Everton fielded one of the strongest line-ups for a while, especially given the options Moyes suddenly has on the bench - Arteta, Senderos, Yakubu, Anichebe and Bilyetdinov were all available again. And with in-form players like Pienaar, Fellaini, Cahill and Saha the blues should have been capable of a lot more and arguably boasted more talent in their starting eleven than Liverpool on Saturday. Unfortunately, they just didn't turn up and couldn't cope with the physical side of the game that Liverpool dished out.
Jamie Carragher was particularly up for this one and clattered Pienaar in the first minute. Some say he should have been booked but the first heavy tackle or foul in a derby is free and normally goes unpunished. It's part of the game and if an Everton player had done it I'd have been made up. As it happened, Carragher put an old school "reducer" into the South African which got the crowd going and had the desired effect on him - he spent the rest of the game wound up and was lucky not to have been sent off in the first half, eventually being shown a second red in the dying minutes as Everton chased the game.
Most of the talking points were fouls, cards or both. The red card for Sotirios Kyrgiakos was as clear cut as you could ever wish to see. He had to go. Perhaps Fellaini did as well for a two footed stamp on the Greek defender but you could argue he was trying to pull out of a dangerous tackle - either way, he never came back onto the pitch and Everton suffered for it. Mikel Arteta came on but he's only half fit and Everton simply didn't create enough. The best and only chance fell to Tim Cahill just before half time as his diving header cleared Reina's cross bar, and Everton never really went close again.
Ten minutes into the second half, Liverpool took the lead after Gerrard whipped in a fierce ball, but in fairness Tim Howard should have come through both Neville and Kuyt to clear it. As it was, he stayed on his line and the Dutchman flicked it in with far too much ease.
From then on, it was only frustration for Everton as Liverpool soaked up the pressure and looked the better side. The blues never seem to know how to play against ten men and I felt it was crying out for a bit more width. Seamus Coleman was on the bench and I'd like to have seen him come on at right-back with Phil Neville switched to centre midfield. The young Irishman is bold and certainly gets forward a lot and that could have made a difference.
Instead, Moyes brought on a couple of half fit strikers in Yakubu and Anichebe and the latter came closest for Everton when he broke free on the right but waited far too long to either cross or shoot and the chance came to nothing.
In a niggly game, Everton lacked the composure and slick passing to unlock Liverpool when on another day, the likes of Pienaar and Arteta might have provided that. In a way then, Liverpool's game plan worked as they kept it very tight and physical in a way that Everton have done against them over the years.
All that was left was more frustration and a second yellow for Pienaar for an innocuous looking challenge on Gerrard in the dying minutes.
Everton will have to do better against Chelsea on Wednesday to come away with anything anything against the league leaders who have Didier Drogba in frightening form.
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