Wayne Rooney and Jamie Carragher watched on last night as Everton all but ended Liverpool’s title hopes.
It was supposed to be a triumphant victory for the visitors in Jurgen Klopp’s last derby, which kept their Premier League ambitions alive for another day.
But Sean Dyche had other ideas, and he set up the perfect system to nullify the Reds and instead play to their strengths.
Despite having just 24% of the ball, they managed just one less shot on target than Liverpool, forging a whopping six big chances, via Sofascore.
The bulk of such chance creation came from one particular avenue though, which Rooney sought to praise.
Wayne Rooney assesses Everton’s strengths
Speaking live on Sky Sports last night (24/04, 11 pm), the former Everton and Manchester United man cut a smug figure in the studio.
Carragher, meanwhile, sat slumped in his chair, with the club he used to support having just ended his former employers’ title ambitions for good.
But Rooney’s analysis was rather insightful, as he detailed two of the Toffees’ players who stood out.
In fact, such was their unique quality, he suggested that they were unlike anything that Klopp had at his disposal, making them so tough to deal with.
He noted: ‘Everton have got such a threat on set-pieces, prepare as much as you want, you can set the team up in open play or set pieces. Your players were poor, you need a bit of luck as well, and I thought Everton were really strong tonight at set pieces, and Liverpool couldn’t handle it.
‘As much as Liverpool had prepared, they haven’t got a Tarkowski, they haven’t got a Calvert-Lewin to come up against Liverpool defenders, so you can prepare as much as you want, until you go into the game, it’s a lot different.’
Sean Dyche has made Everton a unique task for anyone to beat
Although the winless run endured this season was tough for fans to take, and his credentials have been called into question on more than one occasion, Dyche must be delighted with the way his players have turned this season around for him.
In fact, were it not for their accumulated eight-point deduction, the Toffees would now be on 41 points, a whopping 16 clear of the bottom three.
Relegation would have been an afterthought long ago, and few would likely be scrutinising the manager’s job.
After all, he has worked through some of the toughest conditions ever seen at Everton with minimal fuss, proving that he is the perfect man to take the club forward through all the turmoil.
The manner in which he took a threadbare, confidence-shy side and has turned them into a solid, hard-to-beat outfit is remarkable, and whilst their reliance on set pieces might frustrate some, few can argue with its effectiveness.
Rooney was left stunned, and so too was Klopp, who simply had no answer when it came to trying to break his side down.
They are resolute and fight for the badge. Everything that the club had been lacking under Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard.