It was a night to remember for Everton fans. After all, the Toffees won the Merseyside derby at their home Goodison Park for the first time since 2010 (also 2:0). Liverpool was then coached by Roy Hodgson, David Moyes was on Everton’s bench and the second of the goals was scored by current Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
On Wednesday, history repeated itself. “I am terribly disappointed in many ways. Everyone needs to look in the mirror and think if they gave it their all. It’s obvious that we have to perform better against a team that is almost in the relegation positions,” said Reds captain Virgil Van Dijk. In an interview with Sky Sports, he then spoke in the third person plural, which surprised many fans. “Do they really want to win the league?” asked Van Dijk.
The Dutch stopper himself knows that hesitation can be crucial in the fight for overall victory. Liverpool are now three points behind second-placed Arsenal and third-placed Manchester City have two games to spare. Everton fans also realized this immediately. “You lost the league at Goodison Park,” they chanted loudly to the accompaniment of mocking gestures that the arch-rivals had lost their chance at the title in their own sanctuary.
“In the last six to eight weeks, the title has been more of a hope than a belief from Liverpool’s point of view. I don’t feel like I’ve been watching a team this season that has it. I don’t mean that as a criticism. I think they are doing great, but because this is Jürgen Klopp’s last year, there is a feeling that they have to win. If Klopp had stayed, I would have seen this year as a good building block for the next years,” commented former Liverpool defender and currently well-known TV expert Jamie Carragher.
The Reds dreamed of saying goodbye to Klopp with four trophies just a few weeks ago. They already have one when they won the League Cup. But in the FA Cup, Manchester United sent them out of the game, and in the Europa League they were not enough in the quarter-finals against the Italian Atalanta.
“I’m really sorry about the derby. It happened, we can’t change it. And the title? I don’t know why I should answer, you can look at the table yourself. We need a crisis on Manchester City and Arsenal and at the same time win all four of the last games. People ask me about the mentality, but nobody does things like that on purpose. My job is to bring them players to a state where they feel confident. This is the most difficult thing about football. It didn’t work out and now we have to keep trying,” Klopp confided.
On the contrary, it is an extremely important win for Everton. Even with the deduction of a total of eight points for breaching financial rules, the Toffees are currently in 16th place, but thanks to their triumph over Liverpool, they are eight points clear of the relegation places.
“We are going through a rough season with points deducted and the worst winless streak in years. And the 0-6 defeat to Chelsea last week? I felt like there was no going back. But Wednesday night was just great. From start to finish. It’s not often that we beat Liverpool. Full credit to the players and managers,” fan Les Roberts was quoted as saying by the BBC.
