MOTD producers accused of interference over Wayne Rooney’s Everton reaction after huge controversy
Everton felt let down by Wayne Rooney after the controversial defeat against Liverpool.
Liverpool secured a 2-1 win against Everton in the first Merseyside derby of the campaign, but it wasn’t as clean-cut as it appeared on paper.
This came as a number of contentious were made at Anfield, with Jack Grealish left mind-blown after being yellow-carded at Liverpool.
Kiernan-Dewsbury Hall was also carded for taking a quick free kick, sparking Ally McCoist to describe Darren England’s decision as ‘Nonsense’ at Anfield.
With that being said, Rooney remained quiet on these controversies when speaking on Match of the Day, something which hasn’t gone down well at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Goodison News presents the exclusive opinion of former Premier League and FIFA-listed referee Keith Hackett.
Wayne Rooney told what to say on Match of the Day
David Moyes was left “disgusted” by the Dewsbury-Hall decision and was also shown a yellow for his protests towards the referee.
This was already frustrating enough, but the fact that only three minutes were added at the end of the 90 was also seen as unfair towards the Toffees.
As a result, many supporters on the blue side of the derby were looking forward to hearing from Rooney on Match of the Day to see what he made of these decisions.
Despite this, the ex-England international just spoke about some slack Everton defending that made life easier for Liverpool, particularly in the first half.
With that being said, former PGMOL chief Hackett said that producers at the BBC could have meddled to move Rooney on quickly and will blame a lack of airtime.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News, Hackett said: “What other conclusion could you come to? I know the answer they will give – ‘time pressures’.
“It was disappointing that the Cautioning of an Everton player was not discussed.
“Did the referee signal to the Everton player not to take the kick and await a signal?
“The referee does not have to blow the whistle to re-start the game. Whilst in law the referee is the sole timekeeper.
“David Moyes raised the issue of only a three minutes of added time was played.”
Everton let down by Wayne Rooney
Realistically, there is no world where players should be getting booked for looking to take a free kick quickly, while 2-1 down, especially.
This was only made worse by the lack of added time, which was at a level lower than almost anything that has been seen since the rules changed after the 2022 World Cup.
There were six substitutions, four yellow cards and a goal in the second half, which all surely equate to more than three minutes.
| Stoppage reason | Minute |
| Substitution | 46′ |
| Goal | 58′ |
| Substitution | 61′ |
| Substitution | 61′ |
| Substitution | 67′ |
| Yellow Card | 69′ |
| Yellow Card | 78′ |
| Yellow Card | 82′ |
| Substitution | 86′ |
| Substitution | 86′ |
| Yellow Card | 90+4′ |
This is the sort of comment that Rooney should have been raising on Match of the Day, but instead he spoke about Michael Keane and James Tarkowski.
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