Terrace Talk: Liverpool - We still scored three. Don’t tell me otherwise

Of course they’ll miss Virgil van Dijk, but the whole defence has to be sorted out, and fast

Liverpool's Jordan Henderson after the Premier League match at Goodison Park, where his late winner was ruled out by VAR. Photo: Catherine Ivill/PA

Waiting for any Evertonian to give me a discussion about refereeing decisions. Mind you, they’ve got the brass neck to try it.

Having to weave around all the hilarious ‘seven’ references, the international break cut deeper into current inertia.

It’s getting harder to engage with 2010/21 at all.

We’ve been shown Project Big Picture, a term so deceptively fraudulent whoever came up with it should go to jail and the key thrown down a grid.

To see some Liverpool supporters trying to justify even a shred of it was a chastening experience.

You might guess Rick Parry would be lurking somewhere in the wings, the man who negotiated our takeover with Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

That his opinion is ever sought — I mean, about anything — is still one of the mysteries of the age.

If that weren’t enough cold, stiletto capitalism for you, there was also news that an extra £15 (€16.53) would be needed if you wanted to see next week’s game with Sheffield United.

You’ve got to hand it to them; when you think the bottom of the barrel’s been completely scraped, they dig even deeper. Send us a postcard from Australia.

The Villa fiasco tested those of us whose mantra since July goes “we’re the champions, who cares what happens now”.

The Blues going top made many of us wonder if we can afford to be so blasé about things.

There’s no clearer proof of an “arse over tit” world than happy Evertonians.

Should it matter? Probably not. Does it matter? Yes! It’s been 10 years since we’ve had to endure their victorious exultation. I’ll admit the last five of those years were spent flinching. It surely must end sometime, and now was as bad a time as any. If anything, the long wait makes it worse.

There’s been claims about them doing better because there were no fans around to get on their backs. Nonsense.

Any Everton improvement was always founded on solid home form. For all our 10 years crowing, we rarely win there, and they count draws as wins anyway. Daylight robbery ones? So much the better.

Klopp’s record there is not great, though not as bad as at Old Trafford.

Given what we’ve seen in his half decade in charge, I doubt many have lost any sleep and it would even be a price worth paying, if such things were indeed connected (they aren’t).

Maybe Pickford should’ve been sent off, but we’d still have had to deal with the aerial ball in Virgil’s absence and we plainly couldn’t — and we’d still have had Adrian between our posts.

I was unnerved by some of the love letters to Thiago after the Stamford Bridge stroll, but there’s no doubt he’s the real deal. Firmino still hasn’t got it together yet while Mane showed we can’t miss him even for a second, Henderson too.

Of course they’ll miss Virgil, but the whole defence has to be sorted out, and fast.

They’d obviously been filleted by Klopp after Villa, but the chronic absence of clean sheets is now a big problem.

Back in the day a Klopp team needed three goals to win any game.

It looked as though Alisson and Van Dijk had fixed all that, but bad habits have begun to creep back.

That might be a little harsh. It’s 10 years and counting for a derby defeat now, and there’s little doubt we should have had three points this time around. If VAR says that’s offside... ‘extremely dubious’ is my most newspaper friendly response.

We could, perhaps should, return to the “clear and obvious” get-out clause, but no use crying about what can’t be changed.

That’s Everton territory and I’m not about to invade it.

After the 7-2 a few of us were dreading this game. With a full team out, we’re clearly still a force and the season’s only just begun, after all.

Even on a profligate day, we still scored three goals. Yes, three. Don’t even try to convince me otherwise.