{"id":6511,"date":"2026-05-09T15:38:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6511"},"modified":"2026-05-09T15:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T15:38:58","slug":"wayne-rooney-singles-out-chelsea-star-for-praise-after-liverpool-draw-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=6511","title":{"rendered":"Wayne Rooney singles out Chelsea star for praise after Liverpool draw | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"646\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wayne-rooney-ce26.png?w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300515\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"sync\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Man Utd and England legend Wayne Rooney (Picture: BBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wayne Rooney felt Chelsea were the \u2018better team\u2019 for the majority of their Premier League draw with Liverpool.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea had lost six successive Premier League games ahead of their trip to Anfield on Saturday but managed to stop the rot with a 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues\u2019 miserable run looked set to continue when Ryan Gravenberch curled home a superb strike to give Liverpool an early lead.<\/p>\n<p>But Enzo Fernandez\u2019s cross-come-shot evaded Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and brought Chelsea level before half-time.<\/p>\n<p>Both teams had chances to score a winner after the break but the game finished 1-1, meaning Chelsea could be in the bottom-half of the Premier League at the end of the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool, meanwhile, stay fourth and move a step closer to qualifying for next season\u2019s Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>Arne Slot\u2019s side were booed off after the stalemate and Rooney says the Anfield faithful were clearly \u2018a bit edgy\u2019 throughout a game they were perhaps fortunate not to lose.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"403\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274700125.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300728\" alt=\"FBL-ENG-PR-LIVERPOOL-CHELSEA\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Enzo Fernandez earned Chelsea a point at Anfield (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018I thought Liverpool\u00a0actually started\u00a0quite well, got the goal, and\u00a0then from there\u00a0Chelsea were the better team,\u2019 Rooney told BBC Sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018They caused Liverpool big problems, especially\u00a0Marc Cucurella\u00a0running behind.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The\u00a0crowd\u00a0were obviously a bit edgy, which you very rarely get from Liverpool fans. You never like to see that, but it comes from not having the season they hoped for, and after spending a lot of money.\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2275295321.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300738\" alt=\"Liverpool v Chelsea - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Ryan Gravenberch gave Liverpool an early lead (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As well as booing at the full-time whistle, Liverpool fans also made their feelings felt when lively youngster Rio Ngumoha was subbed off with around half an hour remaining.<\/p>\n<p>Explaining that substitution, Slot said: \u2018I don\u2019t think it was some of them \u2013 there were a lot that didn\u2019t agree with the change which is completely understandable.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He was having problems with his muscles and when I asked him he said he was not sure he could continue. I knew this would be the reaction because he is such a good player.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"594\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2274702627.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=594\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28300741\" alt=\"Liverpool v Chelsea - Premier League\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Arne Slot\u2019s Liverpool side were booed off (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018So often in football, people don\u2019t know everything. I am the manager and I need to make decisions. Knowing why makes it more sense for people.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the boos at full-time, Slot added: \u2018That\u2019s probably got something to do with us not winning. It completely makes sense people are disappointed if Liverpool don\u2019t win.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Discussing Liverpool\u2019s performance as a whole, the under-pressure Dutchman said: \u2018We started off really well and got a big chance from a set-piece which was close to making it 2-0.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Unfortunately, like last week, we conceded a set piece. It was such a sloppy goal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The second half I saw a completely different intensity. We went close a few times. Like so many times this season, we hit the post and bar.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We were not able to control their players. They played with a lot of midfielders today.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool face top-four rivals Aston Villa next weekend while Chelsea take on Manchester City in the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this,\u00a0check our sport page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on <meta charset=\"utf-8\"\/><br \/>\n<strong>Facebook, <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metro_Sport\">Twitter<\/a> and\u00a0Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Paul Merson says \u2018incredible\u2019 Arsenal star is \u2018like a new signing\u2019 for Mikel Arteta<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Why Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko miss Man Utd game against Sunderland<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"\/><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Sunderland vs Man Utd LIVE: Premier League latest score and goal updates as Casemiro and Sesko miss out<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\">\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"\/><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man Utd and England legend Wayne Rooney (Picture: BBC) Wayne Rooney felt Chelsea were the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}