Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been unfairly criticised by sections of the punditry space after leaving Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for the Manchester derby.
Two hat-tricks from Erling Haaland and Phil Foden saw Pep Guardiola’s side put six goals past the visitors, who could only respond with three goals of their own as the game finished 6-3.
Ronaldo sat on the bench for the entire game, with Ten Hag deciding to bring on five other substitutes instead. The manager explained after the match that he didn’t bring the Portuguese star on due to respect for his big career.
I read that as a throwaway comment, but Roy Keane was quick to slam the club for ‘disrespecting’ Ronaldo. He must forget how disrespectful Ronaldo was throughout the summer.
Another former United player has come out to defend Ronaldo.
Speaking exclusively to Caught Offside, Luke Chadwick admitted he couldn’t get his head around Ten Hag’s decision, despite the fact he made the right call as Anthony Martial scored two late goals after coming on from the bench.
“It was surprising that we didn’t see him come on at half time, when the team as 4-0 down,” Chadwick said.
“Obviously Martial came on and the manager said he needed minutes, though it’s a bit of a strange place to be getting minutes, when you’re losing heavily in a Manchester Derby. In hindsight it was a good decision as he came on and scored two goals. He had a really strong pre-season and does look like someone who could improve a lot under Erik ten Hag.
“Still, it was quite strange that Ronaldo didn’t come on at the Etihad. It was quite strange to see the manager saying he was being respectful to him by not bringing him on, as I’m sure Ronaldo would’ve wanted to come on and tried to make an impact in a big game like this.
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Thursday evening, as that looks to be where Ronaldo’s getting the majority of his minutes at the moment in time. It is strange to see and I’m sure Ronaldo’s not happy with it. He’s one of the best to have ever played the game, and he’s going to be wanting to play football, especially with the World Cup in a couple of months’ time.
“And of course after the World Cup we’ll be coming towards the transfer window, so we’ll see if he will leave in that period, but it seems strange really that United didn’t let him go in the summer because he doesn’t seem to be getting much playing time at all. It seems a bit of a waste to have him there just sitting on the bench, I can’t imagine he’s going to want to do that for much longer.”
Let us know in the comments section where you stand on the whole Ronaldo debate. Personally, I think he is causing a bit of a circus off the pitch and it could become a distraction down the line.
Surely the end is near?
