Benitez pledges ‘blue’ loyalty as Klopp turns up pressure
Everton manager admits ‘we must start winning’ ⮞counterpart says Liverpool win the ball ‘in the right way’
⮞under-fire
Rafael Benitez prepared for his first Merseyside derby as Everton manager insisting “I’m a blue now”, as he shrugged off any concern that defeat would hasten his Goodison departure.
In normal circumstances, Benitez’s pledge of loyalty ahead of tonight’s meeting with the neighbours he famously led to a Champions League triumph in 2005 would be reassuring to Evertonians. But this will be a derby like no other, where the Everton manager is considered a legend by rival fans while fighting the tide to win over his own supporters, having dropped to 14th in the Premier League table.
Benitez tried his best to treat the fixture like any other in his prematch press conference. There is no disguising how awkward it will be if he receives more love from the away end than the Gwladys Street one.
Little wonder Benitez sought to erase any ambiguity about his allegiances, vowing to ignore any chanting of his name by Liverpool supporters.
“I think the fans know me, they appreciate what I have done over there and now they also appreciate I’m a blue and I want to win and I will try to win,” Benitez said. “We will try to give everything.”
Not for the first time, Benitez offered a thorough evaluation of
Everton’s plight, and the most reasonable among his audience are sympathetic to the view that the poor form is a consequence of years of dysfunction rather than weeks of underperformance.
His problem tonight is derby judgments are usually more emotional than rational, so whatever support the coach has is conditional on a rapid upturn in performances.
The last manager to suffer a humiliating derby defeat, Marco Silva, was relieved of his duties before the next game in December 2019. Benitez is sure a similar fate is not on the agenda.
“I think they [the Everton board] realise over the years that changing managers – changing the way to do things – is not right, it is not productive, and hopefully we can keep this stability,” said Benitez, who has Richarlison and Demarai Gray available to start.
“When you arrive you think you can change things quickly and then you realise you will need more time. We need a couple of results now to grow in confidence and then bring the [injured] players back. But, OK, we have to start winning. I understand that. It is a question of when, but I am sure we will do it.”
For Jurgen Klopp, the return to Goodison revives bitter memories of last season when the injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Thiago Alcantara derailed his title defence.
Klopp said he did not wish to become embroiled in further discussion about whether Everton’s approach in derbies overstepped the mark. He did, however, pointedly draw a contrast with his own side’s disciplinary record, saying his players know how to win the ball “in the right way”.
“I think we were the fairest team in England and most of the time the fairest team in Europe in the last five years,” Klopp said.
“It is obviously not a prize somebody wants to win, but it is still the case. If you play pressing, high press, counter press, the plan is to win the ball and to win the ball you have to touch the ball, that’s how it is because you want to keep playing after that, you don’t want to create a free-kick or give a foul away. That is why it is normal we don’t make fouls really, or a lot of fouls because it ruins our game. You want to win the ball the right way and you want to play it from there.”
When Benitez was asked if Everton would be adopting an aggressive approach to unsettle Liverpool, he replied: “It is to do what we have to do to get the three points. We have to show commitment and play with intensity. If we can play well with intensity we have more of a chance to win. When you have a bad run you need character, personality and physicality.”
Liverpool, meanwhile, have added legendary Brazilian No1 Taffarel to their backroom team to train with Alisson Becker. Taffarel, a World Cup winner in 1994, will work alongside goalkeeper coaches John Achterberg and Jack Robinson.
Taffarel has been working with the Brazil national team, and it is understood his appointment was based on the recommendation
of Alisson.