Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag talked about his injured players, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes.
Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes are among the injured players that Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has warned will not be permitted to play in the thrilling Wembley match against Manchester City if they are unable to prove their fitness by competing prior to the FA Cup final. The main players were sidelined for Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal due to injuries. It is also anticipated that the Portuguese captain won’t play this week against Newcastle.
Ten Hag’s team has been more injured than most this Premier League season, as shown by the fact that he was unable to use players such as Anthony Martial, Tyrell Malacia, Raphael Varane, Mason Mount, Rashford, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, and Fernandes for Arsenal’s visit.
Should they be unable to play in the final two league games, the Dutchman has warned the walking wounded that they will have to pay a heavy price—missing out on Wembley. He’ll be hoping that several of those key players can get back to full strength before the season concludes.
“You need the game practice and they know that if you want to go into a hard game like the cup final,” Ten Hag said after Arsenal’s victory at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag said on Friday that Fernandes had resumed his training, but he was sidelined for the first time since joining United on Monday during the team’s 4-0 rout of Crystal Palace because of an injury. Fernandes was absent from the game when Arsenal came to town.
Rashford has missed United’s last four games due to injury, which he sustained in the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry. Although he was observed in training this week, his captain did not participate in the match against the Gunners.
Insinuating that his job at United would be far safer if he had access to his best team more than once during his two years at Old Trafford, Ten Hag bemoaned having an ineffective squad to play Arsenal.
“You will definitely score more points if every player is on board, but I’m not sure where we should be with everyone on board,” he said.
“A manager is never done learning, but in my two years here, I have only once been able to field a full squad of players.” You have to keep your head above the water as we are trying to do, which is similar to swimming with your hands behind your back. A team cannot progress in the absence of these essential areas.
“Fit players are still needed if you want to advance as a team, even though we are still in the cup final. As you witnessed with our opponent today, Arsenal was down to one injured player. We had a large number of them.
