This was Everton's chance against Liverpool - not for the first time this season Sam Allardyce botched it

It has been eight long seasons since the Reds departed Goodison Park in defeat and the Toffees never really looked like ending that barren run on Saturday

Sam Allardyce couldn't help Everton break their barren run against their bitter rivals (Getty)

Sometimes explanations need only to be short so let’s start with one. Sam Allardyce might have convinced himself it is only a minority of Evertonians that don’t want him but he is wrong. His Rachman reputation shatters a sense of pride in purity that supposedly separates this club from their neighbours. His presence confirms Everton as small.

Over the years, Derek Hatton and the word controversial have followed in conversation with the same ease as Allardyce and gravy at this moment in time. Hatton’s views are not always carried universally but the former deputy leader of Liverpool city council perhaps best summed up the mood amongst Everton supporters when he sent out a tweet on Saturday morning. “Never felt so unexcited on a derby day,” he wrote. “Normally I can’t sleep, reading every paper there is, trying to pick the team etc. Today: totally lifeless. Something must change.”

There was a sense that Everton could not really win here, even if Liverpool were beaten. Allardyce had spent Friday morning trying his best to argue he had saved Everton from a relegation battle they’ve never been involved in. A victory against Liverpool would allow him to remind Farhad Moshiri in any discussion about his future that he had masterminded Everton’s first derby win in since 2010 against their greatest rivals.

It would be inaccurate to say Goodison Park, usually juddering on these occasions, was absolutely flat. Fire and fury did exist, yet most of it was reserved for Everton players not considered to be pulling their weight. When Yannick Bolasie was caught out for thinking no Liverpool player would bother to chase him, the main stand’s fume was released, not at Bolasie, but at Allardyce for choosing him in the first place.

On one of the few occasions Goodison found its collective voice it was because of Seamus Coleman’s reaction to Bolasie’s disinterest in receiving a pass. Coleman then turned on Danny Ings, the Liverpool player closest to the confrontation who must have said something. The Gwladys Street end erupted. It loves Coleman because he is one of the few players left they can really identify with: someone who’s honest, spirited, loyal and above all, is not past his best like others who have been around for a long time. The episode ended with Bolasie being substituted by Allardyce within seconds. Audibly, it was one of Allardyce’s decisions that Goodison agreed with.

It has been eight long seasons since Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool departed this ground on the end of a 2-0 defeat, muttering about how it had somehow been one of the better performances under his guidance in a press room where he asked for the windows to be closed because everyone could hear Evertonians celebrating in the Winslow Hotel.

There was lots of rough and tumble but not a lot else (Getty)

Considering Liverpool had walloped the Premier League champions-elect on Wednesday night it might seem ridiculous to suggest this was Everton’s best chance of ending their terrible record. Yet Liverpool’s priorities are elsewhere. With fatigue levels increasing, with injuries mounting, with Mohamed Salah absent from the squad and Roberto Firmino missing from the starting team, with Danny Ings starting a Premier League fixture for the first time since October 2015, with Nathaniel Clyne starting the first time this season, and with Ragnar Klavan selected as a left back for the first time since “I don’t know when,” as Jürgen Klopp put it, this was a missed opportunity for Everton.

Allardyce has failed to inspire Everton (Getty)

The crowd did not mind when Allardyce made his last substitution, introducing Beni Baningime for Tom Davies. By then Klopp had taken off Liverpool’s man-of-the match, James Milner, as well as Sadio Mané. Yet Allardyce was replacing an attacking midfielder with a defensive one. Though Everton increased pressure thereafter as Liverpool tired, the lack of a striker in the box to reach Cenk Tosun’s flick-ons or Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s crosses ended up separating one point from three. Why did Allardyce not use Oumar Niasse instead?

Allardyce would stress his substitutions, including that of Wayne Rooney, “made a difference” but it wasn’t enough of a difference. Rooney was furious when he was brought off, shouting “f**king bullsh*t” from the bench. It was, Wayne. Oh, it really was.