During a month filled with dropped points and squandered chances, Liverpool have missed an absent striker and, after Everton’s visit, they do so once more.
Liverpool, of course, are a different proposition without Luis Suarez but the player they could have done with most in the 223rd Merseyside Derby was his sidekick. Daniel Sturridge’s injury has proven damaging.
Sturridge has spent most of September with a thigh problem sustained, much to Brendan Rodgers’ anger, on England duty; the longer he has been out, the clearer his importance has become. Liverpool have taken one point from a possible nine without him and need his speed and ruthlessness.
Had Sturridge, rather than Mario Balotelli, provided the spear to Liverpool’s attack on Saturday, the game would surely have been taken away from Everton long before Phil Jagielka slammed in an extraordinary injury-time effort to cancel out Steven Gerrard’s free-kick.
Balotelli had two glorious opportunities, either side of half-time, from around six yards but fluffed both. The second miss in the 67th minute, with the goal almost at his mercy, left Rodgers screaming in frustration. Sturridge would not have been so wasteful. The sooner he can come back, the better for Rodgers and Liverpool. Sturridge was in training yesterday and joined by the Liverpool boss, who also took part in a series of sprints, slaloms, jogs and agility drills using rope ladders.
The forward looked pain-free as he completed the workout but the midweek Champions League trip to Basle may be too soon.
‘We needed to see if he was going to train on the Friday to get him through to the Saturday but the message on Thursday was that he would struggle,’ said Rodgers. ‘He wasn’t close to playing. I will see how he is (for Basle). He wasn’t far away but not close enough to be on the bench.
‘That pace (Sturridge has) through the middle can help, as you know. But whatever part of the game he comes on, he is a top talent . . . it was an excellent performance against a very good side and a game in which we were clearly the better team.’
For Everton boss Roberto Martinez there was a feeling that a season that has stuttered might turn on the missile Jagielka launched into the Kop End net. ‘We needed something like that,’ said Martinez. ‘When you are 2-0 up against Arsenal at home and draw and then at Leicester you draw when the ball gets deflected and ends up in your net, it shatters the confidence. This is an incredible moment. Football’s Gods gave us something back.’
Mamadou Sakho is likely to be fined after he stormed out of Anfield having been dropped from Liverpool’s 18-man squad.
LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Mignolet 5.5; Manquillo 7, Skrtel 7.5, Lovren 7, Moreno 7.5; Gerrard 8, Henderson 8.5; Lallana 7.5, Sterling 8, Markovic 5 (Coutinho 60min, 6); Balotelli 6 (Lambert 88). Subs not used: Jones, Toure, Lucas, Suso, Enrique.
Scorer: Gerrard 64. Booked: Gerrard, Moreno.
EVERTON (4-3-3): Howard 5.5; Hibbert 5.5 (Browning 73, 6), Stones 7, Jagielka 8, Baines 6.5; McCarthy 7.5, Besic 6.5 (Eto’o 80), Barry 5; Mirallas 6 (McGeady 31, 6), Naismith 6, Lukaku 5. Subs not used: Robles, Gibson, Osman, Alcaraz.
Scorer: Jagielka 90. Booked: Barry.
Man of the match: Jordan Henderson.
Referee: Martin Atkinson 7. - Daily Mail