Holding Midfield: Case Study: Everton 2-2 Liverpool 28/10/2012

[Holding Midfield]

​

Having finished above Liverpool last season and started the season superbly, Everton may have gone into the game feeling confident they could come away with a win, particularly with two of their rival’s defence out injured, but then things are never that simple in the Merseyside derby. The cliché of form going out of the window when a derby comes around has been particularly true in the Merseyside derby for the last few seasons – Everton capitulating when they come up against Liverpool regardless of their form. If David Moyes wanted to show his team was genuinely making progress this year, an improvement against their neighbours would be a good way to show it. Both teams lined up in broadly the same shape – Everton in a 4-4-1-1 and Liverpool in a 4-2-1-3 – and used similar defensive tactics by sitting back but pressing on a man-to-man basis. It’s this sort of defending that has resulted in the aggressive, red card-ridden derbies of recent years and, although both teams avoided any sending offs, the same could be said of today’s game – niggling challenges a constant throughout the game. The other factor that comes from this style of defending is [...]

Continue reading the article at HoldingMidfield.com.....

 

[ajt09]

Disagree with this. Hibbert would't have started because it would have meant gambling on his fitness. And there's also no mention of just how fantastic a performance Suarez put in-a performance that would have troubled any CB pairing. He was on fire. And Baines would've had no chance getting out the way of the shot that made the first goal so wasn't a case of poor defending. Though at times both sides did in fact have trouble keeping the ball, though at times it was 60-40 in favour of Everton when it came to keeping the ball.