This weekend was Everton’s turn to host the Merseyside derby- and what all-out war it was! Every season Everton and Liverpool face off at each other’s home field in a match that ends up to be more of a bloodbath than a soccer match.
During yesterday’s battle we witnessed seven yellow cards, four goals, and most importantly one goal taken-away!
Before, during and after this match it seemed to be all about Luis Suarez, beginning with Everton boss David Moyes accusing Suarez of being a “diver” and predicting some Suarez shenanigans in the match.
But the boss’ accusations didn’t slow down Suarez one bit as it took only 14 minutes for the villain to blast a ball off Everton defender Leighton Baines and into the goal making it 1-0 for the Liverpool side. Suarez celebrated the goal by running over to Moyes and diving to the ground in front of him, most certainly not converting any of the Goodison faithful.
A mere six minutes later, Suarez was making Everton pay again as he headed a ball past Tim Howard making it 2-0 for the away team just 20 minutes into the battle.
Despite being down a pair, the crowd noise was incredible; when the Everton players carried the ball you could hear the crowd roaring for them, and in the 22nd minute the team responded with Leon Osman responding to the Suarez finish just 2 minutes prior.
With the crowd still behind their Toffees, chances came and went, but you could feel they wouldn’t let their fans down, and they didn’t, with a 35th minute equalizer from Steven Naismith.
Now here we have the first controversial play. Replays show that Everton were rewarded a throw-in that set up the goal, which in fact should have been Liverpool’s throw had the ref noticed the ball last touching an Everton player! The goal remained.
Finally, it was half time, and I belive the fans needed a rest more than the players did!
The 2nd half didn’t prove to be quite as exciting as the first, but there were still many chances, and cards handed out along the way right up to the 93rd minute.
This was when Luis Suarez, the Devil himself, had appeared to slay the Toffees at their home and surely make David Moyes regret his words if he already hadn’t! Suarez scored a beautiful header for Liverpool.
Add Controversy #2 to our queue.
The offside flag waved in the air signalling that Suarez was offside and his dream winner wouldn’t count. After seeing the replay, the entire country knows that the man they hate so much had certainly been ripped off of what was his. The goal should have counted, unquestionably it was a goal, and Suarez and Liverpool were robbed.
We now bring up the topic that has been floating around the EPL for weeks now… Is Luis Suarez being treated unfairly by referees because of his arrogance and dramatic diving?
We know he now has trouble getting calls when he is clipped, but now are the referees taking goals away from the Liverpool star?
My thoughts: Suarez is a fantastic player – we all know that. We also know he is quicker than anyone to hit the ground. I don’t mind the refs turning their heads when he gets fouled because of his reputation, but to see him have that goal taken away made me feel bad for him. I mean, he has an entire country hating on him and he went out to show everyone that he is 1-up. I also noticed a couple of times where he appeared to get nicked and to my surprise he stayed on his feet! I really feel that having him score the last-minute winner in front of Everton fans made the thoughts of the linesman cringe and put the flag in the air, because there is no way at any point in time he was offside during that play. Nobody deserves that treatment, c’mon!
The referees are making it very hard on themselves, and us.
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