'Beyond belief' - Rooney slams Espirito Santo for resting players v Brighton (2025)

Wayne Rooney said he would have been ‘fuming’ if he was a Nottingham Forest fan after Nuno Espirito Santo decided to rest key players for the side’s nervy FA Cup quarter-final win over Brighton.

Visitors Forest would eventually prevail on penalties – after a goalless 120 minutes – to book their place in the semi-finals, but Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi had to wait until the 61st minute to be introduced.

Forest suffered a significant blow in the week as it was confirmed that Chris Wood, the club’s top scorer this season, would be unable to feature due to a hip injury.

Taiwo Awoniyi was named in place of Wood up front, as expected, but Espirito Santo sprung a surprise by starting both Elanga and Hudson-Odoi on the bench at the Amex Stadium.

Ryan Yates and Danilo were instead given the nod on the south coast as Espirito Santo made three changes to his team that won at Ipswich last time out.

Elanga and Hudson-Odoi have both been instrumental in Forest’s success this term and were widely expected to be named in Espirito Santo’s starting XI if fully fit.

But with Forest chasing Champions League football this season, Espirito Santo opted for a cautious approach, with the club returning to Premier League action at home to Manchester United on Tuesday night.

‘I’m shocked,’ former Manchester United and England captain Rooney said on the BBC’s pre-match coverage when asked about Espirito Santo’s decision to rest Elanga and Hudson-Odoi with a spot at Wembley on the line.

‘I think the FA Cup is such a prestigious tournament and to rest players in the quarter-final when you’ve got a great opportunity to get to the semi-finals… they’re trying to get into Champions League football which is fine, it’s great.

‘But as a player, you want to play, you want to get momentum, you want to keep trying to win games.

‘To leave players out… if I was a fan, I’d be fuming. You want to win silverware and this is a great opportunity.

‘To leave players out when they’re not guaranteed to win the game on Tuesday is beyond belief for me.’

While Rooney was far from alone in questioning Espirito Santo’s bold team selection, the Forest head coach resolutely defended his starting XI in his pre-match interview with the BBC.

‘Look, the cup is always a good chance for players that work so hard and don’t have minutes in the Premier League, so we keep this idea,’ the Portuguese said.

‘Taiwo [Awoniyi] has been working good and Danilo has been working good. Players deserve their moments.’

Asked how Forest are balancing their FA Cup and Premier League campaigns, he added: ‘Game by game. Today is a tough one and then the next one.’

Fabian Hurzeler insisted he was not surprised by Forest’s team selection given Espirito Santo has made similar decisions against ‘big teams’ already this season.

‘I think they played like this already three or four times this season against big teams like Chelsea and Liverpool,’ the Brighton head coach said.

‘Very defensive shape, looking forward to transition moments. If they win the ball they are quite good, no matter if Elanga or Hudson-Odoi are playing.

‘Of course, they focus on the set-piece so we have to be alive in all different phases of the game, we have to control the game, but also in some moments go in a low block.

‘It will be a balance between everything.’

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