Merseyside Derby: Old wine in new bottles
History, tradition, rivalries – these are words that can be associated with the Merseyside derby. In an era where most kids have grown up watching the Chelsea revolution, the Manchester dominance, it’s really difficult to understand the importance of a Merseyside derby until and unless you are a Liverpool fan or an Everton fan.
In a country like India, where most football watching public end up supporting the big clubs, its really difficult to locate a Evertonian supporter. Liverpool fans are often ridiculed and called more often than not a “grandfather club” as they last won the league in the 1989-90 season. With the advent of cable, India was exposed to the Premier League proper 1996 onwards and the football watching public ended up following the two Manchester clubs and the Arsenal.
No disrespect to the London derbies and the Manchester derbies, but Merseyside derbies have seen more red cards than any other derbies and it has been an unbroken sequence since 1962 in the top flight, so that in itself speaks volumes about the atmosphere in these derbies. Although not at each other’s throats, its still a fiercely contested derby. Households get divided and pals become enemies but never the life threatening ones and that’s what football derbies should be.
Coming to the present day though, it is Swansea who the Merseyside teams should be grateful to, for it is from these clubs, that the present day managers of Everton and Liverpool hail from. Merseyside now is the beneficiary for the fans as they are getting to watch a brand of football which is easy on the eyes and fearless. Derbies, generally are a drab-affair with both sides nervous, hopefully this time there will be a certain ebb and flow to the game.
Both managers are of the ilk who encourage pass and move and promote flair with discipline, creativity is encouraged, experimental tactics are encouraged. Liverpool have reaped the benefits and will have a chance to go top, Everton are still acclimatizing but are still getting results and only 3 points separate them.
Liverpool have been the more successful club at Merseyside historically but every derby is a new ball game altogether. With the international break over for the year, both the teams will have to kick on if they are nurturing European football ambitions. Before the break, Liverpool demolished Fulham while Everton could only draw.
Traditionally, it is Liverpool who have always prevailed in the derby given that the Everton players have a tendency to get red carded and hence no surprise that Liverpool have prevailed in this fixture. This time though, expect football of a different kind with hopefully more goals than cards.