Rooney fumes at being hauled off in drab draw
THE saviour of Anfield in December felt like a fool at Goodison Park in April. Sitting on the bench, furiously stuffing his arms into an overcoat, Wayne Rooney barked out a string of profanities.
Sam Allardyce had decided in the 57th minute of a sterile Merseyside derby that he had seen enough from Everton’s most talented player and hauled him off. Given how poorly Yannick Bolasie had been playing, it was shock to see the No 10 flashing on the substitute board but the manager was clear.
So off Rooney stomped, barely acknowledging Allardyce. When Everton last squared up to Liverpool in the Premier League, on a freezing cold Sunday before Christmas, England’s greatest goalscorer had thrashed home a late penalty to pilfer a point.
He was desperate to do something similar here, to give those Evertonians who have suffered through this charmless season something to cling to. A goal, an assist, anything to bring Liverpool to their knees. As it was, the final frenzied conclusion bypassed him, leaving him to mutter dark words.
‘I’ve got no problem with that,’ said Allardyce, after this scruffy match ended in a goalless draw. ‘He was upset, it was a Merseyside derby. He can say whatever he likes to me in the office. It will be between me and him.’
Rooney’s desperation to make a mark on this contest was obvious. Early on, he tried to gee up a slovenly Everton team, scurrying after James Milner and sliding into a challenge that won the ball and got the crowd to their feet.
There was a sadness, then, that he should finish the squabble as frustrated bystander, as Allardyce looked to younger legs to try to grind out the club’s first victory over Liverpool since 2010.
It didn’t work. Allardyce trumpeted the positives. He explained that his substitutions changed the contest, that bad luck denied them a winning goal, but Evertonians would not be kidded. They knew, deep down, that they could not have had a better chance to flatten Liverpool.
Predictably, Jurgen Klopp shuffled his starting line-up. Following their exploits against Manchester City on Wednesday — and with the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday — five new faces came in, including Danny Ings and Nathaniel Clyne.
Everton were fortunate not to find themselves two goals down in the first 15 minutes. Had Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino started, Liverpool would have profited but Dominic Solanke found the burden of replacing men who have contributed 61 goals too much.
First, he glanced a header wide from eight yards out. Then he fired straight at Jordan Pickford.
‘We controlled the game but, towards the end, Everton had a few exciting moments in our box,’ said Klopp.
Cenk Tosun’s late header squirted across the face of goal and Seamus Coleman failed by inches to connect at the back post.
In the next attack an even better opportunity presented itself but Everton substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin could not keep his composure and somehow dragged his shot wide.