Did Cristiano Ronaldo play today? Erik ten Hag reveals the Manchester United star skipped the derby "out of respect for his great career."
Did Cristiano Ronaldo play today? Erik ten Hag shows the Manchester United star missed the derby "out of respect for his great career."
Manchester City got another derby lesson from Manchester City on Sunday.
Erik ten Hag's first experience as United manager ended in a 6-3 loss, 4-0 at half-time, and 6-1 after 72 minutes.
Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored a hat-trick for a furious City, who conceded two late goals from Anthony Martial after Antony reduced the score shortly after half-time.
It is the third successive loss in this fixture for United since Cristiano Ronaldo left Juventus for the club last year. However, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner did not have to suffer the ignominy of playing his match, as Ten Hag opted to leave him out as a show of "respect."
Manchester United and another derby mess: Erik ten Hag must solve three problems after Manchester City's loss
Cristiano Ronaldo was not involved in United's 6-3 loss to neighboring City.
The Portuguese star was named among the substitutes, with Ten Hag retaining the starting eleven for the 3-1 win over Arsenal in their final Premier League match.
Shortly after Antony reduced the score to 4-1, Ten Hag replaced starting striker Marcus Rashford with Martial. He later returned Jadon Sancho with Fred for a system change.
Ronaldo, therefore, was not used to it and did not play a minute in a league game for the first time this season.
Ten Hag was asked why he decided not to bring Ronaldo on in the second half when United tried to make the score more respectable.
Ten Hag criticized his players for a "lack of faith" from the start. We didn't defend up front, we let them play, we weren't brave enough, we made mistakes, and then they killed us.
They should accept criticism. They showed against Liverpool and Arsenal that they bring conviction to the pitch when they play well as a team.
Today it was the opposite. This is usually in our process.
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Midfielder Christian Eriksen told Sky Sports that United players will meet on Monday to discuss "everything that went wrong today."
Ronaldo was substituted for the second half in a 2-1 loss at home to Brighton in August, having missed much of United's pre-season in an attempt to force his way out of the club.
He was recalled to the starting squad for the 4–0 loss at Brentford but was left out for the 2–1 home win over Liverpool, in which he played four minutes as a substitute. He hasn't started a single league game since then.
Ronaldo started both of United's group stage games in the Europa League: a 1-0 home loss to Real Sociedad and a 2-0 away win against Sheriff, in which he scored from a penalty.
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