It was an evening to forget for Everton as Liverpool secured a derby day win at Anfield on Monday.
Goals from Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo set the Reds on their way to victory, resulting in a first defeat of the Sean Dyche era. This results ensured the Blues remain in the bottom three ahead of a crunch fixture against Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.
There will be plenty for Dyche to mull over on the back of last night's loss, not least where the goals are going to come from in this side should Dominic Calvert-Lewin continue to miss matches through injury.
ANALYSIS: Transfer failings have already been brutally exposed as board get first-hand glimpse
PLAYER RATINGS: Eight poor in Liverpool defeat
Offering their assessment of where things went wrong for the Toffees at Anfield, the national media pulled no punches with their respective summaries.
'Everton forgot how much this also meant to Liverpool'
Henry Winter of the Times wrote:
"Everton had actually started strongly, seeming to be continuing to respond to Sean Dyche’s management methods. They looked tigerish in the opening stages, Mykolenko knocking over Salah. As the players had walked from the tunnel, Conor Coady was typically vocal, stirring up his Everton team-mates.
"Coady has played for Liverpool — for 62 minutes, a decade ago. He knew how much this meant. Everton forgot how much this also meant to Liverpool. The Kop chorused their love for Klopp, and frequently Núñez, who was almost unplayable at times.
"Everton’s lack of a fit, experienced centre forward, and their failure to invest in January, continued to cost them. Dyche sprang a surprise by starting the 22-year-old Simms, Everton’s No 50. He has been on loan at Blackpool, Hearts and Sunderland. Now he was leading the Everton line in the 242nd Merseyside derby. He lasted an hour."
'Powder-puff poodles'
Jason Burt of the Telegraph wrote:
"The stakes were high and it boiled over near the end in a touchline melee with Andrew Robertson and Jordan Pickford at the heart of it and involving substitutes and stewards which will surely warrant an FA charge for both sides. It was the definition of failing to control players but Liverpool controlled this game.
"The Liverpool fans lapped it up. They goaded Everton with chants of “going down” and whether this will be their last visit to Anfield for some time and there is much for Sean Dyche to ponder after the euphoria of beating league leaders Arsenal.
"In truth the new manager got his team selection and tactics all wrong – a first start since Dec 2021 for Ellis Simms backfired, the thinness of his squad was exposed, while Everton were powder-puff poodles rather than ‘dogs of Dyche’. The chest barge by Pickford on Robertson was a rare sight of aggression even if it was petulantly pointless."
'Vote of no confidence'
Richard Jolly of the Independent wrote:
"Relegation remains a threat but the immediate regret for Dyche should be that his team, who began set up with a nine-man defensive block, were twice caught on the counter-attack: once from a corner, once when Alex Iwobi lost the ball in open play.
"They could not afford such laxness. A team with few likely scorers lost their most obvious source of goals, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin out injured. It was a vote of no confidence in Neal Maupay when Dyche preferred Ellis Simms, who was recently on loan at Sunderland and whose sole previous Premier League start came in 2021. Granted little support, the biggest game of his career passed the 21-year-old by.
"Everton’s strikes are rarities but Dyche had a strategy to score. Once again a corner led to a goal; just not for Everton this time. Tarkowski again met a set-piece – albeit from Iwobi, not Dwight McNeil this time – with a header that beat the goalkeeper. Yet it rebounded back off the inside of the post. Nunez led a break from the edge of his own box; he found Salah, who returned the ball to him. The favour was returned, Nunez crossing for Salah, who had also run some 80 yards, to poke the ball past Jordan Pickford. The goalkeeper added to his history of Anfield errors by being caught out of position, seemingly expecting the cross to reach Gakpo."
'Thankless task'
Andy Hunter of the Guardian wrote:
"All 208 league editions of the most-played derby in English football history have come in the top flight but whether there will be any more next season rests entirely on Sean Dyche’s ability to conjure a goalscoring threat out of his new charges.
"Without the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Everton had none. They almost took the lead through a James Tarkowski header that struck a post 15 seconds before Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead with Jordan Pickford going awol in his penalty area. From that moment on, Dyche’s visitors showed none of the energy, determination or resilience that underpinned his debut win over Arsenal.
"Simms was handed his first Everton start since being recalled from a fruitful loan spell at Sunderland in January, with Calvert-Lewin sidelined by hamstring trouble. The 22-year-old’s physicality and aerial strength gave him the nod over Neal Maupay but his was a thankless shift, the centre-forward frequently isolated and having to pursue lost causes as Dyche’s team sat deep and invited Liverpool pressure."
'13 cruel seconds at Anfield'
Joe Thomas of the Liverpool ECHO wrote:
"Sean Dyche has officially been at Everton for 14 days. He learnt his harshest lesson so far in just 13 cruel seconds at Anfield. That was how long it took between the ball thudding off the Liverpool post and it being poked past a bewilderingly stranded Jordan Pickford by Mohamed Salah in front of the Kop. Everton, so close to taking the lead, were instead chasing a game they could ill-afford to leave themselves exposed in.
"It would be easy to look at those 13 seconds and conclude they were the perfect example of the fine margins between success and failure in one of the world's most ruthless sporting competitions. To do so would be to overlook factors Dyche has no choice other than to acknowledge if he is to plot a path to survival for Everton, if he is to prove wrong the words sung with such glee from the home fans after Salah's opener - that this would be Everton's last top flight derby."
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