STERLING THE CITY SAVIOUR
Pep’s 10 men salvage a point after Rooney rocks the old enemy
He’s finished, you know. He doesn’t score, he doesn’t contribute. He should have just packed it in, or gone to China or the United states, for the money. He has nothing left to give to Premier League football. He’s all washed up.
Yet somehow, here Wayne Rooney is. Two games, two goals, and a hugely impressive point this time away to one of the title favourites. As wrongly disadvantaged as Manchester City were by the dismissal of Kyle Walker, this was so close to the stuff of dreams for Rooney.
After an opening- day winner against stoke, this could have been another, and back in Manchester, at the home of long-standing and bitter rivals. It wasn’t to be.
With eight minutes to go, Rooney’s triumph was denied by an equaliser from Raheem sterling. still, it was better than all but the most diehard evertonian would have expected. This was supposed to be a comfortable three points for City, who last dropped points in the opening home game of the season in 2006. Instead, they were made to fight all the way.
Ultimately, intense pressure — even with 10 men — told. Danilo crossed, Mason Holgate’s headed clearance fell short, sterling finally beat the excellent Jordan Pickford with his shot. Morgan schneiderlin was sent off for a foul on sergio Aguero, his second yellow card offence, but it was too late for City to take full advantage. The locals had to content themselves with jeering Rooney as he was withdrawn during Ronald Koeman’s reorganisation. He’ll take that all night — particularly from them.
Rooney linked, he slowed the game, he calmed it all down. somehow, he also found the energy to run farther than any everton player: 10.7km. Not bad for a player with no legs.
And everton hung on for a point. Against the odds, a team built largely on youth, with eight english starting players — the most the club has sent out since 1997 — held against the might of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Pickford, in goal, was outstanding, so too the defence. every evertonian worked his socks off, and Koeman marshalled them well.
Could the first half have gone any worse for City? Hardly. Not just a goal, but a Rooney goal. Not just a red card, but a red card in false circumstances for Walker. It wasn’t deserved and some will argue it directly resulted in everton’s point, yet there was determination from Koeman’s side, and the energy of youth.
The goal may have been scored by a man who has been around long enough to have now scored 200 of them in the Premier League but it was set up by Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin: everton’s future.
so while City were unlucky with the sending- off, there can be no complaints about everton’s lead. Leroy sane, deployed as a glorified left wing-back, gave the ball away to Holgate, who fed the lively Calvert-Lewin. His run was excellent, City’s attempt to thwart it less so. A final attempt to cut out the cross was missed by Fernandinho, and the ball was fed inside to Rooney. He’d been quiet to here, but this was his moment.
He opened his body and put the ball through the legs of new goalkeeper ederson. It clipped his heel on the way through, but was going in anyway. A moment of supreme vindication. Rooney wheeled away, hands cupping his ears, drinking in first the silence, then the shock and anger.
And there was plenty of it. There was no injustice in Walker’s first booking for a foul on Leighton Baines in the 42nd minute. Yet his dismissal for a perceived elbow on Calvert-Lewin was harsh.
The pair appeared to come together around a high ball, no more. It was hard to see a raised arm from Walker, or a moment when he didn’t have his eyes on the ball. Maybe the hint of a glance to check Calvert-Lewin’s positioning. Perhaps referee Bobby Madley saw that and thought he was measuring him up for a clout. It didn’t look that way to most who saw the replay. Calvert-Lewin went down, though, and Madley showed Walker his second yellow to general astonishment. Guardiola is not one to shore up a 10-man team with overly defensive measures, however, and certainly not when chasing the game. His bravery brought reward. At half-time he removed forward Gabriel Jesus, but his replacement was sterling, taking Walker’s role. He could have put a centre half out there, he could have deployed a defensive midfielder. He chose a forward instead, and sterling scored.
even Guardiola’s defenders are not defenders much of the time, it seems. Two of Pickford’s saves in the first-half — and this was a fine night for the young man, in front of england manager Gareth southgate — came from shots by Nicolas Otamendi, a centre half.
Other avenues to goal adhered to convention. David silva hit a post, while Phil Jagielka was in excellent form, repelling Aguero on many fronts. He cleared an attempted lob off the line after 26 minutes and, from the next attack, recovered to deny him in even more spectacular fashion.
Kevin De Bruyne set up the move, Aguero moving into the area as, at a vital moment, Jagielka slipped. A goal looked certain, yet Aguero delayed and delayed and Jagielka somehow moved his prone body into the right position to block. Incredible stuff.
MARTIN SAMUEL Chief Sports Writer