From My Seat: Liverpool (H)

I am not suggesting he was brilliant but he certainly refused to be intimidated.

Regarding this latest derby, for me it was 'same old same old' on paper we had a far better team than the RS but we showed them too much respect and played most of the match far too tentatively more scared of losing than desiring to win and of course we were up against 12 men as is usual. We never hear about an Everton biased Ref in any of these games because of course there never is one.

Lukaku was the player we paid all that money for. Even his first touch was decent throughout. The young centre-backs both playing full back were defensively pretty solid with Gallagher also eventually showing he can be dangerous going forward. Funes Mori looked entirely comfortable... and a huge improvement on Alcaraz and Distin of last season. Jagielka made a massive contribution... but despite that between them the defence let in an almost comedic goal.

Naismith got stuck in as usual, but as usual the quality is sometimes just not quite there. Deulofeu often picked the wrong option, cutting inside into three players whereas if we went outside for the byline he probably only had to beat one or two (which he is capable of – it's the third man that kept picking the ball of his toes).

Barkley is massively improved on last season and very willing to take responsibility and almost carved a beautiful winning goal that just did not curl back in enough with their keeper stranded.

McCarthy and Barry did their engine room job. Howard made a couple of good tackles in the box (really, yes with his feet)... but less impressive with his arms... I really think he could of... you know, just caught the ball before Ings headed in the first goal.

Overall we just did not quite flow well enough to pose enough of a threat. The real question for our season is can we win enough games at home, especially against the weaker teams. I think we will do better than last season, if only because of the form of Barkley and Lukaku, but there's still something missing from the attacking mix – maybe Coleman on the right flank. Maybe a bit more accuracy required from McCarthy/Naismith in the final third? Maybe Mirallas?

Atkinson should never referee another Everton game, let alone a Derby. Ferguson used to regularly have referees "banned" from Man U games, I'd like to see RM getting a bit more vocal about this favouritism. After the Clattenburg debacle, Moyes was censured by the FA and charged, yet the charges were quietly dropped, and neither party ever spoke about it again...

Oh, and whilst most are reporting the decision to sack The Teeth was taken before the match, some quarters are now saying Rodgers was told before he was going - might explain the strange decision to wear a black tie...

The commentators over here in SA (Townsend and others) were their usual pro shite selves, nothing said about us, only about how the reds were "shading" it, how the ref was "probably right" in "showing caution" over the cards.

As for Brenda, what a pity, I dread the idea of Klopp, or Ancelotti at the shite. Let's hope the general team malaise continues though. They don't half look crap these days, long may it continue. Let's hope Sturridge starts going on about a bigger club!

Howard should have come for that corner and if needs be, taken both Barkley and Ings as he collected it. Happens too often with him.

Lukaku is turning in to the player we hoped he would. Its funny really, but the positions that most fans wanted to see sorted last season and during the summer window are still the ones holding us back. Namely, goalkeeper, creative midfielder and second striker. Then what do us fans know, eh Ken!!!!!

Not brave enough Martinez, too scared of losing to have a real go, four home games and one victory, must do better than that.

In no way was this 'sin miedo'.

A draw is no disaster but certainly a better result for them than for us and feels a wasted opportunity. The individual performances were very encouraging especially from Rom and the back 4. We will have Coleman and Stones back for Utd and Arsenal and those matches will be very good indicators of whether we have a genuine crack at top 4 this season or will be scrapping for mid-table mediocrity once more. If we can get 3 or 4 points from those 2 then I think we will have made a very good start to the season considering the dastardly fixture list.

We have just come off a great fight back to score 3 away from home, had soundly beaten the champions and only lost one game so far, so why was the place not constantly rocking? Why were we all not singing?

Yes, there were bouts, particularly after the goal, but why didn't we sing and chant the way we wanted to inside us? Dread, fear, call it what you will but I think the nervousness is felt by players and fans alike. Had we lifted the roof in the second half in encouragement, would a poor Liverpool side hold out?

I have no idea how to overcome this other than beat them soundly 2 or 3 games on the trot. Our recent record against Chelsea and Man Utd, who are arguably far better teams is so superior. I go to those games with respect for the opposition but confident that if we play to our potential we have every chance of getting a good result – so why not against the RS?

I thought Barry was immense stopping most attacks before they got started. Also well done to Galloway and Browning, and Funes Mori was excellent. Jags as usual was very solid and I agree with RM this season: England's best defender.

Unfortunately Deulofeu had one of those games were nothing came off, I have said before that he will frustrate and excite in equal measure, but yesterday was not his day. I think RM needs to let McCarthy get forward more often and become a goal threat.

It says much about the fans that the majority are not happy with a draw. That in itself is progress. Lots of ifs and buts, however that's football.

Our day is coming; the more worrying thing is the biased refs. The RedShite media bandwagon... it never fucking ends.

Like you, I wish I had the answer but, it would help if RM or Jags (or anyone in the club with profile) came out before the game with comments that lift, rather than play down, expectation e.g. this is our time, I can sense it, they're not playing well and our confidence is sky high, lets all sing our hearts out and lift the roof on Sunday and show them who the best team on Merseyside is etc etc.

If it goes tits up you have egg on your face for a few days but better than the over respectful comments that always seem to come out of the club before derbies (and most games to be honest).

If you want to be a winner, you've got to think like winners

After West Brom, the manager would have been slaughtered if he had not started with Deulofeu. I think yesterday though he would have been more effective coming on around the hour mark. Kone would have been better able to read the layoffs from Lukaku but there is an argument that Lennon would have kept hold of the ball on the right while testing Moreno with his pace.

Managers adopting a cautious approach in derby games is nothing new. Catterick did likewise in the late sixties hoping to grab a goal while keeping a clean sheet. Gifting them a goal yesterday cost us dearly in a game we really ought to have won. I think Martinez is still traumatised by that awful 4-0 at Anfield the season before last. It will take a derby win to change his approach.

Atkinson's failure to show a second yellow card to Lucas was in marked contrast to his dismissal of Rodwell in 2011 when he could not reach for his pocket quick enough. He is now the worst official in the league which is saying something while Andre Marriner is still on the Premier League list.

You can only do that if you can back it up, our problem is we don't seem to be able to get this elephant of our backs.

When was the last time you seen an Everton player absolutely flatten one of theirs – remember Carragher on Pienaar – Pienaar didn't want it know after that challenge.
We are missing that element in these games.

I don't know if there is a mental block for the players in these games; if there is, just get a sports psychologist in to talk with them. Whatever it is, I just wish the players would get over it, there's no way our record in these Derby's represents the fact that we are equal or at times have had a better team than them.

Atkinson... well, well, well, he was at it again. Glad everyone else picked up on his poor performance, bordering on being biased. Let's go back a few years, before a Goodison derby, Atkinson was given it, Moyes said beforehand that he was not the man for the task and would ruin it as Moyes put it "they've picked the wrong man for it" (refereeing the derby). In that very derby, Atkinson sent Rodwell off for a good clean tackle on our old friend Suarez and we went on to lose the game. Just something for everyone to consider in the aftermath of yet another crap referee performance in the derby by Atkinson.

Nothing in the media about the lack of two sending-offs yesterday... If the players feel like they're up against 12 men, why the hell doesn't somebody come out and make an issue out of it? Saying nothing lets it pass without any comeback or discussion.

Yeah, it's a pity Rodgers got sacked; I liked what he was doing there this season.

The intensity of tackling definitely died down in the Moyes era, when Moyes's fear of them kicked in... that was something I never understood. We were always up for a scrap with Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and gave them a good battle... but in the derby, we were always too easily intimidated.

The image of Steve McManaman getting sent into the air by two tackles at the same time from Barry Horne and Joe Parkinson always gets my adrenalin going; we don't have that any more.

But watching Ross calling out Can then Lukaku going nose to nose with Sakho was great to see, they didn't back down even though it looked like handbags. We don't have players like we used to who would targeted those players (Can and Sakho) and got them at the next opportunity to put them back in their box.

Yes, we could have gone more gung ho but what would you all have said if they hit us on the break and we lost the game?

As one of Martinez's biggest critics, I can honestly say I am liking the way we are controlling games right now and we will win more than we lose playing this way.

I am surprised very few posters have mentioned Skrtl wrestling Jagielka to the ground, an absolutely blatant penalty the Atkinson refused to acknowledge.

I don't know what supporters have to do to get the FA to look into biased refereeing and manhandling from corners.

I'm quoting a report from Omnisport I just saw, cannot post the link but I am just not happy it's come out now that he is starting to get interested in his games for us.

Dificult one that. What was the question asked of him?
Where are those managers likely to be in the future?

I tend to pay little attention to this type of stuff.

Can's overhead kick was dangerous play: yellow card. Lucas's trip on McCarthy – regardless of the fact that his first card was not correct – was a yellow card offence. Lukaku was hacked at, tripped, man-handled by the pack of Liverpool defenders – no help there either.

We still played some negative and dangerous passing across our defensive line and Howard throwing stupid balls out putting us back in trouble. I blame him for their goal, the 6-yard box should be his. The little push on Barkley was missed too.

Atkinson is and was inept. Our players were asking for explanations he couldn't or wouldn't explain. Another observation was his little chat with Milner, pointing to 4 parts of the pitch where he fouled a player, then done nothing? I for one cannot understand our players, at the end of the game, shaking this man's hand. He is dishonest.

Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona have all lost top players who succumbed to the attraction of other teams and managers. How many of us have fancied a mate's partner, car or coveted his/her assets, imagine getting caught thinking that out loud.

Every player in the Premier League is up for grabs, make no mistake; even Stones. Wait till the next window and Chelsea's league position...

Thanks for another great match report in which you always seem to include the mood of the crowd. I would also like to thank you for referring to Liverpool as our 'cousins' or 'them', and not RS or similar.

Like you, I love putting one over on them, and you always do it with respect and no little wit. Many thanks for that

Also, I lost count of the number of times he got chopped down.

We need to let Ross be Ross. He's no Rooney, or Gazza, but he will still be an Everton great.

I thought we gave them too much respect in the first half, we made Sakho, who can’t kick a ball, look like John Stones with all the time we gave him. We also didn’t get at Mignolet, who can’t kick it or Moreno, who at 㾸m is making Per Krøldrup look a good signing.

We were better in the second half but this has been a feature of our play all season, we need to believe in ourselves a bit more and be more assertive at the start of games. Sadly Deulofeu was poor but they were clearly concerned about him and his value to the team is as much in drawing play towards him as it is in his wicked crossing.

Two poor goals conceded really and Everton fans on here rightly attest to the blame being shared by Barkley and Howard. I was very vocal in my criticism of Howard last year after the nightmares of Crystal Palace and Leicester at home. He has been a good goalkeeper for Everton down the years and did improve at the end of last season and the start of this so he has to be given some credit overall but the two brilliant saves from their keeper sum up the difference to the result really.

Barkley is still a bit of a liability when they have the ball and does duck out of headers. He is a diamond though and still a young man really and I’m glad overall he’s ours. I thought Jagielka, Funes Mori, Barry, Galloway, McCarthy and Lukaku were all superb, especially Lukaku. I do feel we can go on and get top four if we have luck with injuries and a bit more self belief.

I was staggered they have sacked their manager although they have acted quickly and decisively. I think, for now, we are in a far better place than them and am staggered how much money they waste considering it will cost them a packet to get rid of the current bloke and probably another 𧴜 million to satisfy the new manager’s ambitions in the transfer market.

Great report as ever Ken, keep them coming.

On the plus side, the new lads performed well despite looking a bit lost when they ventured forward. Galloway has been a revelation and young Browning is improving as his confidence grows. With a bit more experience, he'll be a serious player.

Funes Mori kept his eye on Galloway and provided support when needed. Finding a decent left-footed centre-back wasn't easy. There were very few available. This lad shares an Argentina dressing room with Messi and Kun Aguero and played for the strongest club side in South America. Credentials which suggest he knows a bit about defending. Not quite the English way maybe, but I'm pleased to see him in a blue shirt.

Delighted Lukaku added to his goal tally. He worked really hard and is enjoying a good season. Fortunately, he is not yet up to the Bayern Munich / Real Madrid / Barcelona standard so I don't think he'll be going anywhere.

Barkley is playing out of his skin but I wish he would shift the ball quicker and get himself into the box. The 18-yd white line is like a mental barrier he is frightened to cross. It signals a pass, a shot or a sideways dribble. When the winger has the ball, Ross should be haring into the box like Usain Bolt. Unfortunately, on the ball he is terrific, but, off the ball. he is too often in dreamland.

No such luck eh? Perhaps he could have brought Gibson on.

Harold, I agree with you about Browning; Galloway is ahead of him in confidence at this stage but I reckon like you he is going to be a very, very good player. What a physique for a footballer.

My father and two of my brothers are Liverpool fans and while I am always delighted when we beat them, I think we should at least try to keep sporting rivalry in context and treat the opposition with respect. Using contemptuous language in my view lacks respect and is demeaning.

Ken's reports are always fair and evenly balanced without resorting to pejorative terms, and I appreciate that.

My brother is also a Red an we both know I'd be happy as a dog with two dicks... no, a whole variety of dicks to choose from, if we beat them, despite any sadness it brought him.

That's the way it is.

I have 2 brothers who are Reds and whilst they are deluded when it comes to football, I would never refer to them in those terms. They are above all, family and both are actually very appreciative and respectful of what we have achieved on a relative shoestring, whilst being embarrassed at their squandering of riches.

I think it is the first time I have ever used the word!! Perhaps I should save it until I write to the Guardian.

Tony (#47) The Guardian, however, would appreciate the misspelling!