Wayne Rooney sends message to Arne Slot after Liverpool explanation - 'No excuse'

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot spoke a lot about the fixture schedule ahead of Brighton, with his concerns about tiredness and fatigue eventually coming to pass at the Amex Stadium

Wayne Rooney and Arne Slot.(Image: Getty Images)

Wayne Rooney says Liverpool have no excuse for playing poorly at Brighton, despite the Reds kicking off at the Amex Stadium only 62 hours after concluding their Champions League win over Galatasaray.

Arne Slot suggested well ahead of the Brighton clash that tiredness could be a factor. And so it proved, with Liverpool looking leggy, Hugo Ekitike going off injured, and Milos Kerkez outlining that he felt fatigue played a part in the defeat.

It was, in some ways, a self-fulfilling prophecy, even though there is a legitimate gripe to be had about being in the early Saturday slot following a European game — something that isn't allowed when that UEFA match is away.

Rooney, though, believes that Liverpool should still have been able to play better, with James Milner, Danny Welbeck and co out-battling their younger counterparts.

"We've seen Arne Slot moaning about — well, not moaning, but making people aware about — the time they had to recover from their game on the Wednesday and play Saturday," Rooney said on his BBC podcast.

"I just don't get it. There are not that many more games now to what there was when we played. And when you’re playing games, you have that momentum of playing games.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot on the touchline against Brighton.(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)

"You know, you monitor your training, you get through the games, you're fine. There’s no excuse."

It should also be noted that Slot could have made more changes to his starting XI. Curtis Jones came on eight minutes into the game when Ekitike limped off, but he could have come in from the start.

Rio Ngumoha could have been another option to come in, but he didn't come on until after the hour mark. He and Trey Nyoni could have come on earlier in the Champions League with Liverpool so far ahead in the second half.

The small squad that Liverpool has gone with this season was a choice in the summer transfer market of 2025, but it appears to have been costly.

Federico Chiesa has been deemed unfit to play for Italy this week and Slot was missing some key men on the south coast.

"We had Mo Salah injured, we had Alisson injured, and after two minutes Hugo Ekitike out," he said at the final whistle on Saturday.

"That has happened so many times to us this season and again now. And what happened a lot this season is also that the first chance of the other team immediately went in.

"Brighton away, that's a difficult game for any team, especially if you miss out on a few very influential players. Of course now, looking at the league table, this loss hurts a lot and it should hurt us a lot.

"But the main problem we are in this position (is) because we dropped points at Wolves in the last minute with a deflected shot (and then) a week ago (against Tottenham) — not a week ago, because we had to play on Sunday, not on Saturday, and then on Wednesday and Saturday, not as all the other Champions League teams.

"The goal last week in the 90th minute is a bigger problem than losing away at Brighton."