In Manchester United’s 2-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn’t start or participate, made news when he entered the locker room from the tunnel before the final whistle.
Manager Erik Ten Hag has said that they would address the problem.
“Today, I’m not paying attention to it. We’ll address that tomorrow, “he informed the press. “Today’s attention was on the 11 players’ outstanding performance as a whole. I must clarify myself; it was a team effort, not just the 11 players but also the substitutes who came on. Tomorrow, we’ll deal with it [Ronaldo]. Today’s game has 11 defenders and 11 attackers. ”
In what should have been a joyful evening for a United team that moved just one point behind fourth-place Chelsea after the Blues recorded a dismal 0-0 draw against Brentford, Ronaldo’s antics instead became the main plot point.
Ronaldo’s actions on Wednesday
On Saturday, United and Chelsea will square off. Ronaldo’s condition will be discussed up to the game because of the public’s reaction on Wednesday.
Ronaldo has been in the news for the wrong reasons the whole season after attempting in vain to push a transfer away from Manchester United in the summer in order to join a team competing in the Champions League this year.
After complaining about being substituted in the 72nd minute of Sunday’s scoreless draw against Newcastle, he gained attention this week.
Ten Hag argued in favor of his choice.
He told reporters, “We have to get better.” I particularly want to keep the attackers fresh with four games in ten days. Due to some issues we have, I want to keep them all fresh. We must switch places. [Anthony] Due to his illness and the fact that Martial is now unavailable, Marcus Rashford was unable to give the entire game his all. Because we wanted to win or at least obtain a result in all four games, we had to plan to cover for them.
Ten Hag said that Ronaldo, who is 37 years old, was not happy when he didn’t play in a 6-3 loss to Manchester City in October.
“Of course, he wants to play.”
We are all aware of his strong competitiveness. Obviously, he is unhappy when he is not playing “Then Ten Hag. As I have said before and will reiterate, he is training well, is in a great mindset, is very motivated, and regularly gives his all. This is what we expect. ”
If Ronaldo’s ultimate goal is to keep making headlines and stirring up trouble at the club in order to force a transfer in January, he is at least succeeding in the first stage of his strategy.
Another question entirely is whether another club will be willing to pay his enormous wages, regularly start a player who is still a good poacher but offers little in the way of pressing off the ball, a style of play that more and more clubs have favored in the modern game, and is always a threat to stir up trouble and controversy if he’s unhappy.