On Hindsight, I get the feeling that we played with the aim of "must get at least a draw" as compared to "must get at least a win"
That was my feeling too, in the game. We didn't commit to pressing like we usually do. In fact, our forward tackles were more or less around the halfway line (from Liverpoolfc.com):
Sterling didn't win any tackles (which is to be expected), but we certainly didn't use the second line of attackers in advanced pressing positions like we usually would. Coutinho seemed to do more of the work, but out on the left supporting Moreno rather than centrally against Everton's central mids or their fullbacks
If we look at the midfield pressing, we can see that most of our ball recoveries and tackles were deep in our own half, especially once Lucas came off (he had the furthest forward tackle before his injury, deep into Everton's half on the inside left position):
So to me, as I watched it and afterwards, my impression was that we played within ourselves (rather than, say, looking fatigued, as some people were claiming), and we played not to lose rather than to win. It's not Rodgers' strongest suit. When he sets out like that, we almost always get a draw or a loss. I don't think he is really the man for building a team to keep it tight and snatch a 1-0 win regularly. We can have tight games, but I think that has more to do with the other team holding us off, when it happens, rather than a master plan of functional winning from Rodgers. If we play like that again in anything other than a Europa League away leg, I think we'll come undone more often than if we'd just set out to attack and press and force the other team to accept a 1-0 as the best they can get.
