3 things we learned from Liverpool and Everton's dour 0-0 draw

Well, not much happened there.

Everton and Liverpool both had every reason to go all-out for the win on Saturday, but they either had no intention of doing so or simply didn't have the quality. The Merseyside derby had a handful of exciting moments, but was mostly dull, and deserved to finish 0-0.

The Reds had some good early spells of play and the best chance of the first half in the 27th minute, through youngster Jordan Ibe. The attacking winger made a surprise start at right wingback, and he struck the post with an absolute rocket from 25 yards.

Sadly, Liverpool lost a key man to injury in the first half. Lucas Leiva had to go off early, with Joe Allen replacing him.

Liverpool remained the better side early in the first half, and should have scored on a couple of occasions. Raheem Sterling hit a shot right into Joel Robles in the 52nd minute when he could have cut back to Steven Gerrard for a tap-in. A minute later, Gerrard lined up a shot and looked likely to hit the back of the net, but his strike bounced off an Everton defender and drifted just wide.

Daniel Sturridge entered in the 56th minute and couldn't spark much of an attack for Liverpool, but a sub did help the Toffees. Ross Barkley found Seamus Coleman with a spectacular ball in the 86th minute, but Simon Mignolet came up with an excellent save, keeping the match scoreless.

Everton : Robles, Oviedo, Jagielka, Stones, Coleman, Barry, Besic (Alcaraz 86'), McCarthy, Naismith (Barkley 85'), Lukaku, Mirallas (Lennon 60')

Goals: None.

Liverpool : Mignolet, Sahko, Skrtel, Can, Moreno, Lucas (Allen 16'), Henderson, Ibe, Courinho (Sturridge 56'), Sterling (Lambert 82'), Gerrard

Goals: None.

3 things

1. Snore - Merseyside derbies are usually a lot of fun. And games between these editions of Liverpool and Everton should be great, given that both are not good at defending and have managers with very attacking philosophies. But basically nothing happened here, which was a huge letdown.

2. Ross Barkley should play more - The only player for either team who played accurate, attacking passes with any regularity was Ross Barkley, who didn't enter the match until the 85th minute. Why he wasn't given a shot earlier is anyone's guess. He actually warmed up in the first half and was ready to replace Steven Naismith, who looked hurt, but the Scot waved him off.

3. Liverpool have a tough fight ahead of them - Top four is very much Liverpool's goal this season, and they're going to have a tough time achieving it. It's not that they're too far behind, or that they don't have the quality to finish top four. It's just that, on the evidence of this and other recent performances, they're simply not better than three of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Southampton. Liverpool can definitely catch one or two of those sides, but three?

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