Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp refused to get carried away after his rampant side crushed neighbours Everton 4-0 in a one-sided 226th Merseyside derby at Anfield.
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The two first-half headers from Origi and Sakho were brilliantly taken in an entertaining clash that saw Everton’s woeful record at Anfield continue, a situation not helped by Ramiro Funes Mori’s straight red card for a terrible tackle on Origi in the 50th minute.
Manager Roberto Martinez bemoaned Everton’s plight less than 72 hours before facing United, but refused to fully condemn Funes Mori for his horror tackle on Liverpool goal-scorer Origi.
Klopp’s interchanging between Origi and Sturridge from fixture to fixture is a surprising development for the 48-year-old, who said before the game that he was looking to be “prepared for intensive games”. But it’s not broken, it is a twisted ankle, he is on crutches walking around so we will have to see.
“You can lose games and they didn’t play well tonight”.
Beleaguered Everton boss Roberto Martinez has demanded an instant Wembley reaction after his side’s derby humiliation at Liverpool. “We still, I think, have had the most games in Europe, so a lot of injuries”, he said.
Seemingly the only one way Martinez will keep his job is a victory in the FA Cup, in which Everton a semi-final against Manchester United on Sunday morning (AEST).
Liverpool will await scan results to determine whether the in-form Belgium man has sustained ankle-ligament damage that could sideline him from the Europa League semi-final first leg against Villarreal next week.
“I’ve never known a derby game where it was so easy to pass the ball”. We tried to regroup and the first action of the second half is a red card incident, then the game becomes a non-event, especially with the big game we have around the corner.
Instead, the defensive frailties that have plagued Everton all season reared their head once more to allow Liverpool to take a decisive grip on the match.
What is there really to say? It could have been a yellow card, it could have been a red card.
Their fans clearly enjoyed the display, including their former stars, with Jamie Carragher joining in that the scoreline could have been much higher. And John Stones went off with an undisclosed issue in the second half, so it looks as though it may be Mo Besic and Gareth Barry at the center of the defense this weekend.
“We are in a good moment, we played football, we created chances and we could have scored a few more”, he said.
First Milner supplied the cross for Divock Origi to open the scoring in the 43rd minute with his fifth goal in as many games in all competitions.
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“It’s something that we should be much better at”.
