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“We expected to win” said Adam Lallana afterwards. So did I. Seriously, I did. Even after I saw the team we picked I was confident we’d win. Why? Because it’s Anfield, it’s Everton and because every player who in this squad is a mentality monster, even the kids. Any time they’ve been selected we’ve seen the confidence in the younger players, so it shouldn’t really be surprising. It’s unusual and it’s rare that you see kids performing so well in limited appearances, but there is a simple explanation for it. Part of it is that Klopp can make players feel ten feet tall, but it’s not just that. It’s about how these kids are integrated into the group and how they are made to feel. Let’s say you’re Harvey Elliott for example. You’ve probably spent a lot of time up against Andy Robbo in training. Why would you then be even the slightest bit fazed about facing any other left back? It goes right throughout the squad. Curtis Jones trains every day alongside and against people like Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum. As if he’s going to be even the tiniest bit intimidated coming up against Schneiderlin or Sigurdsson. I think Yasser Larouci is the only one not with the seniors on a full time basis, so Neco Williams and Nat Phillips for example, are used to coming up against Salah, Firmino and Mané every day. Seriously, it must almost be a relief to face Richarlison, Walcott and Calvert-Lewin. And I’m not saying this to be derogatory about the Blues’ players. They’re seasoned Premier League footballers, but most of our young lads train with the best team in the world day in day out so why would they be nervous about facing inferior players to those they pit themselves against every day? That no doubt sounds arrogant but it’s true. Those young players train with and against some of the world’s best players every single day, and even when they aren’t involved in the match day squad they are still there in the dressing room, or travelling to away games. Watch those ‘Inside Training’ videos on LFC TV and you’ll see that there isn’t an “us” and “them” situation. The senior lads are always joking around and mixing with the kids, and the result of all this is that the lads see themselves as Liverpool players and not just reserves. In the past it was often intimidating for a young player to be plucked out of the reserves and thrown into the first team. Now they’re so close to it every week they’re just desperate to be involved. They aren’t scared, they’re just hungry as fuck and they’re completely comfortable in their surroundings. Curtis actually said afterwards that he’s been “frustrated” sat on the bench. He’s 18 years old and the team are European Champions, miles clear at the top of the table and quite literally wins every single game. Yet he’s frustrated that he is only a substitute! Why is that? Partly because he’s the most confident kid in the world, but also because Klopp has these lads so close to the action they can almost taste it. If they were training with the 23s at the Academy and not really around the seniors much, they wouldn’t even be thinking about playing for the first team. When you’re with them every day though, travelling to every game as part of the squad and (in the case of Jones and Williams especially) sometimes even making the bench, you’re desperate to play. And when you do play you want to show Klopp that you should play more often. By all accounts every training session is like a game anyway, such is the intensity. So if they can handle that they can handle anything, as we’ve seen against MK Dons, Arsenal and now Everton. That winning mentality just runs right through the club now. It’s trickled down from the first team to the rest of the squad, and even the Academy sides have massive jones by scoring shitloads of late goals. It’s most evident with the kids who are constantly around the senior lads though. Not only did we win the game, we thoroughly deserved to win it. The start was a bit mad and Everton had three chances in the first 25 minutes. After that though, once everyone calmed down and just played the way they were supposed to, we completely bossed it. The second half was embarrassing for Everton as they were taken to school by a team full of kids. The Blues looked fucking terrified. You could see the fear in their performance. Ancelotti must be wondering just what the fuck happened because playing Liverpool doesn’t scare him. He’s already beaten us once this season and also nicked a draw. I think they smashed us in pre-season too. You’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. The spectre of Anfield must haunt Evertonian dreams because the mental block they have when they come here is just so obvious. In the 20 years since they last won here, their biggest disappointments have probably been when there was expectation on them to do something. The one that always stands out to me was when Gerrard was sent off early doors and suddenly the onus was on them to win the game, and they completely shat themselves. This was a similar situation I suppose. When the teams were announced, the Blues were made odds on favourites. They must have thought this was the day they finally put that hoodoo to bed. And then an 18 year Kopite in his first home game sunk them with a goal of a lifetime. They must feel like they’re cursed. Maybe they are, but the more obvious explanation is that they’re just shit and mentality midgets. A few weeks ago Everton were at such a low ebb that I didn’t even have it in me to take the piss any more. I said in the last Derby report that ripping on them in the state they’d found themselves in was almost like mocking a disabled person. I couldn’t do it, it was too arlarse. That changed when they appointed Ancelotti though. They were fair game again as that gave them some credibility and something to feel good about, so I have no qualms mocking them now. What a bunch of fucking losers. They’ve had some brutal Derby defeats over the years and lost in pretty much every conceivable manner. I didn’t think last year could be topped but this might be the worst of the lot from their point of view. The cockiness from some of their fans when they saw the team we’d picked just makes me think they must not have been paying attention. I’m sure you’ll have seen the best comments posted all over social media. My personal favourite was the one declaring that they would win 8-0 just to punish us for the disrespect we showed them with the team selection. How can any Blue be that full of hubris after 20 years without an Anfield win? It’s mental. They deserve everything that comes their way. Some were pissed off we rested players because it put them in a “no win” situation. Don’t worry about who we pick, just win the game and worry about that shit afterwards. The smart ones took the view that they didn’t care if we played the under 9s, they’d still celebrate like mad because it’s us and it’s Anfield. That’s how they should have looked at it as beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe next time we will play the under 9s? I’d still back us to at least take it to a replay. The team selection was controversial I suppose, given the opposition. Even if we’d lost this game though I wouldn’t have said anything critical of Klopp’s team selection. It was the obvious thing to do. Had we been playing anybody else I wouldn’t have even contemplated going with a stronger side, it was only that 20 year unbeaten home derby record that muddied the waters. I didn’t want to lose that record and because of that I can understand why a lot of fans wanted a stronger team. Klopp isn’t influenced by anything like that though. He doesn’t let emotion or sentiment come into it and thank fuck that’s the case or who knows who else we might have lost to injury. A lot of people don’t seem to understand how this works. The six day break before our next game doesn’t even come into it. It’s not about the next game, it’s about the last game. And the ones before it. As soon as Klopp mentioned Newcastle losing four players to injury on New Year’s Day I knew he was leaving everyone out. If he’d fielded most of the first choice players you can almost guarantee some of them would have gotten injured. In my mind there’s no doubt about it. We saw it with Milner, while a year ago the exact same thing happened with Lovren when he was selected to play with the kids and stiffs against Wolves. No doubt Klopp wishes now that he hadn’t started Milner, who lasted just six minutes before pulling a hamstring. This is what happens though. It’s why Klopp didn’t want to select any of his senior players. Selecting Gomez was a big risk but thankfully that paid off as he came through unscathed (and was sensational again). Milner had played the full game against Sheffield United earlier in the week (and covered more ground that anyone on the pitch) so he must have been in “the red zone”. If Captain Fitness himself can pull a muscle then anyone can. Hopefully the next time Klopp leaves everybody out then people will have more understanding about why it is necessary, but I won’t hold my breath. If this result had gone wrong Klopp would have faced the usual barrage of accusations of ‘disrespecting the cup’, only this time there would have been a section of our fanbase also pissed off because he’d essentially forfeited a derby. The result didn’t go wrong though, it went right. Gloriously, famously right. The memory of this will last a long time and will no doubt be immortalised in song. The most amusing thing to me is that Shankly’s quote about the two best teams on Merseyside being Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves was proved to be true. Except this wasn’t even our reserves. In some cases, it was the reserves to the reserves. Several of these players wouldn’t get into a Liverpool second XI and one or two might not even make a third eleven either. Yet they beat Everton’s first team. Our entire starting line up cost less than Richarlison. Hell, it cost less than fucking Sigurdsson. The way the game started suggested we’d have our hands full though. Everton knew this was a great chance for them to finally win at Anfield and they began the game confidently. They were direct and looked to hit Calvert-Lewin early but there was clearly a plan to get runners in behind us too, and initially it worked. We struggled to deal with that early on and Phillips in particular looked edgy and uncomfortable. He said himself afterwards that the pace of the game caught him by surprise as he’s been playing in the more pedestrian German second division. It took him a little while to settle and the defence wasn’t helped by the early injury to Milner. Everton took advantage of that and had three clear chances, all of which they hit straight at Adrian. A lot of the problems we were having came down the flank vacated by Milner. It was tough for Larouci as our full backs are expected to play a certain way, but if we don’t have control of the game then they leave big gaps when they push up so high. He’s a converted winger so his natural instinct is to attack rather than defend. Larouci was doing what he’s been trained to do but it meant that whenever we lost the ball Walcott was able to get in. Surprisingly, ol’ Theo actually played like something resembling a top flight footballer in the first half, before he reverted to type after the break. Most pointless cunt in football him. Seriously, what’s the point of him, the absolute fucking loser. I can’t even stand to look at him, the overly groomed fucking mannequin. Fuck you, Theo Walcott. But enough of him, someone as pointless as that doesn’t deserve the words I’ve already wasted on him. For all the talk about the chances they had, Everton’s last effort on target was in the 26th minute apparently. After that? Nothing at all, they were completely shut down and Adrian had nothing to do after he made that third save to deny Richarlison. What a bunch of fucking losers. Their crowd and players. They had the entire Anny Road and they’d been running their mouths all week about what they were going to do. Something about bringing 8,000 whistles to drown out YNWA and how they were going to show us what a real atmosphere was. YNWA was loud and clear, they drowned out nothing. They did turn their backs on the Kop though, which is just too funny, especially when you see the wheelchair handlers even turning the wheelchair fans around so they can’t see the Kop. Amazing scenes. I mean what do they think they’re achieving by that when they can still hear it? They were enthusiastic in the opening stages when their team were creating chances, but in that second half there wasn’t a peep out of them. They were as fucking timid and scared as their players. It’s difficult finding the balance between praising our lads and highlighting just how cowardly and inept Everton were. I expected us to win the game but I thought they’d give us a real test and we might just scrape through on desire and the crowd getting us home, like in the Arsenal game. It wasn’t like that at all though. It was almost like watching our first team in that second half, so dominant was the performance. The other night we broke the record for most passes in a game. Chirivella on his own must have been close to breaking that in this game. Everton didn’t lay a glove on us and - led by Lallana and Chirivella - we just passed them off the park. Everton’s midfielders allowed those two to look like prime Xavi and Iniesta. We didn’t create a ton of chances but once we overcame that opening 25 minutes we always looked the more likely. Minimino should have scored at the Kop end but didn’t get enough on his header. Jones had an effort just wide and Origi brought a top class have out of Pickford. He was offside and it wouldn’t have counted, but it was great footwork from Big Div and a sensational stop by Pickford, who will have enjoyed that after being taunted about his little arms all afternoon. He won’t have enjoyed that spectacular winner from Jones though. It’s easy to put that down to Pickford’s little arms but when you watch the replay he did well to get as close to it as he did. The ball is well over the height of the crossbar but it dips and bends and goes in off the bar, and Pickford is still only a whisker away from reaching it. It was a ridiculous strike. Our goal of the season so far and that’s saying something when we score worldies every other week. The technique to pull that off is off the fucking charts. Curtis is a special talent. Did anyone think he was going to shoot when he initially collected the pass from Origi? Not me, and I’ve been watching Jones in the junior sides for years. I’ve seen him score goals like that but I didn’t think he was going to shoot this time because his body was facing away from goal. I thought he’d just try and play a little trademark one - two, but the next thing you know the ball is flying towards the top corner. It was an incredible strike worthy of winning any game. Imagine being Curtis Jones today. You wake up and think “oh yeah, that actually fucking happened!”. An 18 year old Red doing that on his first Anfield start. It must be an incredible feeling. You could see how made up all the other lads were for him, especially Sadio who was warming up on the touchline and went fucking mad. He doesn’t even get that excited when he scores himself, but the spirit in this squad is incredible. Jones was given the man of the match award (just as he was at MK Dons) and no-one will begrudge him that as he was outstanding. The best player on the pitch though was Lallana. He might not be the fashionable or sexy pick as we all want to see the kids given recognition, but Lallana was just so good in this game and it speaks volumes about the type of character he is. So often in the past we’ve played weakened sides like this and been absolute shit. The kids would be overawed or they just wouldn’t get the help needed from senior pros who didn’t want to be there. Think Wolves last season, when the senior lads like Sturridge and Moreno were terrible. What we saw from Lallana (as well as Gomez and Origi) is exactly what you need. If you have one senior player in each of the lines and they perform as these boys did, then it’s so much easier for the kids and you can get away with it. After going ahead we saw it out with no problems whatsoever. It was embarrassingly easy. The composure and maturity from every player in Red must have had Klopp purring. Imagine being a manager and seeing such a heavily rotated team perform like that. I doubt if he’s ever been prouder. It’s really hard singling anyone out when the entire team put in a performance like that. There were star performers all over the park so I’m going to go through them one by one: Adrian didn’t do anything spectacular but he was in the right place to make three huge saves in the first half. His distribution was spot on and he was a calming presence. He more than played his part and he fucking loves beating Everton. Neco Williams was faultless. This kid is so impressive. He’s come on massively this season and has leapfrogged Ki-Jana Hoever in the pecking order. Hoever is a genuinely special talent, so what does that say about Neco? Honestly, this kid is fucking brilliant. If Trent needs resting, just put this lad in now as there’s no need to be concerned about whether he’s ready. He clearly is. He hasn’t put a foot wrong defensively in games against Arsenal and Everton and he’s contributed a lot going forward. Joe Gomez was once again sensational. He’s genuinely world class already and he’s only 22. The one concern I might have had with him is whether he can look as accomplished when he’s not partnered by Virgil. Well the big man wasn’t there this time and Gomez took the leadership role himself and helped Nat Phillips through some difficult early moments. If Van Dijk is a Rolls Royce, then Gomez is a Ferrari. Nat Phillips. He’s not a kid (he’s the same age as Gomez) but he is very inexperienced. He’s only been back here a couple of weeks after an indifferent loan spell in Germany and this was a baptism of fire, coming into an under-strength side to play in a Merseyside Derby. He looked a little edgy early on but as the game wore on he grew in stature and confidence. In the second half he really looked the part. Yasser Larouci. What a performance from this kid. Unlike the others, he didn’t have time to prepare himself as he probably didn’t even expect to get on at all. Then after six minutes Milner pulls up and suddenly he’s thrown in at the deep end. It was tough at first because the game was a bit wild and we didn’t have the control we’d have liked. Everton attacked down his side a lot and Walcott had a couple of dangerous moments. Yasser played himself into the game though and he bossed that flank in the second half. Pedro Chirivella. I love this lad. It’s a crime that decent clubs haven’t been lining up to take him. He’s nowhere near the level that is required to compete for a place in our midfield but he’s a proper footballer and other than one poor outing against Swansea a few years back he’s been class whenever he’s had a chance with us. Along with Lallana, he controlled this game with his passing and composure on the ball. He did a lot of good defensive work too, even though that’s probably his biggest weakness. Take a bow, Pedro. Adam Lallana. The best player on the pitch. Oozed class, composure, intelligence, energy and skill. He ran the game and without him I don’t think we’d have been able to play like this. Having someone with his experience and knowledge of how we play to guide those around him is invaluable. If we’d had him and one or two others available at Villa Park we’d have won that game too. Curtis Jones. The most confident lad in the world. He’s just about smart enough to not admit this publicly, but I bet you he thinks he should be starting every week. As long as it is harnessed in the right way that kind of confidence is what you need if you’re looking to break into this team. He’s good enough to play every week if what you can do with the ball is all that counts. Unfortunately for him, what our midfielders do without the ball is arguably more important. When Curtis cracks that side of things he’ll play all the time because he’s brilliant. Harvey Elliott. See above. This kid is phenomenal. He’s 16 years old and he looks like he belongs in our first team. He was up against one of the best left backs in the league and he wasn’t fazed at all. Digne eventually ended up frustrated and resorted to fouling him. The most impressive thing about Elliott’s performance for me was that he never tried to force anything or show off. He played sensibly, unselfishly and I can’t wait to see him play again. He’s been brilliant so far but he’s only really played with the other kids and fringe players. I’d love to see him with two of the regular front three. Divock Origi. Another senior pro who did a great job helping the kids. It was a game of few chances for him but his link play, ability to keep the ball and his work rate were spot on. Didn’t score but can claim an assist on the Jones goal. Takumi Minamino. Difficult game for him to come into and he was quiet I thought. Lots of good movement and some nice flashes of play, but you could tell he’d only just arrived. Interesting that he played Bobby’s role. That’s the position I felt he’d mainly been bought for. He’ll play in other roles too, but we don’t have anyone who can do what Bobby does and that’s why I think we signed Minamino. So yeah, they were all boss but Lallana was the pick of the bunch. I also want to mention Ox, who was a surprising inclusion on the bench. Made up to see him back so quickly, but wasn’t it funny watching him when he came on? He looked like he’d been shot out of a fucking cannon. He was flying around the pitch doing everything at 200mph. Great to see. We’ll find out tonight who we get next and that might have an impact on who plays and who doesn’t, but personally I want to see the same core of players used in all of the cup games. They were robbed of the chance to progress in the league cup, so let them have a crack at this one. To be completely truthful, I don’t even think about winning the domestic cups anymore. If we did, great, but it’s not something I spend any time contemplating. When we win a cup tie I’m not thinking “one step nearer Wembley” I’m thinking “great, another chance to see the kids get a run out”. So I don’t care who we get next, but I would like another home draw. Team: Adrian; Williams, Phillips, Gomez, Milner (Larouci); Chirivella, Lallana, Jones; Elliott (Brewster), Minamino (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Origi: