Liverpool trek across Stanley Park on Sunday afternoon to take on an in-form Everton side who are favourites to take the three points against the Reds in the first Merseyside derby of the season.
I spoke to a confident Paddy Boyland, editor of Read Everton, to see how the Toffees’ fan base is feeling ahead of the game.
1. How pleased are you with Everton’s start to the season?
It’s been a very positive start to the season, and one that has given Evertonians a glimpse of this team’s true potential. For a number of reasons (Europa League participation, Martinez getting slightly found out) the Blues drastically underperformed last year, yet the Catalan has arrested the decline to such an extent that we may now look back on 2014-15 as an anomaly.
It’s been a difficult start when you consider that we’re on course to face eight of last season’s top 10 in our opening 10 games. Despite the tricky opening, the players have responded well and results, on the whole, have been impressive.
The most pleasing thing for me, however, is the return to form of Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, who both suffered under Martinez’s tedious brand of tentative possession-based football last year. A few subtle tweaks in playing style later, however, and our two most dangerous attacking outlets are once again flourishing.
2. Brendan Rodgers is under a lot of pressure at the moment – what are your thoughts on him from the outside looking in?
First thing to say on this one is that regardless of his quality as a manager, it seems to me as though his position has become untenable. As far as I can tell things started to go sour last season and haven’t really improved this time around. There’s certainly a real ‘Rodgers out’ sentiment emanating from the red half of Merseyside if you believe social media, while the media are unwavering in their belief that Rodgers will go at some point in the next few weeks. Can that negative momentum be halted? I’m not so sure.
In truth, I’m not a massive fan of the Northern Irishman. This may sound a touch biased, but I find him a bit too self-regarding and would rather hear managers tell it how it is rather than sugarcoating (Martinez suffers from this too). To his credit, he did, however, preside over that fantastic 2013-14 season – implementing a bold, exciting brand of attacking football – as well as the upturn in fortunes witnessed in 2014-15 which was brought about by a canny change in system, in my opinion.
One final thought regarding the ethics of this particular situation: he may be the manager at our city rivals, but there’s something horribly inhumane about people calling for someone to be sacked. Those people that do so are beyond the pale, as far as I’m concerned.
3. The Toffees are no doubt in better form than Liverpool at the moment and are marginal favourites with bookmakers – do you think the occasion will get to them at all?
You’re right in saying that Everton start as marginal favourites. Home advantage and better form lead us to the logical conclusion that Martinez’s men have a far greater chance of winning this derby than they have done in recent years.
The big issue, though, and one you hinted at in the question, is whether Everton will relish the tag of favourites or feel burdened by the increase in expectation.
My take on it is that the Blues have had something of a psychological complex where the Reds are concerned. I’ve seen good Everton sides beaten by poor Liverpool ones, with the 2012 FA Cup semi-final a case in point, and can only conclude that there’s been an underlying feeling of inferiority at Goodison.
Now, it appears to me that the losers in the Everton ranks that got used to losing derbies under Moyes – Distin, Hibbert, Jagielka, Osman, to name but a few – are slowly disappearing in favour of a new, fearless generation of Toffees. I just hope Barkley, Stones, Deulofeu and co. are made of sterner stuff than their predecessors.
4. Do you think you can realistically finish above the Reds this term?
That’s definitely the belief amongst Evertonians at the moment. I’d suggest that although Liverpool have to start as favourites to finish above the Blues, on paper there’s very little to separate the two clubs and much will depend on how many injuries the two respective sides sustain.
I say this because Sturridge and Benteke, partnered together, are a match for any strikeforce in the league, so you’d have to think that if those two play in tandem for large swathes of the season, that would be enough to propel the Reds above us in the table.
Before the start of the campaign, I had Liverpool pencilled in for fifth and Everton an improved seventh. From what I’ve seen so far the two clubs will be fighting for those (tainted) Europa League spots come May.
5. How many Liverpool players would you take right now to replace players in your XI?
This is a difficult one, given how both sets of fans have reacted on social media to the various composite XI’s that are doing the rounds! From an Everton perspective, there’s little to choose between the likes of Howard/Mignolet, Coleman/Clyne, McCarthy/Henderson and Lukaku/Benteke, for example, so we’d really only take players that are a visible step up in quality from what we’ve already got.
With that in mind, Sturridge and Coutinho would be the two who would walk into our side. The former, when fit, is the best striker on Merseyside and Coutinho has the talent to one day play for Barca/Real if he so wishes.
6. Who should the Reds be particularly wary of on Sunday?
Lukaku, Barkley, Naismith and Deulofeu. Little explanation needed with regards to the first two, while Naismith consistently raises his game against the big teams and Deulofeu has been in scintillating form of late.
7. Your score prediction?
I’m always cautious going into derby games – particularly when we’re deemed to be favourites. Everton have been in this position before and bottled it, however, I feel that Sunday could well be different if Stones and Coleman pass late fitness tests. I’ll go 2-1 Everton, in what should be a really decent game of end-to-end football.
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