Erik Ten Hag gives his verdict on Cristiano Ronaldo’s role in the squad

Erik Ten Hag’s start at Manchester United has come back to life after three consecutive wins in the league, pushing the team from the 20th position to 5th.

He had a disastrous start against Brighton and Brentford and had to change his approach with the game against Liverpool coming soon after.

Erik Ten Hag made the bold decision of leaving first-team starters Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw in favour of Anthony Elanga, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw.

This was a brave approach from the United manager and it repaid well with a win over our arch rivals. He continued to start with the same lineup and the results have been the same as well.

Now, this would bring a question with regards to the future of Cristiano Ronaldo who made his desire to leave the club in the summer very clear.

However, with no suitable club to move to plus the fact that Manchester United could not find his replacement, he finds himself playing in a United jersey at least till January.

Erik Ten Hag has made the bold choice of leaving the Portuguese superstar on the bench but he would not be too happy with his current role in the team. That leaves the manager with a major conundrum, especially considering the new signing Antony and Anthony Martial will also enter the fold for selection.

When asked post his team’s win over Leicester City, Erik Ten Hag was asked about the role of Cristiano Ronaldo in the team to which he replied:

“It’s really early in the season and we have a squad. We have more than 11 starting players, that is what you see now, players now on the bench can play in one, two or three weeks.”

It is clear that Ten Hag would not bow down to the demands of the Portuguese star and would line up a team that has the highest chance of winning.

However, it would be true to argue that Ronaldo would be playing a more substantial role going forward, considering the fact that the transfer window is closed plus his impressive cameo against Leicester proved his value to the team.

It will be interesting to see whether the Dutch manager goes with the same line-up that has won three games in a row or makes a few changes and get some experience in Ronaldo and Casemiro into the starting lineup.