Sam Allardyce claims Everton mastered Liverpool’s attack in the Merseyside derby.
The 229th meeting between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw, with a late Wayne Rooney penalty cancelling out Mohamed Salah’s first-half opener.
It was a frustrating afternoon for the Reds, who were unable to turn their dominance into goals.
Jurgen Klopp’s side finished the encounter with just three shots on target to the Blues’ two as a result of their inability to break down a deep-sitting defence.
That delighted new Everton manager Allardyce, who believes his side were superb defensively throughout on their latest visit to Anfield.
He said: “Whatever anyone says, Liverpool possession-wise would have a huge amount more than us and yet they had three shots on target and we had two.
“That shows we mastered a great side in terms of their goalscoring ability.
“That had to be our first port of call if we were going to get a result and we mastered that. Our defensive qualities throughout the entire game were very, very good.
“I thought first half that nerves played a big part and we found that difficult to deal with in possession.
“You can’t knock our defending today when you’ve limited Liverpool, with probably the best goal scoring record in Europe in recent games, to three shots on target.
“I don’t think you can make excuses for Liverpool’s draw because they didn’t play Coutinho or Firmino when you’ve got Mane and Salah on the pitch.
“They’re two of the top scorers on the pitch and we kept them extremely quiet. Coutinho came on and we kept him quiet. Defensively I’m very happy about the team.”