During Manchester United’s pre-season tour to Bangkok, Erik ten Hag spoke to the assembled world media about how excited he was to work with Cristiano Ronaldo, and that it was time to draw a line in the sand.
“We are planning with Cristiano Ronaldo for this season.
“That’s it and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
He added: “Cristiano is in our plans and we want to get success together.”
Those original quotes [from Man United] by the manager in July suggest that he did have respect for Ronaldo, because during an exclusive interview with Piers Morgan, the United number 7 claimed that ten Hag “doesn’t show respect for me”.
Cristiano Ronaldo on Erik ten Hag: “I don't have respect for Erik ten Hag because he doesn't show respect for me”, tells @PiersMorgan. 🚨 #MUFC
“If you don't have respect for me, I will never have any for you”. pic.twitter.com/n3kRkvILbP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 13, 2022
However, this quote from Ronaldo does not seem to stack up because there are a number of instances whereby the Portuguese has thought he is bigger than the club at times as he refused to go on the United pre-season tour, left the stadium before the full time whistle in the friendly against Rayo Vallecano (although he was not the only one to do this), and refused to come on a substitute in the 2-0 win against Tottenham. During the 2-0 win over Spurs, Ronaldo once again left the stadium, which meant that ten Hag dropped him all together for the Chelsea game.
That line in the sand moment has surely run its course because there has been a series of high-profile incidents whereby Ronaldo has disrespected, undermined the club and United manager, who was only appointed as United manager in April.
It can be argued that ten Hag has perhaps shown Ronaldo more respect than he has warranted because the Portugal captain has not set the world alight in the Premier League as he has only scored one goal all season, which was his 700th career goal in the 2-1 win over Everton. It feels as though Ten Hag has compromised on the global icon because he named Ronaldo as his captain for the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, because United’s regular captains, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes were not in the team.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 700th club goal 🙌 pic.twitter.com/IDwYMKFiBI
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 12, 2022
Even though Ten Hag has not been available to call upon his number one striker in Anthony Martial due to injury, the Dutchman has also had to compromise his style and team to accommodate Ronaldo at times this season. This was evident in the 3-1 defeat to Villa as Marcus Rashford had to sacrifice himself and play on the right-hand side of the attack, with Ronaldo through the middle.
It was also quite interesting in the build up to the Fulham game that ten Hag said that Anthony Martial was his “type of player” because his attacking play allows United to function better as a team with his ability to be “a target, [his] link up, but he can also run behind”, rather than rely on Ronaldo’s individual brilliance that saw him score 18 Premier League goals last season.
According to fbref.com, which looks at the players statistics, it appears that Martial is a player that will help the team better because the Frenchman has created four goal-scoring actions in the league as opposed to Ronaldo’s zero, which suggests that Martial passess and dribbles into the final third helps create chances.
Ten Hag’s vindication of Martial being his first choice striker also stacks up from a goal scoring perspective because despite starting less games in the league than the 37-year-old due to injury, Martial has outscored the former Real Madrid man as he has got two goals as opposed to Ronaldo’s one.
However, those on the five-time Ballon D’or winner’s side will argue that if Ronaldo was on the pitch for the game against Newcastle when Marcus Rashford missed that header, he would have scored.
Yes, that might be true, but how many times have we seen Ronaldo drift out wide to try and receive the ball, which has stifled his opportunities to score from those promising positions.
Given that there is always two sides to the story, Ronaldo believes that ten Hag “does not show me respect” because he has not started him in as many games as he would have liked, however, the manager cannot be messed around and must pick the best team that he thinks will win Manchester United the game.
Ten Hag should be applauded with the way he has handled this situation because it makes him come out of this episode stronger and during the last few weeks it has been clear that ten Hag is starting to feel like a weight lifted off his shoulders.
The way that the former Ajax manager has handled this situation, taking on his star player, suggests that he has the courage and personality to be a Manchester United manager, which it can be argued what has been missing at the club.
As Ronaldo’s time at United seems to be coming to an end, it should actually be ten Hag who is getting all the respect, and not Ronaldo.
