Ten Hag to blame for Rashford’s injury woe

Robin Bairner

• 8 Apr 2023 20:16 BST
• 4 min read

Manchester United have cause to worry after beating Everton 2-0 in the Premier League at Old Trafford. The result was positive and the content of their performance was largely excellent, but the sight of Marcus Rashford limping off with less than 10 minutes remaining was distressing.

Rashford may, for once, not have been on the scoresheet, leaving that to Scott McTominay and substitute Anthony Martial, but it has been the 25-year-old who has been spearheading their charge for the top four.

Indeed, manager Erik ten Hag has been found guilty of not protecting his prized asset better – and he knows that he should have.

MORE: ‘Doesn’t look good’ - Man Utd fans fear worst as Rashford comes off injured

“We have to wait. He doesn’t look well,” the former Ajax boss admitted to BT Sport after the game.

“The was avoidable. All science and research tell you players need a certain time to recover.”

He meant this as a barb to the footballing authorities, but while the schedule this season has been particularly brutal, he was also being unwittingly critical of his own team management. It was Ten Hag, after all, who ignored “all science”. It was he who mismanaged a player he knew to be in the red zone.

MORE: Erik ten Hag delivers concerning news over Rashford injury

Ten Hag refused to use his squad

Manchester United, after all, have a multi-million pound squad of players. Anthony Martial and Wout Weghorst could have taken Rashford’s place at the beginning of the game. By the time the striker limped off, the match had already been over for 10 minutes.

If Ten Hag was so concerned about the health of the forward, what was he even still doing on the pitch?

It is true that he is not exactly furnished with great centre-forward options, which is why a sizeable investment in that area is expected in the summer, but surely then that is all the more reason to protect the players you have?

Was it wise, for example, to start Rashford away at Real Betis with Man Utd already holding a 4-1 advantage in the tie, or for him them to play 83 minutes in an FA Cup match against Fulham three days later? We’re talking about a player who has featured in virtually every Premier League minute of 2023.

It’s a fair reply to suggest that Man Utd want to win everything, but realistically that comes from having a squad that allows them to do just that. Flogging one player relentlessly as they have been doing with Rashford, as Ten Hag himself admitted, will cause breakdowns like this.

Playing three matches in six days isn’t exactly something new or surprising for a superclub like Manchester United. The question has to be why they weren’t wise enough to mitigate for this problem either with a better January addition than Wout Weghorst, who has not scored a single Premier League goal for them, or smarter management of their No.10.

It’s a painful lesson for Rashford and could be a costly one for Ten Hag if he is missing his key attacker as the top-four battle heats up.