Marcus Rashford was forced off the 2-0 win against Everton on Saturday and manager Erik Ten Hag has confirmed that the injury “does not look well.”
Marcus Rashford, 25, pulled up with a groin injury towards the end of the match as United beat visiting Everton.
The England international was seen walking slowly toward the tunnel afterward with Ten Hag patting him on the back.
Erik Ten Hag sarcastically answered when he was asked about the severity of the injury, he asked; “You are a doctor?”
Erik Ten Hag has already told BT Sports how concerned he is of the injury while complaining about Manchester United’s fixtures.
When asked about Rashford’s injury, ETH said: “We have to wait. He doesn’t look well.”
“Some things you can’t avoid, but this was avoidable,” Ten Hag added.
“Why has the Premier League given us the late Sunday night game and the early Saturday game? I think it’s not right.”
“This was avoidable. All science and research tell you players need a certain time to recover.”
“It is also part of the schedule that we are now finding ourselves in this situation and now we can only pray he is not dropping off.”
Ten Hag also revealed that he could have substituted Rashford after United scored their second goal 19 minutes from full-time but wanted the United’s highest goalscorer to get a game-time together with Martial.
“I don’t think any manager at this stage of the season will rotate so much,” he continued.
“I had the consideration [to take him off] but in that moment, with Anthony Martial just coming back, you want to bring them back into routines and togetherness.
“When they are together we have two goalscorers who can finish games, which is what we need in the final stage of the season to be successful.”
“Also, there was no indication. If there was an indication I would have taken him off.”
When he was further asked if he was overplaying Marcus Rashford, Ten Hag kicked back saying: “Not any manager in this stage of the season will rotate so much.”
“I know that is why this is the toughest league and in all the leagues and competitions we were in then you need a squad to rotate to a certain point, but this was avoidable, it was not necessary to set the schedule like we have now.”
“Other things are more important from a sporting element like protecting the players. Today was saw an entertaining afternoon but players can’t do that when they are not fresh.
“We created a lot of chances but missing chances is due to a lack of freshness in the final moment. You risk injuries so we have to protect the players, and that is also in the interest of what the audience want to see. You have to have the best players on the pitch.”
Rashford’s injury coupled with the fact that the Red Devils will probably play 65 games this season if they reach the FA Cup and Europa League semis prompted ETH’s complaints over fixtures.
Newcastle United beat Manchester United in last Sunday’s encounter and played Brentford on Wednesday of same week and was the first kick-off on Saturday with Everton.
United are set to face Sevilla in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday at 8pm, 13th of April before visiting Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Super Sunday on April 16.
Whilst many feel it’s their duty as professionals to play football anytime, they are humans after all and all these contribute to fatigue and lack of form for some players.
We will ensure to bring you further update relating to Marcus Rashford and the injury he picked up on Saturday.
