Ten Hag told to 'shut up' by serial champion

Tom Weber

• 10 Apr 2023 12:46 BST
• 4 min read

Palmeiras boss Abel Ferreira wasn't pleased by Erik ten Hag's comments on fixture congestion, believing his side has it much worse than the Red Devils.

After Marcus Rashford went off injured during Saturday's early Premier League kick-off, Erik ten Hag hit out at the Premier League for its thoughtless scheduling of games.

United were asked to play three fixtures in less than six days, facing Newcastle United on Sunday evening, Brentford midweek and Everton on Saturday. This fixture congestion, Ten Hag said, is "not right."

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"Some things you can't avoid but this was avoidable. Why was the Premier League giving us the late Sunday night game and the early Saturday game. I think it is not right. You run the risk that players can't recover that quickly. All the science and research tells you the players need a certain period to recover."

"It was not necessary," the Dutchman concluded, "to set the schedule like this, and from a sporting point of view, we want freshness."

What did Ferreira say?

Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira took exception to these comments after he guided Palmeiras to what is already their second trophy in 2023 despite a hectic schedule. His side beat Agua Santa 4-0 in the second leg of the Paulista A1 final in Sao Paulo after a midweek game in La Paz, Bolivia - just the short distance of 1477 miles (2377 km) away.

Brazilian outlet ge.globo wrote: "One of Abel Ferreira's main complaints since arriving in the country is the number of consecutive games. After the Supercopa and Paulistão, Verdão [Palmeiras] will have Libertadores, Copa do Brasil and Campeonato Brasileiro to play until the end of the season."

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"The United coach," remarked Ferreira, "complains about Rashford, who got hurt by the schedule. I wanted to tell him: 'I'm going to have nine games in a month, shut up.'"

Despite its seemingly scathing manner, this was not a mean-spirited attack on the Dutchman. On the contrary, Ferreira shares Ten Hag's indignation: "Forgive me, but we have to reduce the number of games." The 44-year-old also called the Brazilian schedule "inhumane."