Marco Silva has responded to Erik ten Hag’s demand for Fulham to apologise for their social media post mocking Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.
Fulham took three points at Old Trafford with a 2-1 win last weekend, and the London outfit were quick to upload a TikTok clip poking fun at Fernandes after a challenge left him floored before he got back up to try and receive the ball.
The social media post in question was captioned: “So glad he’s okay.”
Erik ten Hag responded angrily to the post as he found it unacceptable.
Speaking to reporters during the week, Ten Hag said: “It is absolutely not right that a club makes such statement because it is totally out of order and wrong and they should apologise for this.”
We now have a response from Fulham boss Marco Silva and it is a lot more understanding than I expected.
Silva said (via Independent): “I am not a big fan of social media but as you would expect I am aware of this. It was a reaction from Ten Hag. When a manager defends a football player, I think it is a normal situation. With one of our players, I am going to defend them to the last.
“We all noticed that Ten Hag said he had not seen the post. He was speaking after a question from a journalist. I haven’t heard the question – I don’t know how the journalist has put that question.
“For a manager at that moment, if you say to me that 10 minutes ago if any club said something about my player, I am going to defend my player even if I haven’t seen it. That is the situation.”
The Fulham manager went on to praise Fernandes, adding: “He is a top-quality player and a top professional. You are not a Manchester United captain if you don’t have the whole package in the same box and be such an important player. This is important to say.”
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