Everton were handed a 2-0 defeat by Liverpool in the Merseyside derby on Saturday lunchtime as the Toffees were ultimately punished for Ashley Young's sending-off.
The 38-year-old defender was dismissed in the first half following two bookable offences, the second of which saw him receive a yellow card for clattering Luis Diaz, just minutes after making a goal-saving block.
Following his dismissal, the Reds struggled to break the visitors down, but ultimately broke the deadlock in the 75th minute as Mohamed Salah calmly converted his penalty before sealing the three points in the 97th minute.
Prior to Young's reckless sending-off, Sean Dyche's side did look dangerous on the counter-attack, however, his sending-off quickly changed the complexion of the contest, forcing Everton to sit back and soak up a lot of pressure.
A lot of that pressure, as expected, came down the Toffee's right side but Nathan Patterson, who came off the bench at half-time to deal with that, put in a strong audition to make that right back spot his own.
How did Nathan Patterson perform against Liverpool?
Patterson had the unenviable task of dealing with the lightning-quick Diaz and could have let the Anfield cauldron swallow him up, but the 22-year-old gem dealt with the threat of the Colombian admirably.
After watching the senior Young get beat for pace and dive into challenges recklessly, Patterson stood his ground and made himself difficult to beat, perhaps showcasing the reasons why Dyche was wrong to leave him out from the get-go.
While being down to ten-men limited the Scottish international from demonstrating his abundance of attacking attributes, he did put in an outstanding defensive display.
At times, Patterson had to deal with a two vs one situation with Kostas Tsimikas flying up the left flank and Diaz cutting inside, however, the youngster was like an immovable object, as the defensive demon made one tackle and won 100% of his aerial and ground duels, as per Sofascore.
By contrast, Young only won one of his four ground duels, lost possession a whopping nine times, and misplaced all of his five attempted long balls in his 37 minutes on the pitch, as per Sofascore.
The veteran endured a horror show at Anfield and his performances prior to this fixture are a telling sign that age is catching up to the former Manchester United player.
How has Ashley Young performed this season?
Although he made the goal-saving tackle that denied Diaz from breaking the deadlock, his all-round performance this term has flattered to deceive, struggling to compete against his positional peers in the Premier League.
Operating in a side that faces a constant wave of attacks from their opponents, an Everton full-back would be expected to make lots of challenges, last-ditch blocks and crucial interceptions.
Young, meanwhile, has fallen drastically short in that department, ranking in the bottom 28% for interceptions (0.73), bottom 35% for tackles (1.83), and bottom 38% for blocks (0.97) per 90, as per FBref.
On the other hand, the £28k-per-week Scotsman performed exceptionally in a defensive capacity prior to his lengthy spell on the sidelines last season, ranking in the top 14% for clearances, top 9% for interceptions, and top 4% for tackles against his positional peers in the Premier League.
While Dyche is forced into replacing Young from the starting XI, it could be a blessing in disguise as it provides Patterson with the opportunity to return to the form that saw his manager label him as "tremendous" last term.
