Erik ten Hag has slammed the Premier League fixture list after Marcus Rashford was hit by a concerning injury.
The attacker limped off towards the end of Manchester United's win over Everton Saturday lunchtime. It was a victory that was overshadowed by Rashford's enforced substitution, with the England international limping off with what appeared to be a groin injury.
The injury setback comes ahead of a Europa League quarter-final clash with Sevilla, with the first leg being played on Thursday. And Ten Hag was left in no doubt that his side's hectic fixture schedule was behind Rashford's latest injury issue.
"We have to be more clinical, this game has to be finished by half-time. It was a good performance and it's very good if you do this with three games in six days so it's a compliment to the team," he told BT Sport.
"We have to wait [on Rashford's injury], it doesn't look good. Once again it's due to the schedule, you can't play three games in six days. We have to protect our players.
"Everyone wants the best players on the pitch, everyone wants to see great entertaining football like today. But you need your best players. It's a win and we have to move on.
"I'm happy when you're playing in April and you're playing on this level against an Everton who are hard to beat. We have seen it in the last weeks, it's a really strong team in survival mode."
Before the game had even kicked off, Ten Hag had blasted the fixture list, with his side playing in every midweek since the World Cup. The Dutchman brought Harry Maguire back into his starting line-up against the Toffees and pointed to the hectic run of games as the reason.
"He played against Fulham, he played against Betis, he’s playing for England so he’s fit, he’s ready to play and the thinking is we have the most crazy schedule from all the Premier League teams," Ten Hag told BT Sport.
"We have three games to cover in six days - which is not right, but we have to deal with it. I see it as a project but I also know you need results. We are in a perfect situation, we couldn’t expect we were in this situation when we started last year in June - let’s be honest.
"We are in the top four, we are in the quarter final of the Europa League, we are in the semi-final of the FA Cup and we already have a cup in our pocket, so what could be better?"
