Commentary from Manchester triggered a wave of solidarity across Merseyside on Friday afternoon. Twelve miles of road separates Liverpool’s training ground to the east of the city from Everton’s in the far south and it’s safe to assume the managers involved had not briefed one another about the message they wanted to ram home. And yet, without the same question being asked, each of them name-checked José Mourinho, agreeing that he is right about one thing at least.

Mourinho had said that he was “totally against” international friendlies after Chris Smalling and Phil Jones sustained injuries while playing in the same England games that affected Adam Lallana’s conditioning and ultimately means he will miss the next four weeks of the season.

Lallana’s absence affects the way Liverpool play greatly because of his energy and determination and Jürgen Klopp was the first to speak about his loss. It transpired that like Ronald Koeman, he was frustrated about having just one full training day to get ready for a key Premier League match – the derby, indeed. While Klopp sent the players that had returned earliest out for a gentle jog on Thursday, Koeman decided on what he described as a “walking session” at Finch Farm.

Klopp admitted that he is “not famous for having the same opinion” as Mourinho but the consequence of such light preparation was questions in relation to whether there is any point in international friendlies at all. Koeman, meanwhile, suggested that clubs would have to form a bloc to provoke Fifa into changing their calendar.

“This is a situation for all of us,” Klopp said. “Belgium played a friendly in Russia on Tuesday night. Do you really think they use this game for the World Cup in two years? That is not what anybody needs. Would anyone miss international friendlies? I’m not sure. Maybe we should try.”

To say that Koeman was livid about the impact of the latest round of World international fixtures on Everton’s squad would be the understatement of the year. On a hand-written A4 pad, he had written his thoughts about James McCarthy aggravating his hamstring injury on duty with Republic of Ireland, which means he could miss the rest of Everton’s season.

Everton vs Liverpool player ratings Show all 23 1 /23 Everton vs Liverpool player ratings Everton vs Liverpool player ratings everton-vs-liverpool.jpg Who stood out in the Merseyside derby? Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 1-pickford.jpg Produced a couple of great saves in the first half to deny Dominic Solanke and James Milner. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 2-coleman.jpg Instigated the game’s first real flash-point as he squared up to Danny Ings after a foul by the Liverpool man. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 3-jagielka.jpg Produced a couple of full-blooded challenges in the second half that really got the crowd going. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 4-keane.jpg A solid display in front of the watching Gareth Southgate. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 5-baines.jpg As dependable as ever on the left side of Everton’s back four and nearly claimed an assist with a dangerous cross late on. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 6-rooney.jpg Exerted little influence and was lucky to escape a booking for a cynical lunge on Dominic Solanke. Hooked shortly after the break, much to his visible anger. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 7-schneiderlin.jpg Looked tired in midfield. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 8-davies.jpg Carved open Liverpool’s defence with a through ball to Baines, whose subsequent cross into the box almost provided the opener 15 minutes from time. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 9-walcott.jpg Anonymous in the first 75 minutes but was perhaps Everton’s biggest threat in the closing stages. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 10-tosun.jpg Missed a gilt-edged chance late on as he put his header wide from point-blank range after good work by Theo Walcott. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 11-bolasie.jpg Almost opened the scoring with a stunning long-distance strike but Loris Karius thwarted him with a superb fingertip stop. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 12-karius.jpg Came up with one of the saves of the season to deny Bolasie a stunning first-half opener. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 13-clyne.jpg Another solid outing as he continues his comeback from a serious back injury. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 14-lovren.jpg Could’ve cost Liverpool the game late on as he got caught the wrong side of Cenk Tosun, which allowed the Everton man a run at goal. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 15-van-dijk.jpg A commanding presence at the back as always. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 16-klavan.jpg Almost sliced the ball into his own net from a teasing Everton cross in the first half. Not a left-back. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 17-wijnaldum.jpg Classy in the centre of the park and could’ve played his way into contention for a starting berth at the Etihad on Tuesday. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 18-henderson.jpg Will be gutted to be missing next week’s game against City through suspension but he didn’t let his disappointment show today. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 19-milner.jpg Backed up his European display against City with another solid outing and would have scored were it not for Pickford’s heroic first-half display. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 20-ings.jpg A decent outing for the injury-plagued attacker but he never threatened Jordan Pickford’s goal. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 21-solanke.jpg Put an early header wide and should’ve scored a few minutes later when he was denied from close range by Pickford. Getty Everton vs Liverpool player ratings 22-mane.jpg Looked to be playing within himself. Perhaps had one eye on Tuesday night. Getty

Koeman reached for a pair of reading glasses, he applied them to his face and looked down at the sheet in front of him, proceeding to accuse Martin O’Neill of failing to protect his midfielder. Then, he blamed the player for not taking enough responsibility with his own health.

Even before McCarthy’s absence, Koeman was dealing with availability issues. McCarthy might have been able to replace Morgan Schneiderlin at Anfield, but Koeman confirmed the Frenchman - so influential since signing from Manchester United - has not recovered from a calf tear sustained two weeks ago in the victory over Hull City. Seamus Coleman and Ramiro Funes Mori played in that game. After what happened to them while away with Ireland and Argentina, it will be a surprise if they feature again in 2017.

“There have been a lot of comments about the break and I totally agree with José Mourinho about friendlies,” Koeman said. “It has happened to us now but it happens to other Premier League teams where you get your players back on a Friday morning and play on a Saturday with a 12.30pm kick off. We and Liverpool are in the same position. That's crazy. You can't train, you can't prepare as you would like to do. It is recover, recover, recover and for tactics you can only talk to the players on the pitch.”

Koeman has only seventeen players to choose from and that includes inexperienced defenders Jonjoe Kenny and Matthew Pennington, who are likely to be selected as substitutes against Liverpool and then again at Manchester United on Tuesday.

Koeman was livid about James McCarthy's hamstring injury (Getty)