Everton lost 3-0 to Liverpool thanks to a Steven Gerrard hat-trick. Should the manager shoulder the blame?
David Moyes has never won at Anfield in his 10 years in charge at Goodison Park, and may never get a better chance.
Everton were going into the game on the back of a solid 1-0 win over third-placed Tottenham Hotspur, while Liverpool were out of form, losing consecutive games to Arsenal and Sunderland.
There was even talk of a ‘Kenny Out’ campaign among some Liverpool fans, so disgruntled with their manager, but a superb night for the Reds will ensure Dalglish remains very much in favour.
Moyes may have been celebrating a fine decade in charge of Everton, but that does not mean his team selection should be beyond reproach.
He blamed the defeat on his sides’ defending, which was right with regards to the performance on the pitch, but it conveniently deflected attention from his line-up.
Did he need to make six changes from Saturday’s win?
Of course only Moyes and his staff knows the conditioning of his players, and sure some may have not been up to the demands of playing two high intensity matches in four days, but six changes is switching around more than half the team.
He is of course attempting to balance his squad with an important FA Cup tie with Sunderland taking place this weekend, but it seems like he got it wrong.
Steven Pienaar returned to the side after being ineligible against Tottenham, while Tony Hibbert and Phil Jagielka replaced Phil Neville and Johnny Heitinga.
Former Merseyside derby goalscorer Tim Cahill was dropped along with Royston Drenthe and Leon Osman, while up front Denis Stracqualursi was preferred to Saturday’s goalscorer Nikica Jelavic.
They were crucial changes to the spine of the team as the midfield were outperformed, and the defence looked shaky, while up front they failed to offer any sustained threat and blew the few chances they did have.
Everton will dust themselves up and move on to their FA Cup clash, but this was an opportunity missed. The Toffees could have overtaken Liverpool in the table with a win, which would in turn have provided huge momentum for the upcoming cup game.
Did Moyes make too many changes or was he let down by his players?
image: © Nick Sarebi
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