Liverpool legend John Aldridge has hit out at Everton’s supporters for celebrating their Merseyside derby draw so exuberantly.
The Toffees faithful were clearly over the moon that they denied the Reds victory at Goodison Park on Sunday, celebrating their point as if they had claimed all three.
Aldridge wasn’t impressed: “I couldn’t believe how much the Everton fans cheered getting a draw in the derby at Goodison,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column. “They were entitled to do it. You can celebrate how you like and I know they want to stop Liverpool from winning the league, just like I’d want to stop Everton from winning it if they were in our position.
“But I found it a bit odd. I could understand that reaction if they had beaten us but cheering like that for a draw? I don’t think I’d celebrate a home draw in that fashion personally. Clearly, they think they have wrecked our title hopes but I’m not so sure.
“It would be ironic if we ended up winning the league by a point. I’m not saying we will but those scenes at the end could come back to haunt them. Sunday could be the point that wins us the league, you just don’t know.”
OPINION
This is a good point from Aldridge. Imagine if Liverpool were to go on and claim the Premier League title by a single point – the very point that the Everton supporters were so overjoyed at claiming. That would be fantastic for Liverpool fans everywhere. However, the criticism of the Everton supporters celebrating a draw has gone a bit overboard now. It’s not the draw they were revelling in, everyone knows that. If this was a regular derby day without any title implications we wouldn’t have seen the same reaction from the home fans at Goodison Park. They simply wanted to celebrate the fact that, in their eyes, they have landed an irreparable blow to their fiercest rival’s title chances. Every rival fan would cheer for something like that, wouldn’t they? So will it would have been mighty irritating to witness from a Liverpool perspective, this really isn’t something to get worked up about.
