Fireworks and leaking toilets – Rooney on Man Utd away days

The dressing room at Chelsea was too hot. The weather in Liverpool was too cold. Some leaking toilets on the floor above once turned out to be a nasty surprise for Manchester United’s players.

In his most recent BBC podcast, Wayne Rooney recalls some of his strangest away trips, and those are some of the stories he has revealed.

The former England captain continued, adding that many of his away games had been canceled the night before on The Wayne Rooney Show.

He claimed that there have been fireworks outside the hotel at various locations.

“We celebrated New Year’s Day in a hotel in Birmingham for one year.”

They moved us to the top floor because there were parties taking place downstairs in the function rooms. However, they forgot to let us know that the hotel’s roof had a firework display.

“All the players were awakened at midnight by all these fireworks going off just above us.”

Rooney claimed that he was suspended for the match because of the flooded dressing room at Sunderland.

The toilets were above the dressing rooms, and when the players were all dressed up, the roof [came through].

“I believe there was a ton of stuff all over the players and the clothes,” he said.

You have some cramped dressing rooms. Chelsea and Tottenham were always in the air. You would literally get dressed as quickly as you could before leaving the dressing room.

“Anfield was always freezing,” he said. I’m not sure if they change the temperature there.

Rooney added that returning to a former club can frequently be the most agonizing of all vacations. His father refused to watch the striker when he returned to Goodison Park for the first time since joining Manchester United for an FA Cup match in February 2005.

“Yes, that was awful. The 39-year-old, who joined United from Everton for £27 million in 2004, said it is obvious that the ground has been with him since he was a child, a baby.

Rooney also made the suggestion on the podcast that club owners’ obsession with expected goals (xG) are having an impact on the Premier League.

He thinks that top-flight players are taking fewer long-range shots because of this obsession.

“Owners want high xG because they believe there is a higher chance of winning the game when you have high xG,” he said.

The higher the xG is, according to the saying, “The closer you get to the goal, the more they want.” Therefore, teams are no longer shooting from the box’s edge.

Rooney’s point is supported by statistics. In the Premier League, there have been 7.3 shots outside the box per game this season, compared to 9.5 during the 2016-17 campaign, which was an average of 9.5.

“His xG would be very low if you had Frank Lampard, for instance, who had a lot of shots from the edge of the box.” But he had 200 and 200 career goals, Rooney continued.

Rooney was also inquired about Hugo Ekitike’s dismissal from Tuesday’s Carabao Cup game against Southampton.

The Liverpool forward celebrated by removing his shirt after scoring a late winner and receiving a second yellow card and a suspension from Saturday’s Premier League game against Crystal Palace.

Chris Sutton, a former Blackburn striker, described Ekitike’s celebration on BBC Radio 5 Live as “sheer stupidity,” but Rooney was much more understanding.

He’s been sucked into the joy of scoring a goal, according to Rooney, who’s likely to regret it.

It’s silly, I’m not going to defend it, but I think it’s refreshing to see someone celebrate a goal, as I’ve seen in recent years with VAR and players scoring goals and waiting to celebrate, and other things.

He’s doing really well, and [fellow new signing] Alexander Isak will start against Palace.