Liverpool were reduced to fighting among themselves as their season continued to come apart at the seams with a 50th, crushing, defeat in the 149-game Merseyside derby series at Everton.
Goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was so incensed by the way his defence conceded the opening goal that he appeared to strike Steve McManaman. He pursued the England under-21 international out of the area to berate him after Mark Ward's 27th minute goal, the clearest support yet for the contention that Graeme Souness is losing control of his team.
If it had not been for Grobbelaar, making a record 34th appearance in the Merseyside duels, defeat would have been far heavier. As it was, Grobbelaar could not stop Tony Cottee slipping through for the second five minutes from the end to confirm Liverpool's fourth defeat in five games.
They were without the suspended Rob Jones and the injured Jan Molby, with newcomer Julian Dicks making his debut. But there were no excuses for a performance that confirms that the nightmare pattern of last season is repeating itself.
In the week when Souness' side were slammed for their physical excess against Blackburn, they were lucky to finish with all 11 on the pitch after one bad foul by Ronnie Whelan.
Liverpool's nerve, fragile after last season's problems, left them vulnerable to their neighbours' less-damaged self-confidence and from the start they were always outplayed more than outfought in the usually frantic exchanges.
Everton were fired by Whelan's crude assault on Ebbrell, cutting him down from behind and then catching him on the ground, under the nose of referee-of-the-month David Elleray. It could so easily have been a red card, but the official waved yellow instead.
But the home club's retribution was immediate, forcing a corner on the right off the ineffective Mark Walters, who then failed to get in the tackle as Ward drove in from the edge of the area.
Grobbelaar then proceeded to show no-one could question his skill or commitment with a series of fine saves, particularly from Cottee when he was put clear by Andy Hinchcliffe.
At just one down, Liverpool could consider themselves fortunate and the introduction of the Israeli striker Ronnie Rosenthal signalled a fightback that always threatened to punish Everton's profligacy.
Neville Southall saved smartly from Nicol's deflected shot and touched aside a shot from Anfield new boy Julian Dicks that he could not have seen until the last moment.
He had a real let-off when Jamie Redknapp toe-poked a 57th-minute point-blank shot straight at him, and Rush, set up by Rosenthal's cross, headed over what should have been his 25th goal in 31 derbies. It was a short-lived purple-patch and Cottee fully deserved his late goal, winning the ball off Dicks on the edge of the area and taking it around the goalkeeper.
Souness declined to meet the press - but his opposite number Howard Kendall was beaming as he celebrated the club's half-century of victories in Merseyside derbies.
"Am I allowed a smile?" he said. "I am delighted with the performance again. We have been playing well this season and it's a tremendous result, fully deserved. I can't fault one individual on the field, they were all committed and working for each other."
He singled out Horne, the 675,000 pound signing from Southampton, who has struggled to settle in at Goodison.
"That's the best game he has had so far and we'll hopefully help him. We won everything in central midfield and it shows the advantage of having someone prepared to fight for the ball and tackle. Kendall added: "You are not going to dominate against a good side like Liverpool for 90 minutes. They are going to come back at you some time, as they did in the second-half. It would be nice to take all your chances and put the game out of reach but it doesn't always happen like that. But when the second one went in it eased the pressure."
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