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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been told to stop complaining about the club’s fixture pile-up.
As reported by 90min.com, the curious rant came from the manager of the Brazilian side, Palmeiras.
Despite making his own complaints regarding his packed schedule, Palmeiras boss Abel Ferreira told Ten Hag to “shut up” regarding complaints over his fixture pile-up.
Ten Hag recently expressed concern over the turnaround time between fixtures, leading to Marcus Rashford picking up a groin strain.
However, Ferreira appears less than impressed with Ten Hag and fired a strange outburst the Dutchman’s way.
“The Manchester United coach complains because Rashford got hurt, and that is a consequence of the number of games he has. I’d like to ask him, ‘Look, in these two months, I’ve got nine games each month. Shut up, man, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Ferreira.
The Portuguese boss continued to criticise the fixture schedulers in Brazil, saying they need to humanise football and reduce the schedule.
“I don’t know if it will be reduced. Forgive me, those who don’t like to hear it. We have to reduce the number of games. Whoever decides has to humanise this,” he said.
The reference to Palmeiras playing nine games this month seems a rather peculiar one, with United playing the same facing the same amount of games in April and previous packed months playing midweek games for the majority of the calendar year.
Ten Hag’s men have already chalked off three games this month, with another six to follow.
Sports broadcaster Richard Key also took issue with Ten Hag’s comments, advising him to return to Th Netherlands if he doesn’t like the English schedule.
“Erik, as regards the scheduling and injuries, it’s the English Premier League. If you don’t like it, there is always, of course, Eredivisie, where you can go and ply your trade,” said Keys
Hopefully, United can use the ridiculous criticism as motivation as they enter a crucial phase of their marathon season.
The coming weeks will go a long way to deciding the fate of United’s season, with key league and cup games on the horizon.
United play both Europa League quarter-final legs against Sevilla in the next ten days, with the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton awaiting them the weekend after.
Additionally, United travel to Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as entertaining Aston Villa in the league this month – three fixtures which will have a huge say on qualification for the Champions League via the top four in the Premier League.