Winner has Rooney in Wayne’s world
THIS was the type of return Wayne Rooney must have been imagining on all those nights at home in his Everton pyjamas.
England’s record goalscorer scored the only goal and turned in a man- of- the- match display as he inspired his “new” club to a first opening day win for five years.
Rooney could have headed overseas for big bucks this summer after leaving Manchester United, but it was for days like this that he was desperate to return to his roots.
“It was a great moment,” he said. “To play for this football club again is a huge deal and to get the winning goal, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
His new manager, Ronald Koeman, was also delighted at the contribution Rooney made on his second Premier League debut for the Toffees.
“There was one player in an Everton shirt who was from the first second to the last comfortable on the pitch,” said the Dutchman.
“Wayne made every decision the right one and he scored a great goal from a great cross from Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
“In difficult moments in the game, he showed his experience and he was clever.
“That’s why we signed Wayne, expecting him to show his team-mates all that experience and it was really important today.”
Optimism abounded on the blue half of Merseyside after a busy summer of transfer activity and five of the newcomers started at Goodison Park.
The belief is there that under Koeman’s guidance, Everton can get in the mix with the six teams who finished above them last season to battle for the lucrative Champions League places.
The biggest attention was reserved for Rooney. Much has been made about what his best position is now at the age of 31, and he began just behind new Spanish striker Sandro Ramirez.
After a quiet opening, England’s record goalscorer was the first to threaten as he turned Idrissa Gueye’s shot goalwards, but goalkeeper Jack Butland was equal to the strike as he made a smart save.
But right on half-time, Rooney provided the champagne moment that the home crowd was waiting for as he netted his first Everton goal at Goodison since March 13, 2004.
Calvert- Lewin clearly has a great deal of potential and the prodigious youngster was impressive from the off.
One the stroke of half-time, it was he who delivered an excellent cross from the right and the No.10 found space away from Stoke’s three centre- halves to bury a header past Butland.
Until that point the Toffees had been unconvincing, and Koeman responded at the interval by taking off Ashley Williams and switching to a flat back-four.
There was a better flow to their game after the break and Calvert- Lewin, the man who scored the winner for England in the Under20 World Cup final this summer, forced a good save out of Butland after dispossessing Stoke debutant, the on-loan Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma.
The Potters had been neat and tidy on the ball, but struggled to create anything going forward, so Peter Crouch was summoned from the bench to bring a more direct threat.
But they had not looked like an equaliser until deep into injury- time when Xherdan Shaqiri found space for one of his piledrivers, only to be denied by a flying save from new Everton keeper Jordan Pickford.
For Stoke boss Mark Hughes, there was only a wry smile that Rooney had grabbed the headlines.
“The only chance Everton really created in the first half was the great ball into the box for you know who,” he rued.
“Wayne was always going to be part of the story today. That was our worry.
“Overall, we did OK. Everton have spent a lot of money but there wasn’t too much between the sides. I was pleased enough with our performance, if not the result.”
Koeman knows Everton will have to play better than this if they are to push for a higher league finish come next May, but he was satisfied with the win.
He added: “It was not the best performance but it’s a clean sheet and three points at home and we can do much better than we showed.”