A Draw in History
Let’s start here: in this particular match, a draw was always the most likely result. The derby has its own rules. It is a game where form matters less than pride, the atmosphere is highly charged, and stats evaporate. Taking the emotions out of it, this is what we should have expected.
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But how can you take the emotions out of it?
Remember that Origi goal? It came about as late as the one from Tarkowski today. It was just as unlikely. When it happened, it felt like the top of the world for us. Remember. Now imagine that this crushing feeling we’re feeling right now is the one they felt then. It isn’t the sucker punch itself; it is how you get hit that makes it so hard to bear, the life being drained out of you in a random moment that feels so unfair.
So even though, from a sporting perspective, Liverpool will take this result…we will feel it for a while to come.
It didn’t start well today. Going one down felt wrong, but in truth, Everton were playing well and for long stretches dragged the Reds to the sort of gutter fight that plays to their strengths and our weaknesses. But that’s what Mo is for, isn’t it? His cross the Macca was so utterly delicious, and out of nowhere, we get on the scoreboard and it feels better again. Then we dominate but they are more threatening, the telltale signs of a successful low block, which is the only way Everton can work in this moment.
The thing is, Liverpool has more or less figured out how to play low blocks, and it really did not come as a surprise when the dam broke and the one and only Salah finished off an opportunity that so many others would have screwed up in so many varied ways. But not Mo; he cushions that ball and slots it home, calmly, fearlessly, focused. We’re two one up, twenty to go, and it just feels like we sucker-punched them rather than the other way around. Mo even has the decency to try and stop the game later when they collide with each other.
Should get a commendation for that.
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But that collision adds a couple of minutes of extra time, and Tarkowski comes from nowhere and hits the volley of his life. He will never score another goal like this one again, you can bet on that. Just like THAT Vincent Company goal, it comes out of nowhere, exactly when they need it, the game is dead, and the history of this match at this ground is done forever. The way they celebrated you’d think they won a title, not a draw in a home league game, but I understand it.
I think we all do.
I’m going to give Salah the man-of-the-match mostly because my emotions are still not in check. I can’t be bothered to think of anyone else. Macca probably deserves it more.
Last game at Goodison, and history will remember it as a draw followed by a mass scuffle, a fully representative one of the entirety of decades in that ground. Perhaps it is as it should be. And we’re still seven clear.
So let’s go.
There’s a title to win.
