Leon Osman blasts Everton for ‘sloppy’ defending live on Sky Sports in Merseyside Derby clash v Liverpool
Leon Osman wasn’t happy with some of the defending by Everton during the first-half of their Merseyside Derby clash v Liverpool live on Sky Sports.
The Toffees turned in a strong first half performance at Anfield and were relatively unlikely to find themselves 1-0 down at the break after a Mohamed Salah goal.
Prior to that though after a late challenge by James Tarkowski allowed Liverpool to have a free-kick right on the edge of the box, Osman told Sky Sports while live on commentary (13 February, 20:10) that the build up to the foul was “sloppy” and had to be better.
“It’s right on the edge of the penalty area and Everton will want to deal with this because it’s of their own making,” he said.
“It’s really sloppy clearance from Everton, exposed themselves defensively and now this is a real opportunity for Liverpool.”
Confidence
Everton’s game plan was clear before the game even started from the starting lineup, but to sit back and defend for 90 minutes at Anfield is always hard to do.
It requires full concentration for the entire game, and small moments like that can be a serious problem against top quality opposition.
On this occasion it was a wake up call and nothing more, with the free-kick coming to nothing and Everton able to re-group and defend relatively well for the rest of the half in a hard-fought game.
But those moments can’t crop up too often or we will get punished for them, and with the position we’re in those moments could end up being the difference between relegation and playing Premier League football next season.
The second half is now arguably the biggest 45 minutes of this season and if we can fight back for a point it would be absolutely huge for our survival chances.