Following today’s FA Cup clash between Liverpool and Everton, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Liverpool hosted Everton at Anfield for a 7.55pm kick off on Friday December 5, with the hosts securing their place in the fourth round draw with a two one victory.
A soft first half penalty saw James Milner give Liverpool the lead in the 35th minute but on minute 67 Gylfi Sigurdsson had Everton back level and the game seemed to be petering out to a draw.
Virgil van Dijk, the world’s most expensive centre half, made it a dream debut as he struck the winner six minutes from full time.
Teams:
Liverpool:
Karius, Gomez (Solanke 77), Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Can, Milner (Alexander-Arnold 77), Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana (Wijnaldum 70), Mane, Firmino.
Substitutes:
Lovren, Klavan, Ings, Ward.
Everton:
Pickford, Kenny, Holgate, Jagielka, Martina, McCarthy (Davies 86), Schneiderlin, Bolasie, Rooney (Lookman 52), Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin (Niase 82).
Substitutes:
Williams, Vlasic, Robles, Baningime.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Robert Madley blew the final whistle, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp explained.
‘It was for sure not the best piece of football for 95 minutes but a proper fight. I’m delighted with the attitude we showed again, it was a difficult game. It was not the night for brilliant football, to play through. You would love to see that but Everton defended well. They played football, a big difference to the last game between us.’
He added.
‘The equaliser was the worst protection I ever saw in my life. It made no sense at all. We were all in the wrong direction. But when you make mistakes in football you have to react and we did again. It was nice that Virgil van Dijk could score in his first game, a brilliant header. I am really happy.’
With the penalty being questionable to say the least.
‘It was a similar situation to the penalty against Liverpool for Everton last month, the first one was no penalty in my opinion and this one wasn’t also. It’s the same. There is contact and the referee used his whistle. Exactly the same situation.’
Everton manager Sam Allardyce in his comparative interview explained.
‘We gave everything we could today and in the end we were disappointed we did not take them back to our place. It is a shame after all that effort. I didn’t think it was a penalty, but there is not much we can do now. For me, I thought some of the fouls they got and bookings we got and fouls we didn’t get was very harsh by the referee in terms of consistency. There were similar incidents, similar penalties.’
He added.
‘At the end of the day, we have given everything we could and we tried our very best today.’
