Gary Neville praises Erik ten Hag and urges Cristiano Ronaldo to accept his reduced role at Manchester United
Manchester United icon Gary Neville has urged Cristiano Ronaldo to accept his reduced role in the team under Erik ten Hag. Instead, the former Red Devil wants the Portuguese to contribute as he did against Everton.
United visited Goodison Park and won 2-1. Alex Iwobi opened the scoring in the fifth minute for the Toffees. However, Antony equalised at the quarter-hour mark.
Ronaldo came on in the 29th minute as a substitute to replace Anthony Martial. And the Portuguese gave the Red Devils the lead just before halftime. Speaking to The Mirror, Neville wants the 37-year-old to acknowledge his place in the squad.
“What I would hope is that, like with any other player coming towards the end of his career, he’ll accept that he won’t play every single game and he’ll stay and become a massive contributor like he was on Sunday night [in the win over Everton] and United will have a good season.”
Ronaldo hit a goalscoring milestone against Everton. The Portuguese scored his 700th club career goal when he managed to beat Jordan Pickford.
However, Ronaldo does not seem to have his shooting boots on in the current campaign. The strike against the Toffees opened his account in the Premier League. The Portuguese has not been helped by the fact that his last start in the English top flight came against Brentford.
Many people have questioned why a player like Ronaldo is on the bench. However, Neville disagrees and praises Ten Hag for his decision.
“He feels it’s an insult and people I respect enormously in the game think he’s being disrespected by being on the bench, but I don’t see that at all. I think Erik ten Hag has come out of this really well.”
The Dutch manager has preferred the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in the centre-forward position. And the duo have looked lively and made an impact whenever they have played this season.
Ronaldo has started in all four of United’s Europa League games and has managed to score one goal. Overall, the 37-year-old has looked underwhelming at times.
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Ten Hag needs to be given full reign to ensure the team performs well. And up until now, barring a few stumbling blocks, the Dutch manager’s decisions have paid off.
