Jordan Pickford and Alisson starred as Everton and Liverpool played out a thoroughly entertaining 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby.

The Blues thought they had taken the lead in the 69th minute but Conor Coady was judged to be offside when he prodded in Neal Maupay's misplaced shot. 

The Reds had several chances but could not breach Pickford's net. Their substitutions also had contrasting performances. 

Roberto Firmino tested Pickford several times but James Milner looked out of his depth when he replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold. 

Both managers were left scratching their heads as to how the game finished 0-0. 

  • Pickford is England's number one

Jordan Pickford proved that he is Gareth Southgate's undisputed number one with a fantastic performance.

An impressive save from Darwin Nunez's swivelling volley in the first-half set the tone. 

He then kept out Roberto Firmino numerous times before denying Mohamed Salah in the dying seconds, with a little bit of help from the post. 

Overall, Everton and England's number one made eight saves and proved that the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope and Dean Henderson still have a lot of work to displace him.

Pickford told BT Sport after the game: "We're just building. We've got that character now as a team."

"We haven't got a win on the board yet but we've been hard to beat."

  • Everton impress

The blues had 40% possession compared to 17.6% when the sides last met at Anfield in April. 

It was a combative, passionate display which fired-up  the Goodison Park crowd.

Nathan Patterson and Vitaly Mykolenko were particularly impressive defensively. 

Everton were a constant threat on the counter-attack, their best chance coming when Tom Davies curled an outside of the foot effort onto the post.

Then Maupay received the ball in plenty of space, but could only fire at Alisson who produced a fantastic save. 

Encouraging signs for the Blues. 

  • Onana, what's his name?

Another encouraging sign is that Amadou Onana appears to be a brilliant addition to Frank Lampard's engine room.

The Belgian had the highest pass accuracy (88%), won the most duels (11), had the joint most ball recoveries (8), the most tackles (7) and the most aerial duels won (3). 

The partnership he may form with Alex Iwobi and Idrissa Gana Gueye should excite the Goodison Park faithful.

  • Liverpool's poor game management

Liverpool were putting their stamp on the game after half-time before Jurgen Klopp made a rather perplexing decision.

In the 59th minute, James Milner and Andy Robertson were substituted on for Kostas Tsimikas and Alexander-Arnold. 

This decision allowed Everton to penetrate the Reds defence on a regular basis, especially on Milner's side. 

More importantly for the Reds, it completely stifled their momentum.

This led to Klopp bringing on Joel Matip and moving Joe Gomez to right-back and Milner into midfield in the 80th minute. 

It is likely that the decisions had one eye on their Champions League opener with Napoli on Wednesday. 

  • Transition season for the Reds?

Many people have suggested that this season is going to be a transitional season for Liverpool. 

A change in attacking options, a lack of midfield options due to injuries and a change in system were always going to cause problems for them. 

There are no margins for error when you are competing with a relentless machine like Manchester City, so the Reds need to click into gear as soon as possible.