Rio Ferdinand might have a long-standing affiliation with Manchester United, but no Liverpool fan would disagree with one observation that he made during the Merseyside derby this afternoon.
The Reds prevailed 2-1 thanks to first-half goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike, with the Dutch midfielder providing the assist for the ex-Eintracht Frankfurt striker to double our lead just before the half-hour mark.
Our number 38 was named the Premier League Young Player of the Season last term, and he’s begun the current campaign in equally impressive fashion.
Ferdinand left awestruck by Gravenberch
The 23-year-old beat Jordan Pickford with a majestic finish to open the scoring after just 10 minutes against Everton, and he later threaded a perfect pass to the French centre-forward for Liverpool’s second goal.
Just after Ekitike found the net from the Dutchman’s pass, Ferdinand took to X with a short yet perfectly accurate verdict of: ‘Gravenberch, some player!’
Gravenberch has been immense for Liverpool
Having also given superb performances against Burnley and Atletico Madrid over the past week, the Netherlands international has been a beacon of consistency since returning to the starting XI following his suspension for the opening day win over Bournemouth.
He already has two goals and assists each in the first five weeks of this season, equalling his combined G/A tally from the whole of 2024/25 (Transfermarkt), with the 23-year-old adding an attacking impact to his thoroughly impressive game.
As per Sofascore, Gravenberch won seven of his 11 duels today, along with completing 47 of his 56 passes (84% success) and 100% of his dribbles, making five tackles and executing one key pass. It’s no wonder that the Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle wrote that the Dutchman had a ‘huge influence’ on proceedings at Anfield
It seems crazy to think now that, had the Reds signed Martin Zubimendi 13 months ago, our current number 38 may have struggled to get into Arne Slot’s starting XI, having often been overlooked by Jurgen Klopp in the campaign prior.
Right now, Kopites wouldn’t trade the 23-year-old for any midfielder in world football!
Liverpool were poor today, you can’t blame tiredness either. When Liverpool went 2 nil up on 29 minutes the tactics were to sit back and defend , it gave the Initiative to Everton who for 60 minutes were far the better team. We did the same against athletico Madrid on Wednesday. This kind of negative defensive football is going backwards. It’s a shadow of what we once were under klopp. A high line pressing total control of a game attacking football the way great Liverpool teams play. We’ve become just a counter attacking team that can’t defend under slot. 450 million spend and We’ve gone worse. We shouldn’t be getting outplayed by Everton at Anfield. Sitting back and hanging on.
Not sure we sure feel so bleak about today’s match, pal. You sound suspiciously like a rival trying a bit of emotional grooming tbh.
Not sure there was tiredness to blame.
It looked more like instructions from the manager.
Arne’s already said he’s getting the lads to pace themselves.
It was disappointing to take the foot off the gas though esp. the second half.
As mentioned to your other posting, one should get too depressed about it.
The performance may not have been vintage, but we got a few streaky ones last season and we’re on maximum points.
Cheer up misty. It’ll soon be Christmas 🎅!