Everton have made the Merseyside derby a contest again

Despite suffering a heartbreaking last-minute defeat, Everton will take heart and a whole lot more after pushing Liverpool till the very end.

All Everton fans have been craving for is to be competitive again. After David Moyes left the club, the Toffees have had ups and downs under new managers. With new owners and new money, the only thing missing was a manager with the capability to get the best out of a bunch of new players.

After finally snagging Marco Silva during the offseason, Everton  had a fairly underwhelming start to their season. Yet in recent weeks they’ve put together a good run of results. At the forefront of that are two key factors: Everton finally have a starting XI, and Andre Gomes is in it.

After chopping and changing his starters, Silva has managed to settled on a starting group. Among them, only Seamus Coleman has seen a victory in the Merseyside derby. That’s a sign of both Everton’s bad record against their rivals and how much turnover their has been in the squad.

Gomes, Lucas Digne, Richarlison and a number of others got their first taste of a Merseyside derby today, and Silva will be proud of what he saw. When the emotions and the heartbreak have finally die down, Everton fans too will see that they’re team finally put in a performance against they’re rivals that they have been begging for.

Under Silva, Everton look determined. They have a clear game plan, play with absolute unity and each individual is willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team. On numerous occasions it was Richarlison and Bernard, Everton’s creative attacking players, pulling off last ditch challenges in the box. Every player seemed to give it their all, defending as a unit, throwing themselves around and frustrating Liverpool.

In attack, Everton didn’t resort to long balls either. They played the ball around with control and precision and looked capable of scoring on a number of different occasions, passing the ball for side to side and peppering the Liverpool box with crosses.

Everything good came through Andre Gomes. His cool, calm composure on the ball coupled with his clever passes and constant recycling of possession allowed Everton’s attacking players to move about and occupy defenders. They made it hard for Liverpool to press aggressively, and it all seemed to start and end with Gomes.

Over recent weeks, he has shown exactly why Barcelona bought him, and it’s easy to see why Silva rates him so highly. It’s clear why Barcelona didn’t insert a purchase option in their loan deal, and performances like this will give Gomes and the club confidence. Everton will be looking to bring him in permanently after continued strong performances like this.

Silva is the real mastermind, though. With Watford, Silva pulled off some big results last season, especially against the bigger sides, and had Everton been a bit more clinical, they very well could have stolen an unlikely victory. It will be devastating to them that one moment of madness, one lapse of concentration by one of their players was enough for the points to slip past them, but even in defeat they looked united.

After years of underwhelming performances and derby day thumpings, Everton have finally made this fixture a contest again. They should be proud, and will be eager to gain a bit of revenge when Liverpool visit Goodison Park for the reverse fixture.