Lukaku and Benteke, Martinez and Rodgers – in Everton and Liverpool clash, divergant fortunes are clear

Richard Jolly details how Everton's Roberto Martinez has trended back up as Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers has come under fire – and notes the resultingly weighty implications of this Merseyside derby.

Brendan Rodgers has Liverpool in ninth so far this season, while Roberto Martinez has led Everton to fifth. Paul Ellis / AFP

They were the kindred spirits, Merseyside's twin philosophers-cum-revolutionaries. They were the most startling successes of elite Premier League management in 2013/14, men who seemed to smash through glass ceilings.

Between them, they amassed 156 Premier League points in a style that benefited from passing principles, clever tactics and high-speed attacking. Both came agonisingly close to achieving objectives, with Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool nearly winning the title and Roberto Martinez's Everton almost finishing in the top four.

After the surge came the slump. Liverpool and Everton finished with 47 fewer points and a combined 10 places further down the table last year. The new breed were deemed naive. Their talkative styles started to rile Merseysiders used to taciturn Scottish managers such as Kenny Dalglish and David Moyes. Each, some said, was a one-season wonder.

Read more: Greg Lea on Jose Mourinho's strange constant – an absent John Terry – amidst all his Chelsea tinkering

Now, as they prepare to reconvene, it is with their fortunes finally diverging. They may be separated by only a point but the circumstances, like their respective resources, are very different. Rodgers is walking through a storm, Martinez sailing on serenely. The Spaniard has never won a Merseyside derby but Sunday’s meeting has become a must-not-lose affair for the Northern Irishman.

Much as Rodgers sounded like a conspiracy theorist last week by suggesting shadowy forces were trying to unseat him, his greatest problem is the number of Liverpool fans who are calling for his head. Evertonians who were disenchanted by Martinez in the summer are converts to his cause again.

Their 3-2 victory at West Bromwich Albion on Monday was a second successive comeback victory, testament to the spirit in the Everton camp. Martinez’s astute substitutions – Everton’s replacements have already contributed five goals this season – are proof of a fine footballing brain and he has alternated intelligently between 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 and a midfield diamond. In contrast, Rodgers’s changes of shape and personnel have prompted accusations he neither knows his strongest team nor their best system.

Perhaps it is easier for Martinez to display clarity of thought. While Liverpool are stuck in a cycle of constant change, Everton are discovering the merits of continuity. While Liverpool sold Raheem Sterling, Everton repelled Chelsea’s advances for John Stones.

Their 3-1 win over Chelsea was notable for the fact that all 11 starters were at Goodison Park last season. They have made fewer signings but got the more balanced squad. While Rodgers’s group is overloaded with players who prefer to play in central roles and has a solitary genuine winger, in Jordon Ibe, Martinez bought two wide men. One, Gerard Deulofeu, provided the crosses for both of Romelu Lukaku’s goals at The Hawthorns on Monday.

And the Evertonian has made greater use of his hulking Belgian striker. Christian Benteke, who is a derby doubt, has scored twice for Liverpool but has been starved of service. The reinvigorated Lukaku has struck four times for Everton. His sidekick, Arouna Kone, has two goals.

Whereas Rodgers spent the summer trying to dispense with striking failures such as Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert, Martinez revived Kone’s career. The Ivorian has benefited from a greater willingness to go direct.

Indeed, neither supposed pass master specialises in possession any more: Liverpool have had the ball for only 51.9 per cent of league games, Everton 50.6. But Martinez’s side have been much more potent. They have counter-attacked effectively, especially at Southampton, and used the height and pace of Lukaku and Kone.

Their season is notable for players performing near their peak – the excellent Stones, the rejuvenated Ross Barkley, the prodigy Brendan Galloway, who is deputising for the injured Leighton Baines. For Liverpool, Alberto Moreno, Danny Ings and Daniel Sturridge have come into form of late, and Philippe Coutinho has offered glimpses of class, but the rest of the side have been patchy.

A reason for satisfaction at Goodison and concern at Anfield is that Everton have a flagship win, against Chelsea. Liverpool’s highest-positioned victims are 16th-place Bournemouth. But derbies offer the chance to change everything: perceptions and fortunes, seasons and even managerial reigns. And Rodgers has never lost a Merseyside derby.

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