Everton execute cynical Anfield plan perfectly but still comfortably lose

With eight minutes to go in a petty and ill-tempered Merseyside derby, Michael Keane received a pass in his own penalty area. Normally Keane is a pretty decent ball-playing centre-half, with the ability to advance out of defence and spring quick attacks. But then, very little about his afternoon had been normal.

Keane’s sole job here was to destroy: to clear crosses and then boot the ball as far away as possible. He completed three passes all afternoon. And so as Dele Alli rolled the ball casually towards him you could see a certain horror rising in him, the flustered panic of a man who had absolutely not prepared for this turn of events. With red shirts hunting him down, Keane simply fled towards the sanctuary of his own corner flag, gingerly carrying the ball with him as if it were a leaking bin bag.

Still, when you are in a relegation fight, sometimes the ends justify the means. Sometimes you just have to sit deep, make it ugly, and make sure you only lose 2-0 with 17% possession. And as Liverpool ploughed on in pursuit of the Premier League title, it was hard not to feel a certain small pity for their opponents, who came with a plan, executed it perfectly, and still ended up comfortably beaten. Everton tried everything to derail Liverpool here, except play football.

But then, when the other team is so lavishly and embarrassingly better than you, perhaps the only tactic left is to take the football out of the equation entirely. When you are leaking goals from all directions, perhaps there is little point in coming here and playing like Graham Potter’s Brighton. Everton essentially conceived this game in two dimensions: time and irritation, and for an hour at a restive and restless Anfield it looked tantalisingly as if