James Milner is so rubbish at taking corners – Jürgen Klopp actually used a stronger word last week – it is a wonder Liverpool continue to allow him the responsibility. His crossing from open play, however, is in a completely different league. It was his peach of a centre that Dejan Lovren stuck away in stoppage time to invite bedlam to break out against Borussia Dortmund last week, and the Liverpool captain’s indefatigable support play broke Everton’s resistance with crosses from both wings leading to two goals in quick succession at the end of the first half.
Rather comically, given that bookmakers have been offering odds on the chances of a Milner set piece making it past the first defender, the reason Milner popped up on both flanks was because he was taking responsibility for set pieces. The first, a free-kick on the right, was cleared but came back to him, whereupon he bamboozled Aaron Lennon before his next attempt found its way to Divock Origi’s forehead like an arrow. Everton might just have coped with that had it been the only damage inflicted before the interval, yet they failed to read an identical script when Liverpool won a corner in added time on the right.
Once again, the first cross was easily dealt with, but eager to make amends Milner remained in position and got behind the Everton defence with ease when the ball was swiftly returned to him by Adam Lallana, this time clipping a delicate cross for Mamadou Sakho to put away with another header. Everton’s central defence was culpable on both occasions, but you just cannot beat experience and a cool head in a derby situation and Milner was the man for the occasion.
All that matters tonight is tonight, Klopp had said beforehand, proving that the German does have some inkling about Merseyside derbies despite all his protestations. The Liverpool manager also predicted Everton would field a strong side, and Roberto Martínez duly obliged. An FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United on Saturday complicated matters for the visitors. In other circumstances Martínez could have been forgiven for putting all his eggs into that basket with little else to play for this season, but the Everton manager has had enough criticism of late without the charge of running up the flag of surrender at Anfield.
Not that he will escape it after an utterly humbling 4-0 defeat at the hands of the old enemy, for not even Martínez’s famously selective analysis will be able to paint such a costly and morale-sapping horrorshow as ideal preparation for Wembley.
Liverpool did their neighbours the honour of fielding a side closely resembling that which beat Dortmund. It would have been identical, with Daniel Sturridge again starting from the bench, but for the enforced change that saw Lucas Leiva take over from Emre Can. Some of the optimism surrounding Liverpool’s prospects in Europe evaporated a little once it became clear that Can, as well as Jordan Henderson, is going to miss the business end of the season.
The midfielder’s contribution against Dortmund was immense, and one of the questions for the remainder of Liverpool’s campaign, with Klopp’s squad putting a run of form together on the domestic front as well as hoping the Europa League can provide a passport to the Champions League next season, is who is going to keep the engine room ticking over until the injured pair return. Milner can be relied upon to supply the workrate.
At Aston Villa and Manchester City for some of the same time as the Everton captain Gareth Barry, Milner has appeared in north-east derbies as well as the Birmingham and Manchester varieties by virtue of his time at Newcastle. Barry was equalling the record for Premier League starts with his 571st in this game, so between the two there was no shortage of know-how. Needless to say there was no discernible old pals’ act, either. Milner took just four minutes to send Barry cartwheeling through the air with an over-robust challenge on the right, though it was Liverpool, not Everton, who almost scored from the free-kick. Everton sent too many players upfield and when Liverpool broke quickly to clear the danger and bring the ball out of their own half Lallana had only Joel Robles to beat to open the scoring but put his shot too close to the goalkeeper.
An early booking for kicking Leighton Baines had the effect of calming the Liverpool captain down a little, yet though restricting himself to a slightly deeper position alongside Lucas, Milner was still determined to be effective.
It was his ball over the top that sent Roberto Firmino haring into the Everton penalty area on the half-hour, and when the Brazilian produced a deft piece of control to bring the ball down first time Robles was Everton’s saviour again as Liverpool’s attempts on goal began to stack up. It was no surprise that the deadlock was broken with the help of the Liverpool captain, and any hope of an Everton fightback disappeared with the red card for Ramiro Funes Mori’s ugly assault on Origi. By that stage Barry was no longer on the field. In the battle of the grizzled veterans, Milner was a clear winner.
