{"id":157740,"date":"2025-09-21T00:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157740\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T00:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T00:58:10","slug":"liverpool-2-1-everton-analysis-why-hugo-ekitike-is-a-huge-summer-upgrade-the-reds-man-who-is-a-managers-dream-and-david-moyes-glaring-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/157740\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool 2-1 Everton ANALYSIS: Why Hugo Ekitike is a huge summer upgrade, the Reds man who is a ‘manager’s dream’ and David Moyes’ glaring problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool took the bragging rights in the Merseyside derby on Saturday after Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> and Hugo Ekitike netted in the first half for Arne Slot’s men.<\/p>\n

Though it continued the hosts’ 100 per cent record this season and ensured they will be top of the Premier League<\/a> at the weekend, it wasn’t without a scare as Idrissa Gueye pulled one back and a Jack Grealish-inspired effort almost earned the Toffees a point.<\/p>\n

Here,\u00a0Daily Mail Sport\u00a0takes a look at the main talking points\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Hugo <\/p>\n

Hugo Ekitike’s goal against Everton helped Liverpool on their way to a 2-1 victory<\/p>\n

\"Jack <\/p>\n

Jack Grealish impressed for the Toffees but couldn’t prevent his side from coming up short in the Merseyside Derby<\/p>\n

NOT PLAYED ON PAPER\u00a0<\/p>\n

David Moyes said on Friday that his main objective as Everton<\/a> boss is to shorten the gulf between his team and their city rivals – and he needed to take just one look at the team-sheets to realise that is much easier said than done.<\/p>\n

The fact the most expensive footballer in British history, \u00a3125million Alexander Isak, sat next to \u00a3116m Florian Wirtz<\/a> on a star-studded substitutes\u2019 bench simply highlighted the seismic chasm between Merseyside\u2019s red and blue halves.<\/p>\n

Even without the man described by Arne Slot<\/a> as an \u2018artist with a mean streak\u2019 and the striker the club hopes can hit Erling Haaland<\/a> levels, Liverpool<\/a> made this contest look like a clash between men against boys.<\/p>\n

Although they retreated and invited pressure in the second half \u2013 one teething problem of Slot\u2019s new-look team \u2013 the champions still look miles better than any team in the division. And rivals must have been quaking at their effervescent display even without their two big-money buys.<\/p>\n

One funny quirk of Slot\u2019s Liverpool is that they never, ever blow teams away and there has always been a sense that they can get better and performances can improve. We said that all last season and now, with five wins from five, we are saying it again.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Slot Machine is just an efficient winning monster who can chew up and spit out any team. And with one or both of Arsenal or Manchester City to drop points on Sunday, the Reds are rubbing their hands, looking down on the rest and knowing they can get even better.<\/p>\n

\"Moyes <\/p>\n

Moyes has said his main objective at Everton is to shorten the gulf between them and Liverpool<\/p>\n

EKITIKE TWICE THE PLAYER OF NUNEZ<\/p>\n

Mohamed Salah had a pop at a fan account online for disrespecting Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz when it was claimed the new No 7 and No 9, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, were a huge upgrade on those who wore those shirts last season.<\/p>\n

So we will go careful in how we phrase this but, with the greatest respect to Nunez who had some memorable moments in a Reds shirt, Ekitike already seems like a more complete forward who will be well worth the \u00a379m they paid for him.<\/p>\n

Not just his calm finish, slotted through Jordan Pickford\u2019s legs under pressure, but the Frenchman offers so much more in terms of all-round play \u2013 linking up with midfielders, dropping deep to receive the ball and popping up out wide to run at players.<\/p>\n

Asked about Ekitike after the game, Slot said: \u2018I am impressed but to the extent that we knew what we brought in, every other team in this league has two No 9s, we have two of excellent quality, like our competitors have as well.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hugo is definitely not ready to play three 90 minutes in a week in the way we play, because we have a high press and Alex (Isak) has only trained two weeks with the team so to have now is definitely necessary and every top Premier League team has two No 9s.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Ekitike <\/p>\n

Ekitike already seems like a more complete forward than Darwin Nunez and will be well worth his \u00a379m price tag<\/p>\n

…AND FLYING DURCHMAN GRAVENBERCH IS A MANAGER’S DREAM<\/p>\n

Ryan Gravenberch must be a dream to manage. He can pass and dictate the tempo like a prime Andrea Pirlo, he runs around like a dog putting in the hard yards out of possession \u2013 and now he can arrive into the penalty area late and score goals, too!<\/p>\n

In his first months on Merseyside, the 23-year-old gave some interviews in which he said he styled his game on Zinedine Zidane, the great France and Real Madrid midfielder, and his goal here was something his idol would have been proud of.<\/p>\n

Before readers accuse us of comparing the two, Gravenberch knows he has a lot to improve. One thing Slot is trying to do is to help last year\u2019s Premier League Young Player of the Season with his offensive game, aiming to get him into more attacking spaces.<\/p>\n

\u2018As he did last season, for every player it is the same, you need a team around you to show how good you are,\u2019 said Slot on Gravenberch. \u2018First half, it was a joy to watch.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Ryan <\/p>\n

Ryan Gravenberch can pass, run around like a dog and arrive late in the penalty area to score<\/p>\n

EVERTON HAVE 9 PROBLEMS<\/p>\n

Hardly a shocking revelation here but Everton have a real problem in their strike department with neither Beto or Thierno Barry showing their best at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Portuguese forward Beto played the first half and just looked a yard off the pace \u2013 his first touch let him down and he was beaten to several loose balls by Liverpool defenders Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.<\/p>\n

Barry is 22 and is clearly still settling into the Premier League and its intensity after a \u00a327million summer switch from Villarreal and, despite a lovely Maradona turn in the second half, also did not contribute enough.<\/p>\n

David Moyes has some supremely gifted footballers at his disposal including Jack Grealish, Iliman Ndiaye, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Tyler Dibling \u2013 but a marksman to smash in the goals is missed and could be the difference between mid-table and a top-half push.<\/p>\n

\"Everton <\/p>\n

Everton have a real problem in their striker department, with neither Beto or\u00a0Thierno Barry impressing at Anfield<\/p>\n

\"Conor <\/p>\n

Conor Bradley put in a good performance up against Grealish, though was perhaps lucky not to pick up a yellow card<\/p>\n

BRADLEY EDGES GREALISH BATTLE… JUST<\/p>\n

He was lucky to not be yellow carded and was far from perfect but Conor Bradley had a pleasing performance against the effervescent Grealish, one of the league\u2019s most in-form players.<\/p>\n

Grealish played a role in Idrissa Gana Gueye\u2019s goal but, otherwise, he was quiet. A hard player to contain even when he is not in form, Northern Ireland international Bradley did a solid job having got the nod over Jeremie Frimpong.<\/p>\n

On the other side, Milos Kerkez put behind him a testing week \u2013 in which he was hooked after 38 minutes at Burnley and then dropped or rotated, whichever way you look at it, against Atletico Madrid \u2013 to play well at left back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool took the bragging rights in the Merseyside derby on Saturday after Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike netted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22261,100,5247,9006,16411,596,43,50006,1613,44,1614,588,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-157740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arne-slot","tag-dailymail","tag-darwin-nunez","tag-david-moyes","tag-everton","tag-football","tag-headlines","tag-jack-grealish","tag-liverpool","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}