Erik ten Hag has hit back at the critics who questioned his decision to drop Marcus Rashford from the Manchester United team to face Crystal Palace.
Rashford scored three goals for the club last week with his double in the 7-0 thrashing of Barnsley in midweek seemingly making him a certainty to start against Palace on Saturday.
However, Ten Hag dropped the England international at Selhurst Park in favour of Joshua Zirkzee leading the line with Amad Diallo and Alejandro Garnacho on the flanks.
Rashford came on for the final 30 minutes of the 0-0 draw, with the decision not to start him sparking criticism from the likes of Jamie Redknapp, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer which the United boss felt was unfair.
“I didn't understand the criticism,” he said. “People are not entitled to bring speculation.
"If I give an explanation they have to trust my words. If they don't, that's not right.”
Former England midfielder Redknapp - who was working on the game for Sky Sports - suggested “there’s obviously something that’s happened” for Ten Hag to leave Rashford out.
While Lineker and Shearer discussed the incident on their The Rest is Football podcast, with Lineker saying: “It looks like, reading between the lines, it might be some disciplinary issues because he (Ten Hag) kind of mooted that in his press conference that 'Marcus has got to be professional'.
Shearer replied: “Why else would you leave him out?'
“When things have been criticised, and I was one of them, for performances, but then you get your goal last weekend, you get another couple in midweek.
“Why would you actually even contemplate leaving him out? My guess is, and it is a guess, it has to be something different.”
Ten Hag went on to state he feels that the increased football schedule will end in injuries.
The Europa League like the Champions League has been expanded from 32 to 36 teams this season, with two extra games added before the knockout stage.
"There are too many games. It's clear. Too many competitions," Ten Hag added.
"For the top players, they are overloaded and this is not good for football. It's maybe good for commercial but there is a limit.
"It's almost unavoidable that players get injured because of the overload from so many games."
