Speaking after the game at Goodison Park, a despondent Van Dijk bemoaned the fact that Saturday’s match kicked off at 12.30pm, giving Jurgen Klopp’s side just two days’ recovery time. In response, Rooney, who was on punditry duty, said the Dutchman ought to quit whining and get on with things. “That Liverpool team should want to be out there tomorrow morning to get the next game going. But we’ve heard it so many times, about Liverpool and 12.30 kick-offs.
Get on with it! That’s part of your job. You should be ready to play.” His brutal words immediately starting doing the rounds on social media, and it wasn’t long before fans found a contradictory comment Rooney had made years earlier and started branding the legend a ‘hypocrite’.
Back in 2011, the former England skipper tweeted: “Just have to say 12 o’clock kick-off is no good for players. Trying to force pasta down at 9 in the morning is not nice.” Rooney had a miserable three-month spell at St Andrews in which he won just two of his 15 matches, with the club dropping from fifth in the Championship to 20th. Prior that, he had spells at DC United and Derby County, with mixed results at both clubs.
Liverpool’s season has all but unraveled in the past month. After winning the League Cup, it looked as if they were going to give Klopp the ultimate send-off as they battled it out on three other fronts, but defeat to United in the FA Cup and to Atalanta in the Europa League has eviscerated their hopes of a dream end to the season.
