Michael Ball calls for Everton to be ‘confident’ against Liverpool to avoid Arsenal mistake
Michael Ball has called for Everton to be confident when they face Liverpool in the first Merseyside derby of the season on Saturday 21 October.
The Toffees have got their season up and running with three wins in their last four matches in all competitions and return to Premier League action following the October international break with a trip to Anfield in search of their first away win over their Merseyside rivals since 2021.
Sean Dyche’s side has only played one match against the big six this season, losing 1-0 to Arsenal at Goodison in September and former Everton defender Ball wants the Toffees to show more confidence than they did against the Gunners and have against Liverpool in recent years.
Writing for the Liverpool Echo on Tuesday (17 October) he said: “Our record at Anfield has been very, very poor. These players and this manager must be fed up of talking about the past. If I was a player right now, I would be sick of talking about Kevin Campbell and Richarlison.
“Liverpool have started games quite slowly this season, conceding the first goal on a number of occasions, and we know what the 12:30 pm kick-offs are like, teams can often be slow out the blocks and sluggish. Let’s use that to our advantage and force an error.
“Let’s go out there, be confident and take the game to them. We don’t want a repeat of the Arsenal game from last month, where we sat back and let them dictate the tempo at Goodison Park. There has been a massive gulf in class between the clubs in recent years, but that doesn’t guarantee you a result in a match like this.”
Get at them
Following the last international break Jurgen Klopp’s side started incredibly slowly in their early kick-off against Wolves, falling behind after seven minutes thanks to Hwang Hee-Chan’s goal, but fought back into the game to win 3-1.
Everton have to aim to start similarly to Wolves to have any hope of beating the Reds on their turf, if they can take an early lead the pressure inside Anfield will mount as the home crowd will not be happy seeing their side fall behind to their local rivals so early on.
But for the Toffees to do that, they need to follow Ball’s advice and get stuck into the Liverpool side and take the game to them, in the defeat to Arsenal, Dyche’s side were so disappointing because they only had 26 per cent possession at home and just let Arteta’s side attack them.
If you try to contain Liverpool, they will break down your defences, their attacking talent is too good for that to work as shown by their 18 goals scored in the league this season, more than both Manchester City and Arsenal. But they have conceded nine times, more than any other team in the top four currently.
Should Dyche’s side attack in the manner that they did against Bournemouth, they’ll get chances, they just have to be brave enough and confident enough to try it.
In other Everton news, one Toffees man has been ruled out for Saturday’s game with Idrissa Gueye is a doubt