Wayne Rooney supported Jack Grelish’s annoyance with umpire Darren England following Saturday’s Merseyside Derby. Everton led to a 2-1 loss to Liverpool in Anfield’s 247th derby. The strikes from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike offered Everton’s hope that Idrissa Gayer’s strike would save something from the match after lifting Liverpool 2-0 in the first half.
As Toffee hunts for a leveler, they grow up irritated by the match officials. In England, he swung the British card to midfielder Kiannan Deucebury Hall and scored a quick free kick, and three minutes were added by the referee team as additional time was lacking at the end of the second half.
Talked to TNT Sports after the match, Grealish did not try to hide his feelings. “It was a bit frustrating in the second half because they were trying to slow the game sometimes,” he said. “I have never seen a player be booked in my life to take a simple free kick.
“I don’t know where that rule went. Even the downtime, what was it, three minutes, a minute?
When he felt annoyed, Grealish continued.
“I just can’t do it. I think you get it and you think you’ll come to these stadiums and the crowd is on top of you and they have to give it. But like I said, Kieran is now 4 yellow (he’s only one more in (before the ban), he’ll turn yellow today to take a simple free kick.
“We want to keep the game running. We lose the game. Did you know? Rooney, an Everton Academy product, believes that players have all the rights to make them frustrating.
“I’ve seen Jack’s rant about a referee I agree with,” he said on the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sports. “I think a few times he stopped Everton from taking quick free kicks, maybe he wanted a breather and rest.
“But in that situation you can see why Jack was getting frustrated and went to the referee, because you’re about to get back into the game, and the referee is stopping that momentum completely.”
Dewsbury-Hall also expressed its inconvenience to receiving the yellow card. After the match, he posted three images from the game on his Instagram Story and captioned it.
“A quick turnaround to put it right on Tuesday! Great support. Don’t talk about that yellow.”
