Did anyone really expect to win? I've supported Everton for far to many years to ever expect to get anything at Anfield so losing isn't a shock. We could be riding high at the top of the table having won every game up to now and they could have fielded their reserves and you still know they'd get a jammy winner in the 96th minute. The Devil's club mate. It's no surprise they won the league during a global pandemic, it was probably fine print in the contract they signed with Lucifer!
What I did expect was a bit of consistency. A performance on par with the Arsenal game even if the result was different. A performance where we battled, we were smart and we did the basics. What we saw last night was a stark reminder that one of the main reasons we are where we are right now is because of these players... they aren't consistent, most aren't premierleague level. They've bottled game after game and it really doesn't matter whether we have Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche or anyone else in the dug out -they simply aren't good enough and if the few gems we have don't show up we're screwed.
Not buying a striker despite all the warning signs and numerous opportunities to do so is the hill Farhad and the Board will die on. I have nothing against Dom, I don't care what he wears but it's clear a day he's done. Either his body is absolutely knackered and the club/manager don't want to come and tell us that because they're trying to save face - or his heads gone and he simply doesn't trust his body anymore and that's almost worse because what do you do then?
These issues with Dom aren't new either, he's struggled for consistency for 3 seasons now so the gross negligence from those at the top to pin our Premierleague hopes on a player who's body is made of Jenga, whilst selling 2 of our main attacking threats is criminal!
Felt for Simms last night, I assume he was drafted in as he was the closest profile to Dom and Dyche's system replies on that big man upfront. I'm certainly not going to judge the kid on a poor performance in the derby when the seasoned pro's beside him bottled it. If Dom is out for weeks (and let's be brutally honest - even if he comes back he'll only manage a 3 or 4 more games this season) then I think Simms will continue to play but he's going to need the players around him to be flawless and create chances for him. We can't just lump it to him and hope for the best.
Dyche and his team need to learn lessons from last night, move on from it and get the team fully focused on on getting six points off of Leeds and Villa. Do that and we can begin to look at the table and just write last night off as another poor result to an irritable midtable side. We've had plenty of those this season