Silva: Everton didn’t deserve to lose

In his first Merseyside Derby, Marco Silva got to see how Everton somehow manage to fumble away this particular game, time and time again.

The Blues looked to have held off Liverpool for ninety minutes, and even had their own chances to win the three points, but then had to suffer the ignominy of Jordan Pickford making a schoolboy error and conceding a late, late winner in front of the Kop.

Speaking after the game, the manager was visibly disappointed -

“It was a tough match and a tough result for us. We don’t deserve to lose.

“We challenged them to win the match. I think the draw possibly was the fair result. They didn’t deserve it but that is football. It is our life. It is something different every day. That goal you cannot expect to happen.

“They [my players] understand they deserved something more. We started the match together and that is how we end it. We will be in this way and do everything to win the next match. All the support I can give to Jordan Pickford I will. He is a very good goalkeeper. He did not expect that situation.

“I can’t think of the chances in my mind at the moment but we had many, many chances. We had the better chances to score. They had two or three too but we had clearer chances to score. When you perform like we performed this afternoon you will win matches.

“We are improving and we did again this afternoon even if the result wasn’t what we wanted or deserved. I am proud of my players and what they are doing. They are working really hard and showed how we are growing. Nobody in the stadium expected that moment. The way they celebrated it showed to me how difficult it was for them.”

In other comments, Silva reiterated his support for Pickford and the rest of his squad, and with a home game against Newcastle coming up on Wednesday, there’s no time to get their heads down.

“They didn’t deserve [to lose] and I’m proud of them. The main thing in football is always the result but I hope our fans saw it as different to some of the games they saw in the last few seasons.

“My players work really hard and like we promised before the match it is our goal to come here and challenge them to play.. if I remember the first two chances were for us. In the second half we had the better team on the pitch and after 65 or 70 minutes we had the game under control.

“To be honest we didn’t deserve this result, and a draw would have been a fair result. Tomorrow is a new day and we have to prepare for Wednesdays’ match.

“It’s a bad moment for Jordan but I told him, in many games you have been amazing, and this afternoon he was very good as well but that’s football. It’s a lucky, lucky day for Liverpool because they don’t deserve the win.

“We did well, it was a tough atmosphere for us but our players came here and did what we expect of them.”

There was some controversy after the goal when Reds manager Jurgen Klopp sprinted onto the pitch to celebrate and has been rightly berated for his lack of professionalism, but Silva wasn’t bothered by him.

“I didn’t see Klopp’s reaction and if we scored that goal and been so lucky I might have done the same. I didn’t see any disrespect.

“Their fans might have expected another easy match but their celebrations at the end showed they got something different.”