Everton suffered a 2-1 loss against Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

David Moyes admitted that he was disappointed with Everton’s start they made against Liverpool - suggesting he wanted to see his side on the front foot.

Moyes’ wait for a win at Anfield continued as the Toffees fell to a 2-1 defeat by the Premier League champions. Liverpool were playing for a third time in seven days, having had little more than 48 hours to recover from their 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. In contrast, Everton had not been in action for a week after a 0-0 draw against Aston Villa.

But it was Liverpool who opened the 247th Merseyside derby strongly and broke the deadlock in the 10th minute through Ryan Gravenberch. Then 19 minutes later, Hugo Ekitike doubled the advantage when he finished through the legs of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

The Blues were much improved in the second period, though, with Idrissa Gana Gueye reducing the deficit. But Everton were unable to find an equaliser as they lost for the first time since the opening day of the season at Leeds United.

Everton boss Moyes said: “If I'm being honest, the way I'm at at the moment, I'm more disappointed how we didn't start the game better because it wasn't the plan. This was Liverpool's third game in six days and I have to be fair there, so I'm aware of that.

“We had an opportunity because maybe we would have caught them with a bit of fatigue etc. And we didn't. I'll look at the first half and I'll start myself first of all and see if we should have done something different and better than we did do.

“But look, great credit, it was a bit more like Everton in the second half, a bit more like us. Look, I don't think anybody would have probably turned and said, ‘hey, you didn't deserve it’, if we got back into the game, but I think we just gave ourselves probably a little bit of a task too far by going two down.”

Moyes also questioned the decisions of referee Darren England. The official booked Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for taking a quick free-kick, while only three minutes of stoppage-time were awarded.

The Scot was left baffled by both incidents. He added: “I think three minutes [stoppage time] was very strange [and] we've been playing a couple of teams who've taken quick free-kicks in the games and they've caught us out.

“But today, every quick free-kick had to be stopped and brought back for the whistle. And then we got a booking for it. I find it quite unbelievable. They're talking about trying to keep the game quick.”