Marco Silva’s Everton reign nears end against backdrop of boos and jeers

He stood alone. If it was Marco Silva’s last stand, it amounted to a lonely vigil at the edge of his technical area, spent dispensing instructions to a team who rarely implemented them. A game bookended by Liverpool goals ended with Everton conceding five times in a derby for the first time since Silva was five years old.

“Wins are lifesavers,” said Jurgen Klopp, reflecting on his century of Premier League victories. For Silva, defeat could be a death sentence. The chants of “going down” had begun after 18 minutes. If he goes now, he leaves Everton in the relegation zone, 29 points adrift of Liverpool over a four-month season and 72 behind them over his 18-month reign. The comparisons are unflattering but unavoidable. It may be Silva’s misfortune to be Everton manager at a time when Liverpool have touched rare heights, but Merseyside’s biggest spenders during Farhad Moshiri’s ownership have plumbed new depths. Perhaps it was only the fact that Liverpool were the opposition that spared Silva more open displays of dissent from a fanbase who headed for exits the moment Gini Wijnaldum completed the scoring.

As it was, they booed his last substitution, though either manager or player could have been the target of the jeers. Morgan Schneiderlin is a poor signing who predated Silva and who may outlast him. For Schneiderlin, read many of Everton’s problems. The Frenchman, a defensive midfielder summoned when 4-2 down, felt a symptom of confused thinking. Maybe he always was but it has abounded at Goodison Park. Everton played 5-3-2 and 4-4-2 and lost 5-2. “It does not make sense; we did not plan that way,” said Silva. He was discussing Divock Origi’s second goal, but it served as an analysis of the night; perhaps the season.

This was Silva’s Everton in a nutshell; sporadically good in attack, largely poor in defence, losing away from home and failing to come from behind to take anything. There was chaos where they required control, anarchy where they needed solidity, defeat where Silva had to win. “A really bad night,” he conceded. Liverpool, he admitted, were better, braver, faster, stronger. “We knew they would attack us with runs in behind,” he said. Everton did nothing to stop them.

He picked three centre-backs and then they conceded four goals in the first 45 minutes; Liverpool could go through them and over them as Everton were opened by both slick passing and a long ball, caught on the counter-attack and cut apart up when they had everyone back. They had weakness in numbers. Djibril Sidibe and Alex Iwobi conducted an angry on-field inquest after Xherdan Shaqiri doubled Liverpool’s lead. The World Cup winner was destroyed by Sadio Mane, removed by Silva in a first-half substitution that amounted to the last dance of the desperate.

Mane was magnificent but Silva could not plead misfortune. Injuries have been a recurring theme in his reign, and there was a hole in the heart of a side shorn of the Portuguese’s preferred central midfielders, but Jurgen Klopp afforded Everton sympathy in his selection. Everton were embarrassed by Liverpool’s understudies, albeit aided and abetted by Mane; it could be of scant consolation that the attacking trident of Origi, Shaqiri and Mane also started and starred when Barcelona were hit for four. Nor, indeed, that as Everton’s wait for an Anfield win dates back to 1999. Better Everton managers than Silva have not won here. One of them, Ronald Koeman, was sacked with Everton in the bottom three after a 5-2 defeat. It was to Arsenal, not Liverpool, but the parallels bode badly for Silva nonetheless. The sack seems to beckon.

“I am not the right person to answer,” Silva said. “My words here will change nothing.” It is up to others now. The precedents are inauspicious. This can be the demolition derby. Brendan Rodgers was sacked 90 minutes after a visit to Goodison Park. Roberto Martinez never recovered from a 4-0 Anfield evisceration. Precocious, progressive managers have rebuilt reputations and careers, but not on Merseyside.

Now dismissing Silva will not solve the underlying problems, but it looks the logical move. Everton hired the designer manager but they are in a mess.