Wayne Rooney has predicted Everton can produce a positive result in Saturday\u2019s Merseyside derby at Anfield, suggesting the club\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
“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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
“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\u2019s teams normally do do that. Hopefully we can get the three points. [I would] take a draw, [I would] take a draw.” <\/p>\n
Rooney stressed the importance of defensive organisation and collective effort if Everton are to upset Liverpool, repeating that Moyes\u2019s previous teams typically show those traits. The former striker pointed to the new stadium, Moyes\u2019s return and recent recruitment as central reasons for his belief that Everton are now a threat going forward and stable at the back.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“I hated it,” he confessed. “We didn\u2019t win many, so when you do win them, you\u2019ve got to make sure you enjoy it.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a massive game, and if you win there\u2019s no better feeling.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rooney believes Everton’s new stadium, Moyes’ return and signings make them dangerous going forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[687,175],"tags":[1050,1051],"class_list":["post-2932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-everton","category-liverpool","tag-derby-preview","tag-merseyside-derby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}