard earned TEAM victory and I bet all the money in your pocket that this pleased the boss the most. From back to front, from Caoimhin Kelleher (in for the injured Alisson Becker) to goal scorer Diogo Jota, this was a team performance through and through and in a game that was a dreadful spectacle but which garnered a priceless 3 Premier League points. Although Kelleher’s goal and eventual clean sheet was only threatened twice in the first half when Blues striker Beto got the better of an uncharacteristically hesitant Virgil van Dijk, twice, to score a disallowed goal on 19 minutes before hitting the post 13 minutes later when he should have scored, the giant Irishman added another clean sheet and Reds win to his collection and all as a last line of defence behind arguably a defensive back two. For Arne Slot needed answers to his own questions this evening let alone my rhetorical ones, and where Alisson needed replacing, Kelleher deputised magnificently as always and with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez all out injured, step forward Curtis Jones at right-back and another answer to the manager’s problems.
With Everton looking to bypass the Reds midfield (as Newcastle did so brilliantly at Wembley two weeks ago) and Beto a lone striker, Slot left a defensive back two of Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté to deal with the Lisbon born striker, pushing both Andy Robertson and Curtis Jones into forward positions for much of the game. Where Robertson was flying along the left-wing at every opportunity, Jones too was pushed forward but more inside and thus giving the Reds an extra body in midfield. Jones was exemplary this evening and pushed Luis Díaz, every right thinking football fan’s “Man of the Match”, all the way to that subjective honour, which Sky TV in their wisdom gave to goal scorer Diogo Jota. The match winner was superb, as was Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister (and how Everton’s James Tarkowski wasn’t sent off on 10 minutes for his horror challenge on the Argentinian will baffle better judges than me until the end of recorded time) and whilst Mo Salah was largely quiet after an electric start, Luis Díaz never stopped running all evening.
The Colombian magician was, again, something else this evening. Boy what a performance. Díaz dominated the first half, forever wanting the ball and so often getting the better of his duel with Everton’s Jake O’Brien and in the second half, still desiring of the ball, tracking back defensively, retrieving the ball and passing it to a Red shirt, attacking the dead ball line, forever looking for openings and an astute, defence splitting pass forward. Then there was his contribution to the only goal of the game: a pass forward from Ryan Gravenberch, a neat backheel from the Colombian, a touch from the right foot, a touch from the left, and a third and final blast from Jota’s right foot once more and the Reds had a deserved, game winning lead.
This evening wasn’t much of a game. High in anxiety and nerves. Low in goal scoring chances for either team. In short, it was a typically bitty, feisty and frantic Merseyside Derby, and it was a stinker!
A dreadful game.
A magic result.
The Mighty Reds are 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League with 8 games to go.
There were questions. The boss had the answers. And boy did he enjoy hearing that final whistle. Let’s see what he had to say post-match.
Arne’s Afterword
“Hard-fought, definitely, but that was no surprise. Everton were nine games in a row unbeaten, hardly ever concede a goal, hardly ever concede a chance, defend with 10 players apart from Beto in and around their 18-yard box. With players like Tarkowski and Branthwaite it is almost of no use to bring a cross in because they head every ball away. So, they are a team that is difficult to play against because they are also a threat on the counter-attack with Beto”
“What I liked much more today than I did at Goodison Park… at Goodison Park we had ball possession but we only had ball possession with our centre-backs and full-backs and today only the first half. I think if I say 10 or 15 times that Lucho Diaz was one-v-one against Jake O’Brien, I don’t even think I exaggerate, but to have that is one thing and to create a chance is another thing. That’s why we have to be there so many times, so many times, so many times and you’re hoping can then be enough — and it was with Diogo’s goal…he found just a bit of space and he scored the goal, which was nice for him but nice for us — and by us, I mean his teammates, the staff and the fans”
Thanks for reading. I pen my thoughts on every Liverpool game and in recent seasons, with the addition of numerous pieces of retro writing on Reds games of the past, I’ve curated and created the following two self-published books:
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my trilogy of recently self-published books too. Beautiful covers eh! As the title(s) would suggest, this is my life at the movies or at least from 1980 to 2024, and in volume 1 you’ll find 80 spoiler free appraisals of movies from debut filmmakers, 91 of the very best films appraised with love and absent of spoilers from 1990–2024 in volume 2, and in volume 3 you’ll find career “specials” on Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino together with the very best of the rest and another 87 spoiler free film reviews from 2001–2024.
All available in hardback and paperback and here are some handy links:
"A Life at the Movies Vol.1" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.2" - link to Amazon
"A Life at the Movies Vol.3" - link to Amazon