LIVERPOOL’S history is immersed in Europe, with five incredible European Cup wins, three UEFA Cups and three UEFA Super Cups.
However, the most successful English team in Europe is facing another year in the wilderness, out of European competition in its entirety, let alone the Champions League.
Furthermore, whilst the dream to be the best in England and Europe rages on, the fight to simply be the best in Merseyside is present and very real.
Everton have finished above the Reds in the last two seasons, despite the tighter financial restrictions, so maybe the objective this year isn’t to challenge for a Champions League place, but to get ahead of Everton again.
However, there are a multitude of reasons to believe that Liverpool’s recent league positions below Everton are not going to last.
Firstly, Liverpool have a young, talented and hungry team that looks set to improve on last season, although admittedly there have been many false dawns in the past and a lot of money has been spent. Nevertheless, the second half of last season was extremely promising, especially with the type of football that was played, fuelling the typical optimism at this time of year.
In contrast, Everton are always tough to beat, with a more physical style that harasses and bullies opponents. Nonetheless, they have shown that they can bring the ball down and play, with many pundits suggesting early on last season that Everton were playing their most attractive and fluid football ever under David Moyes.
In spite of this, Father Time is catching up on the Toffees, with many of their first team players over 30, like Phil Jagielka, Tim Howard and Leon Osman. Both clubs could be reaching a crossroads; however Liverpool could be on the way up and Everton could be on the way down.
Secondly, Everton are now under new management in the shape of Roberto Martinez with the departure of David Moyes to Manchester United. Despite not winning a trophy, Moyes was one of Everton’s best ever managers, consistently keeping them in the top eight or higher on a net spend of usually negative.
Furthermore, they did have cup runs, like the 2009 FA Cup final and had a taste of Champions League football in 2005 (although they lost in qualifying to a very strong Villarreal side). Martinez has an incredibly tough act to follow, and will surely struggle to live up to similar heights in his first season, as well as the talk of seriously challenging for a top four spot.
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Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers has already had to go through this sort of ordeal but on an even greater scale when taking the job at Liverpool. It became apparent that he needed time to settle in and get the squad used to his style of football, as well as bring in players suitable for his long term vision.
Consequently this damped expectations, fuelled by the tough start to the season. Nevertheless, Rodgers is through that now and Liverpool are looking stronger, especially with a few more signings this summer. But crucially Rodgers has settled now, he is aware of what comes of him as the Liverpool boss and is ready to make a much greater fist of things this time round. Martinez has yet to experience all this, and has to implement his ideas and vision on a smaller, if not non-existent budget, yet with similar expectations.
Finally, we come to the actual quality of the two squads. Liverpool finished formidably last season and have already made additions to the squad in the shape of Iago Aspas, Simon Mignolet, Kolo Toure and Luis Alberto. Everton have made some modest signings already with Antolin Alcaraz, Arouna Kone, Joel Robles and Gerard Deulofeu.
However, constant rumours persist around Goodison Park regarding the futures of Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines, and if they left Everton, they would be facing a serious fight to stay in the top eight, let alone fight for top four.
Looking at the two current squads on paper, it seems that only consistency would stop Liverpool from finishing above Everton this season. The Reds do have a creaky defence at times, but on form it boasts quality and experience, while Everton’s is really aging, with Sylvain Distin 35 and Jagielka 30 amongst others.
The midfields are fairly balanced, with the likes of Gerrard and Lucas for Liverpool and Fellaini and Osman for Everton. However, whilst Everton do have some impressive forwards like Kevin Mirallas, Liverpool possess greater strength and superiority in this department, with Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, new signings like Aspas and Alberto and a certain Luis Suarez.
Overall, Liverpool are well placed to end this position of power on Merseyside that the Evertonians believe they enjoy, whilst looking to finish in the top four again for the first time in five years, so that the masters of Europe on these shores can taste the good life yet again. As for Everton:
‘We will then crush the rebellion with one swift stroke’.
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Sorry, I think it’s mid table for us again, what with Suarez on the way.
In my opinion Everton have a better squad than Liverpool, if not as large.
Talk about ageing…What about Steven Gerrard. 33 this season and we all know he´s been the one driving force behind Liverpool over the last decade.
may we know why? May be Martinez and his four added players?
Couthino will be the driving force then
everton has better squad?
except fellani and beins no one comes good im afraid. and for gods sake stop talking ur team up as if it is a world beater barca team .
two things –
1. your better squad hasn’t managed to beat liverpool in abt last four yrs.
2. it was not the squad but the composite unite that worked well, even you cant deny that, but another fact is that consistency that stability is broken now.
after moyes departure , your relegation expert manager has made u mini wigan already and after fella n beins go , u would certainly find it difficult . and even if say u hold onto ur best players , the new system new manger new coaches are gonna affect u. no team has ever managed to get away with it.
Doesn’t matter if we don’t beat u over two games we beat u after 38 , mirrales will be ridiculous this season
thats the point i wanted to make ,
it was something like the best ever everton team in years against the worst of ours.still u couldn’t beat us ,
and abt the 38 games , with a team in translation new manger small squad , plus europa fix , all u managed is 3 points more with ur best shot.
wel whats gone is past now , look at the future its u who are going to face the same managerial change , everton to wigan , hope to see you at lest in top 10,
Liverpool will not only top Everton they will top 4
with this very positive article in mind, let’s hope that our merseyside neighbors finish … fifth then
Another deluded kopite, but at last you have a realistic target
us blues are qualifying our boots with the quality of liverpools signings ! Not exactly household names eh , by the way how old is kolo toure nowadays . Put any one of ya squad up against Distin in a sprint an there will only be one winner …
lol u have forgotten i think we are talking abt football and sprint Olympics . talking abt distin last time i saw him on tv was his stupid back pass that made him look like a headless sprinting chicken . that cost you the match .
stop making distin look like some kind destroying beast of a defender . just a decent defender more of a physical threat rather than defensive cleverness.
don’t watch much football then eh? seen as your referring to an incident from the fa cup semi final nearly a year and a half ago ?????????
Mayurr . Even Liverpool fans think u are talking sh*te. Shut up . You are embarrasing
Well said. Mayurr is deluded or smoking something
u know what u n ur kiddish comment both are just like u..
i have said already stop being kiddish , if u have something to say which has footballing sense in it , then please go ahead n make ur point.
these comments like sh**t up ,embarrassing n all just show that u dont have a point to make. so will u just shut the F*** up. will u
So you watched the semi final on telly then? Standard Kopite
im restricted to that only , im from asia cant come at the stands to watch the game buddy.
Should read quaking in our boots !
this farce of an article is not funny but u can be more creative when trying to write a joke!!!!!
Andyb I think you’ll find sterling and sturridge are both in the top ten fastest players in the prem!
Yes, without the ball.
I think you will find distin beat sturridge in a one on one race in the last derby
lol which derby ur talking abt? was there a derby 100 m race between distin n sturdige ? was bolt also participating?
cut the crap man all this talk abt pace doesn’t have any point , if a defender doesn’t have any positional sense . and distin in no means anywhere near best defenders in league.
Defouluo mirrales would destroy them , sterling dnt rate him would be a surprised if he plays much next season
have to say not only do Liverpool match everton in the ages stakes (gerrard, toure) but also the rumours department, surely you haven’t missed the suarez saga this summer? as good as coutiniho is, without suarez it goes from a great front line to an average PL front line. good article but you are trying to match the teams against each other while thinking efc will loose their best players and their older players will break down while lfc will keep their best players and their older ones will keep on going. guess it comes down to luck and consistency. There is no reason why this cannot be Jagielkas best season he gets better every time he plays and Distin beat super fast sturridge in a flat out race in the last derby so I wouldn’t be making too much of his age just yet.
Mark Finally a red who doesn’t talk *
sorry mate I’m a blue, this article just came up on the newsnow website so thought id share my 2 cents
The article is very contradictory and clearly a reds perspective on things.
Aspas was mentioned as a quality signing? It remains to be seen if he can stick it in the prem, the driving force of your team is Stevie one pop who is more than old! Suarez who looks to be off! And coutinho who may hit second season syndrome.
Also you mentioned all your forwards but didn’t mention all of ours, you had all but aspas last season an still finished behind us. We added kone with power and pace, and mirallas looks to have recovered after suarez took him out for most of last season!
We have barclay to replace the ageing osman and as someone said before I would take distin over any Liverpool centre halves
u have kone ?
ohhh my goodison lol im just so afraid
dastin ? u would have to take him only , just remember his face when suarez made him look like old uncle last time around .
Why can’t you spell players’ names? It’s not hard
what ever…
Playing well in the second half of the season doesn’t mean much, in the 10/11 and 11/12 seasons evertons second half of the season form seen only 1st and 2nd pick up more points than them in the league.. Means *all!
We havent got a hungry team, we were out of all competitions by mid-February and quite frankly we wimped out of everything. The desire/belief and winning mentality has to come from the manager. Rodgers clearly has none. No character, no balls.
i think ur we refers to everton. u cant be a liverpoon fan
Everton finished ahead of us last season! Do you follow football??!!
this is too much , whats all this stuff abt everton ?
two seasons where everton managed to finish up a place , but faild to beat us even ones . does that makes them even ?
the finish is made to look like as if they have qualified for champions league.
look at the two years correctly and just take a note in what state both the clubs were.
everton –
in past two years (b 4 moyes departure) was evertons best years as a team. this team including fellaini,bains (sorry if spelled wrong). etc was being built for few years. it was a unit or say a project which was slowly staidly developed by the coach, it was there best team. not saying best team in the league but best then the previous everton teams. biggest factor that was pivotal was the stability the club had. which all in all improved team to a lave to fight at top 6. some of their performances were very gritty if not the pure class.
liverpool –
in complete opposite liverpool were in slow decline. 4 manger in last four yrs . and signings like adams,carroll,downing,Paul Konchesky,paulson,jovanovic, joe cole and on n on made the club like complete mess. hodgson n kenny were particularly devastating. in such transformation phase u clearly cant compare both the teams.
and fact of the matter is, though finished just above by few 3-5 points but everton couldn’t beat us. how can a team claim they r better without beating the other ?
in last four years everton has won only 1 derby. compared to liverpools 5. i said abt last four yrs coz everton havent beaten us in last two yrs at all. and also last time everton beat liverpool at anfield was at yr 1999. while liverpool beat everton 10 times in that time on their own goodison soil.
forget all this , im sure this debate is gonna end within a year , as the tables seem to have turned now.
it is liverpool who has the more settled squad n manager while everton has a manger that took wigan to hell. has already started his work to transform everton into wigan . and if fella n beins leave the club i think everton would be languishing between 9-13 in the league. forget abt competing with liverpool.
even the the ambitions show liverpool r gunning for more then just a finish above everton, liverpool r trying hard to punch above their weight to fight for the top 4. while martinez’s everton wouldn’t mind coming 6-to 8 for at lest next 10 yrs to come.
your just crap get over it. Merseyside is blue
how old r u 15?
lol that reply like u r just crap…it sounds like of a 15 yr old.
have no time for this stupid kiddish replies. have anything to say from footballing point of view ,u r always open. if not just F*** off.
English translation available?
well seems like u need to learn English b 4 u get a translator ..
the two stupid corny replies show u have no point to answer…
merseyside blue is the new wigan mow.
does that mean Merseyside red is the new Swansea? no and the same applies to Everton, Martinez has a lot better squad to manage as Rodgers had when he went to Liverpool. Time will tell if his style will work at Everton and the only sure way to see who’s right and who’s wrong is have the same argument at the end of the season. If Liverpool end up higher than Everton come may I will agree with you the Liverpool have been the stronger team this season. But if again Everton finish higher than you will you admit we have the better team? probably not, as usual it will be the ifs and buts excuses that get brought up.
will u admit it ?
well buddy its not abt admitting but abt truth. truth doesnt need anyones acceptance.
liverpool were in transition? yes true. but everton were not in transition last season, so yes ifs n buts but only thing i pointed was its an unfair comparison.it was like a team playing in its prime against a team about to be formed.
this season we are still building n u also have a new manager so i think we can look forward to this season. as starting on a more equal ground.
abt liverpool being Swansea, we just bought allan from swans. while i guess martinez has 3-4 wigan players in already. may be i did go a bit overboard but try to get the meaning not the exact words fella.
Mayurr; Did you read your article before you posted it? You wouldn’t know English if it smacked you in the face!
Anyway, I’m a blue and your comments and this post are a pile of horse *!
Everton may not have beaten Liverpool in recent years (1999) at Anfield but you only have to look at diabolical refereeing and the stats would be totally different, but that is a different matter.
Everton under Moyes for some reason on derbies played negative tactics and “bottled” these games. Yet we could go out and beat Utd and City, it will be interesting under Martinez how we approach these games.
You say Martinez took Wigan down, but you could say he kept them up, they sold all of their prized assets (Valencia, Moses, Palacios etc) and never got a lot to spend. His scouting network and ability to buy quality for very little can’t be denied
Liverpool on the other hand when they brought in Rodgers showed an absolute lack of ambition and have shown how their status in European football has dwindled. Top managers turned the club down.
Everton finished above Liverpool in the past two seasons, once you can say is a fluke but twice is an indication that the tides are turning on Merseyside, if Everton do finish above Liverpool this season then you cannot deny that Everton are the better side as league positions are played over 38 games not 2.
NOTE: top managers didnt turn the job down e.g rafa, avb but fsg gave it to a clown
1st of all fella , this is not a literature competition, and u r not my headmaster to give me the stick for my english . as if i care. don’t try to pretend as if ur too concerned about my English while trying to act a smart a**. what ever like.
2nd point,,as u said ****Yet we could go out and beat Utd and City***,
if u r really interested to know , DAVID MOYES n co. have never won a single competitive league match away from home against liverpool, man u, arsenal , chevesky in 10 yrs . in total 45 away fixtures haven’t won any. anyways forget it. its not related to our topic. still i thought abt correcting u.
what i replied was to a guy who said ” MARTINEZ IS A FAR BETTER MANAGER ”
i just asked few questions abt him, a manager who gets relegated , or fights relegation till the last day . u get its meaning? he struggles to keep his team even at 17th place.
again one of ur statements – ” You say Martinez took Wigan down, but you could say he kept them up ” , he kept them up? for nearly 4 seasons his team used be so lame n looser that they would be below 15 for whole season, just some how they used to managed to get off the hook on last day. IS THIS A GOOD MANAGERS SIGN? and ironically he has FAILED to keep them up.
abt they sold there prized assets ,tell me which club no matter big small doesnt go through this changes. he faced such problems? so did his fello rival teams. and we r talking abt a period of 4-5 sesons. selling a top player can affect u once . but a good manger finds a replacement as soon as possible. if he doesnt its his mistake.suppose tomorrow if he fails to find replacement for fellaini n beins and everton finishesh in bellow 10. who is at fault ?
in one line you are giving excuse for his poor results by saying he was not allowed to spend , and in another line you are praising his scouting network and ability to buy quality for very little ?
if he was a really good manager why didnt he signed replacement. he was asked to just lift wigan out of that relegation scramble n not win the league . and he failed in that. i wouldn’t want to debate whether he is good or not, i dont care but he was being referred as better than. thats y i commented .
liverpool bought rodgers showed absolute lack of ambitious. ? if u get ur facts corrected, rodgers though been young has been in coaching field for more then a decade now, his playing style n teams are applauded for its brand of football, and his team swans finished 11th in its first season, martinez is yet to clock that (dont think he will lol.).
lack of ambitions ? its not lack of ambitious but clever approach as liverpool dont have the mega millions to spend , big coaches like jose, klopp, pelgrini,manchini know that they wont even bother to touch a club like that no matter how big or small. all the big branded managers ask for money to spend. coz they want to buy the ronaldos,nymars,aguaros. if u dont have that they wont even ton talk to you
BR was a risky n futuristic appointment. spurs were in the line for him to replace arrey reddknap.
and if signing rodgers is so much lack of ambitions? what would u make out of signing a relegation expert ? a manager who never finished above 15 in last 5 yrs in league , used to sit in relegation till last day . how ambitious are everton in signing martinez? or lack of it.
and for that matter if rodgers is l
I’m sure earlier in your ‘obsession filled’ rants you said “the past is the past, we are looking to the future” ???? How come you keep referring to your derby victories over the last few years ?? Contradiction and delusion !! Now I’ll wait while you go and get a dictionary !
We have the better players – but Everton have by far the better manager so it will be close
Sadly both Merseyside clubs are miles behind the top 5
How do u haver better players only to would get in are team and 1 is moving to bigger and better things arsenal
lol 1 is moving to bigger n better? (in your dreams. wenger would need to sell his a** for whole year, to get the asking price )
i think thats the same reason, rvp, nasri,Fabregas,song left arsenal . isnt it?
god what a load of sh**t
far better manager ? that relegation specialist ? his last 4 league finishes are all below 16th place.
what r u smoking ?
Martinez as actually won something. Rodgers doesnt even know what a trophy looks like
Rodgers couldnt even win the fair play award!!
Martinez hasn’t proved anything in management except his teams seen to disappear completely for disturbingly long stretches during a season. He talks a mean game for sure, his teams don’t seem to back that up on the pitch though. Never mind the fact he seems to be linked to every attacker at Wigan – when they couldn’t score a goal to save themselves last year.
Advantage Liverpool, until Martinez proves otherwise. Personally, I think this is going to be a square peg – round hole season for Everton.
yup i mean yes as a fan u are always going to say u r the best.
but u cant deny the truth.
a guy posted ** everton have by far the better manager ****
this guy is at wigan for last 5 yrs , and after managing a team for 5 yrs it gets relegated. how can this be a sign of great manager . his last 4 reason has all been relegation scramble .
yes u can say wigan is a weak team but he was their manger for last 4-5 yrs , in last 5 yrs this team didnt even improved by 4 places . no body was expecting them to break into top6 or even top 10 but at lest between 12-15th place.
a manager takes over a team grooms n builds a squad to go forward. martinez took over wigan when they were a relegation battlers so if he is really a far better manager then they should have had improved. lets just give this better manager time , 1st yr gone 11th, 2nd yr 16 ,3rd yr 15 next yr RELEGATED. where the f**king progress? a good manger at least would have made them 11-15th regulars.
fact of the matter is this type of mangers like moyes-martinez typical low budget manger have no pressure for success , the club has no ambitions at all. thats y they dont get the backlash of the fans n owners if they finish poor for every 100 times but get compared to greatness if they manage even 1 or 2 good seasons in between. . every one the fans club manager are just happy enough to play in top league.
for eg. moyes is regarded as one of the best mangers and the greatest type by evertonians but the same great david moyes HAS NOT WON A SINGLE LEAGUE MATCH at
man utd, chelsea, arsenal and of course liverpool away from home in his whole managerial carrier at everton. not even a single win in all this 45 away fixtures in last 10 yrs.
everton wont even bother if martinez becomes another moyes, i.e. languishes between 6-15 for next 10-15 yrs without any trophy still he would be regarded as success .
i think its fair to say,we have the organ grinder,u have the monkey,martinez isnt working with what he had at wigan,we have a much better team for a start,but as usual u cant have a simple conversation with u lot,the fact that everton left such a horrible mess at anfield when we left is even more sickening
U sound like u only see other people’s fault. the same trash you are saying about everton is what is ruining our club and most fans and the board are comfortable with it. remove the speck in your eyes before removing others.
Mayurr… You think he’s 15 yet still tell him to F off.. You are a beaut.. Your family must be so proud of you
Mayurr you don’t have a clue that relegation specialist yes never finished in the top 15 in the prem with WIGAN a team who before Martinez had only finished 15th once before yes we only finished above you by a place and never beat yous but liverpool finished below everton and never beat us nor anybody in the top 4 an to mention distin, osman and jagielka getting on carrageen by far liverpools best defender in their great run of form at te end of last season is retired, still liverpool best and most influential player for the past 10 season bar 1 is ageing and though he still has a great eye out wont be going much longer.
Everton have made signings of both youth and experience whereas Alberto and aspas need to adjust to premier league because its certainly isn’t the Far East like we’re their playing now.
And everton have a very strong youth setup with players like Barkley, duffy, grant, stones, long and Kennedy all young British players tipped for good things and martinez who unlike moyes enjoys giving youth players valuable experience and works closely with the youth in a squad thas not To say liverpools youth also has alot of good prospects but the merseyside rivalry is only goin to get more interesting not a reds landslide. And I saw a mention of a certain Suarez who without doubt will be gone as soon as one of European big boys come calling the big fish in a small pond shout is abit harsh but if real,barca,bayern or even psg come asking questions he will be gone
As a Liverpool fan I must admit Everton have the better manager…after all , he did turn down Liverpool and come on guys ANYONE IS BETTER THAN BRENDA
however we still have class players like Stevie agger and coutinho. If Suarez stays we will finish higher, even with Brenda in charge
Martines and Rodgers are both managers who have had a spells with much smaller clubs and less quality squads and if both managers can keep hold of their stars and add abit if quality whilst looking to the future from within can be successes at their clubs and avoid the set back of the dreaded arrival of the financial fair play rule, Brenda has shower that he can completely outplay some teams with liverpool and also completely get it wrong and Martinez who at a very dire Wigan side and lost their better players in the form of Moses, Valencia and nzogbia has made them a well known feeder club Martinez will need time and he will take everton forward this mayurr kid just seems to think derbies over the past 10 years seems to guarantee liverpool a better future