Wayne Rooney ‘shock’ at Nuno Espirito Santo, Nottingham Forest move ‘beyond belief’
Wayne Rooney has taken aim at Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo over a decision made for his side’s FA Cup quarter final clash with Brighton.
Espirito Santo‘s men made the trip to the AMEX Stadium on Saturday (29 March), looking to earn a place in the semi finals of the competition at Wembley next month.
Nottingham Forest will have been looking to repeat their 7-0 thrashing of Brighton in the Premier League just last month, to boost their hopes of ending a long wait for a major trophy.
Yet despite that, Espirito Santo made changes to his side’s starting lineup for that game that left Rooney stunned, with the game then remaining goalless throughout the first half.
Nuno Espirito Santo slammed over team selection
As well as their FA Cup exploits, Forest are looking to qualify for the Champions League this season, with their quest to do so continuing with a clash with Man United at The City Ground on Tuesday (1 April).
Perhaps with that in mind Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi were both dropped to the bench for this match, despite being regulars throughout much of the season.
Elanga produced an outstanding performance as Nottingham Forest beat Ipswich just before the international break.
He then continued that during the hiatus, with Elanga coming off the bench to help Sweden thrash Northern Ireland in a friendly earlier this week.
Meanwhile, there had been shock over Hudson-Odoi’s omission from the England squad this month given his club form.
| Callum Hudson-Odoi key stats for Nottingham Forest in 2024/25 | Total (as per Transfermarkt) |
| Appearances | 28 |
| Goals | 5 |
| Assists | 3 |
| Yellow Cards | 2 |
| Red Cards | 0 |
So with both playing well and proving their importance for Nottingham Forest, Rooney was hugely unimpressed with Nuno’s decision not to start the duo at Brighton.
While working as a pundit on the game for BBC Sport, the former Man United and England striker was asked what he made of the decision to rest the pair, and responded by saying (5:06pm): “I’m shocked.
“The FA Cup is such a prestige tournament and to rest players in the quarter final when you’ve got a great opportunity to get to the semi-final.
“They’re trying to get 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, and to leave players out, if I was a fan I’d be fuming.
“I’d be fuming, you want to win silverware and this is a great opportunity and to leave players out when they’re not guaranteed to win on Tuesday is beyond belief for me.”
Nottingham Forest took a risk with Brighton team selection
Football Insider Verdict
It seems a strange move for Elanga and Hudson-Odoi to have been dropped for a game as important as this.
With Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Tottenham all already out, this is a big opportunity for a club such as Nottingham Forest to lift a trophy, especially in their form.
As a result many would expect them to name their strongest side for what will be a tough game at this stage of the tournament, and that would include Elanga and Hudson-Odoi.
Failure to progress would therefore lead to questions about Espirito Santo’s decision not to start the pair, who could make all the difference for Nottingham Forest.
Neither had particularly busy international breaks so ought to have been fresh as well, and they do have a buffer in the table when it comes to the battle for a Champions League spot as well.
That may mean the Man United game may have been a more sensible one to rotate in, and it will be intriguing to see if the pair return to the side for that match.