Liverpool manager Arne Slot dismissed suggestions from Everton forward Jack Grealish that the visitors were justified in accusing the Reds of timewasting during last weekend’s Merseyside derby.

Slot acknowledged the game was physically demanding. “The second half was more difficult because of Everton of course, but also because we ran a bit out of energy.” The contest swung in Everton’s favour when Grealish delivered a high cross to the back post and Iliman Ndiaye brought it down for Idrissa Gueye to blast beyond Alisson in the 58th minute, halving the deficit and raising tension at Anfield.

Everton were left frustrated by several refereeing decisions, with Grealish openly questioning the officiating. “The stoppage time, three minutes and one minute—I’ve never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years,” he lamented, insisting that Liverpool “were obviously trying to slow the game down.” He also highlighted a booking for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and the amount of added time as key grievances.

Slot answered those claims directly on Monday, arguing the added time was appropriate and that suggestions of deliberate delay were misplaced. “A lot has been said about the added time against Everton but I would have loved to play 34 seconds more because we were in a five-v-two situation at that moment,” he said.

He expanded on the point in a longer response, outlining his view of Liverpool’s intent. “Now that tells you, I think, all about the mentality we have, always wanting to score a goal. The three minutes were completely correct because there were only three moments where a substitution was made.

“There was no timewasting because that’s not what we do and there was no treatment of injuries, one goal scored. Then you come to three [minutes]. Where in many other games when we need a goal, there’s a lot, a lot, a lot of timewasting going on, I can tell you.”

The exchange underlined the intensity of the derby and the contrasting perspectives from both camps after a pivotal 58th-minute strike altered the course of the match.

Everton forward Jack Grealish criticised referee Darren England after Liverpool edged the Merseyside derby 2–1 on Saturday lunchtime, arguing the official had been influenced by the Anfield atmosphere.

Everton had offered little until the second half but reduced the deficit when Idrissa Gana Gueye halved the lead on 58 minutes with a thumping strike, setting up a tense finish. Grealish, the Manchester City loanee, objected to two interventions that stopped Everton taking quick free kicks and to the booking of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall after the second incident.

“They were obviously trying to slow the game down at times, I’ve never seen a player in my whole life get booked for taking a quick free kick,” Grealish fumed postgame. “I don’t know where that rule has come in. Even the stoppage time, three minutes and one minute—I’ve never seen that in the Premier League in the last two or three years.

“There were frustrations with the referee. Sometimes you want to let the game go, I completely get that, but you can’t not give us something and then two seconds later one of their defenders goes down after getting touched in the back and he gives it.

“You can’t do that. You come to these stadiums and the crowd are on them, I feel that they [the referees] feel they have to give it. Kiernan is on four yellows now, and he got one for taking a quick free kick. We want to get the game going, we’re losing, and I’ve never heard of that in my life.”

The match marked Darren England’s first Merseyside derby and was only his second career appointment at Anfield. The 39-year-old official from Doncaster had previously drawn attention on a Merseyside visit when he issued two yellow cards to Gravenberch within eight second-half minutes during a 1–1 draw with Crystal Palace last May.

Everton manager David Moyes shared his doubts about the stoppage time. “I think three minutes [of stoppage time] was very strange,” he lamented.

Wayne Rooney has predicted Everton can produce a positive result in Saturday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield, suggesting the club’s recent changes have altered the dynamic ahead of the fixture. Not since 1999 have Everton managed to beat Liverpool at Anfield, but Rooney said he would not be surprised to see that run end.

“I think obviously the new stadium has helped with [confidence] and I think the big thing is David Moyes coming back,” the former Everton striker told The Wayne Rooney Show . “He’s come back. He knows the club. He knows the culture of the football club and then I think the signings have been really good. They look dangerous now, Everton, going forward with [Jack] Grealish and [Charly] Alcaraz, they look really dangerous going forward, Everton, and solid as well at the back.

“So yeah, I think Everton can go there and get something. They have to be at their best and defend as a unit and be hard to beat. But Moyes’s teams normally do do that. Hopefully we can get the three points. [I would] take a draw, [I would] take a draw.”

Rooney stressed the importance of defensive organisation and collective effort if Everton are to upset Liverpool, repeating that Moyes’s previous teams typically show those traits. The former striker pointed to the new stadium, Moyes’s return and recent recruitment as central reasons for his belief that Everton are now a threat going forward and stable at the back.

Reflecting on his own experience in the fixture, Rooney acknowledged the personal pressure that surrounds Merseyside derbies. He failed to win any of his seven derbies across his two spells with Everton and spoke candidly about the build-up and its effect on players and staff.

“I hated it,” he confessed. “We didn’t win many, so when you do win them, you’ve got to make sure you enjoy it.

“The build-up to the game, the whole week was horrible. Being around the training ground and, as an Evertonian, getting ready and preparing for the game and all the staff around the training ground who are Evertonians. You feel sick because if you lose the game Liverpool rub it in your face.

“When I went back the second time to Everton, I had to make sure I had all the TVs turned off and there was nothing on the TVs about the game, the build-up to the game, just to try and forget about it that week. Go into the game not worrying too much about it.

“It’s a massive game, and if you win there’s no better feeling.”