Everton pressed in the forward with 4-4-2. James Rodriguez came to Calvert-Lewin’s beside. They covered Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho with 2 centre forwards and 4 midfielders.
Henderson closed to the forward line from right half-space and this time Liverpool remained 4 vs 4 in the forward line but they couldn’t create position with that.
Everton had numerical disadvantages in the all midfield line because of James Rodriguez. James didn’t help his teammates in the set defence and they suffered because of that.
Everton remained 4 vs 5 in the midfield. And usually they suffered in the right wing defending.
When Robertson came to the left wing, Coleman had to cover Mane and Robertson at the same time and he remained 1 vs 2 in the right wing. And in Liverpool’s first goal they conceded goal because of that disadvantage.
Before the goal Robertson and Mane had numerical advantage against Coleman with 1 vs 2.
Then Robertson is using the space in the left wing, crossing to Mane and Mane is scoring the goal.
In the left wing, Richarlison and Digne could remain 2 vs 3 against Henderson, Salah and Alexander-Arnold but Gomes could follow and cover Henderson very well and Richarlison could cover Alexander-Arnold too. So Everton could cover the left wing greatly with 3 vs 3. Henderson used right half-space so he was a threat for left wing defending.
But sometimes Gomes remained in the centre midfield because to cover centre midfield and Everton had numerical disadvantage in the left wing with 2 vs 3. And Liverpool scored the second goal because of this disadvantage.
In this position, Gomes is covering centre midfield. So Henderson is free in the right wing.
Henderson is taking the ball and crossing. The ball is coming to Salah after the opponent’s defender’s header and Salah is scoring the goal.
When Gomes came to the cover left wing, this time Everton’s centre midfield had more space for Liverpool. Because when Gomes was in the left wing, between Gomes’ and Allan’s distance became longer and this time any Liverpool player could use this space.
In this position, Salah is dribbling and Gomes is covering Henderson. And between Allan’s and Gomes’ distance are long because of Gomes’ position.
Henderson is taking the ball and Allan can’t press him quickly because of the distance between him and Gomes.
Henderson is passing with Firmino and passing to Robertson.
As a result, Liverpool had numerical advantages against Everton.
Liverpool defended centre midfield with 3 forward and 3 midfielder. These six players moved like one piece and didn’t let Everton to make game easily from the centre. They had numerical advantage against Everton’s centre midfielders with 3 vs 6.
Also Mane and Salah took position in the half-spaces so if Digne or Coleman wanted to take the ball and make game, they closed to them.
So Everton couldn’t make game easily and tried to create position with long balls.
They tried to pass Calvert-Lewin but Van Dijk didn’t let him take the ball. But Van Dijk was injured too early and when Gomez substituted instead of Van Dijk, Calvert-Lewin could take long balls more comfortably and Liverpool couldn’t control the game completely.
When 20-25 minutes had over, tempo had down and the match became more balanced.
Second half tempo wasn’t too high so Liverpool couldn’t control the game and Everton played well too.
Van Dijk’s injury affected the match. And maybe more importantly the players’s physical levels. They couldn’t prepare the new season physically and this time they came from international matches. So matches’ tempo level dropped quickly.