Everton player ratings vs. Liverpool: James Rodriguez average, Calvert-Lewin saves the day

Here are the Everton player ratings against Liverpool.

I woke up this morning with the hope that the 10 year wait for a Merseyside derby win would finally be over. But, that hasn’t quite gone according to the plan. Everton only managed to secure a 2-2 draw against arch rivals Liverpool. It was one of the most eventful derbies at Goodison with drama happening all over the pitch.

Firstly, Jordan Pickford narrowly escaped a red card after for his ugly, clattering challenge on Virgil van Dijk that could see him miss the rest of the season. Pickford was saved only because of an offside call.

Everton went down twice and on both occasions equalized to survive in the game. Michael Keane cancelled out Sadio Mane’s early goal and hot property Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised in the 81st minute to neutralize the Liverpool lead that was taken via Mohammed Salah.

Richarlison saw the red for a reckless challenge on Thiago and in the end, VAR worked in Everton’s favour to disallow Jordan Pickford’s injury time goal that could have easily been the winner.

Overall, it wasn’t the best displays but ethe Toffees could have extracted so much more from it. It was a game that could have been won had the Toffees taken the chances. Everton talisman, James Rodriguez, couldn’t control the game as he would’ve liked and Richarlison was sloppy and not into the zone of the derby.

Let’s take a look at the player ratings:

Goalkeeper:

Jordan Pickford – 8

Bar the Virgil Van Dijk clumsy challenge which could have seen Pickford getting sent off, the Englishman had a fantastic game to silence his doubters. The reflexive save to deny Joel Matip in the second half from a corner and saving a free kick from Trent Alexander-Arnold defined Pickford’s brilliancy today. The game could’ve been very different had he been sent off but VVD’s offside saved him.