Media Balls: Liverpool and Everton contest boring derby full of blood and thunder
How was the Liverpool derby? Liverpool won the match 0-1 thanks to very late goal from Sadio Mane. The Liverpool Echo says it was terrific.
As Everton’s shell-shocked players trudged off at the end of another crushing derby defeat some of the home fans offered a ripple of polite applause. They felt as though they should show their appreciation for the effort the Blues had put into a blood and thunder game…
The Daily Mirror’s David Maddock watched a different performance:
Yet the problem with the skillful yet sanitised world of the Premier League, is the lack of blood and thunder, even when things get gritty and dour. Just look at Everton’s performance in this contest…
He adds that “despite the obvious drama of that injury time winner… so little came before it.” It was pretty dull.
But in the Express, Gideon Brooks likens the match to a “battlefield”. The mood in the arena was “ferocious”. Neil Squires say the foreigners in both sides felt “the primal pull” the match delivers.
In the the Star, Chris McKenna watched “tackles flying in from all angles”.
Martin Samuels tells Mail reader this was a”full-blooded derby”. Although “it wasn’t much cop” and “failed to deliver excitement”. Liverpool were “tame”. Ian Ladyman says the match was “lacking in substance”.
Not so says Phil Thomas in the Sun. It was “explosive.” To illustrate the point the paper zooms in on Ross Barkley’s tackle on Jordan Henderson. Although, it was, says Thomas, “one of the few few moment that genuinely got the blood up”.
As for the foul, what say the clubs’ official websites?
Everton: “Tempers frayed after Barkley went in on Henderson and was booked for his troubles.”
Liverpool: No word.
To conclude: it was explosive, full of the bloody and thunder, lacking in blood and thunder and dull.
Posted: 20th, December 2016 | In: Back pages, Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
