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Cristiano Ronaldo’s second stint at Old Trafford had a bitter end in November 2022, after an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
In the interview, he criticised Erik ten Hag and the Manchester United ownership.
Ronaldo and Ten Hag’s relationship had a rocky start, with the manager benching him in his first game in charge.
This sent a statement to United fans that the Dutchman has a rigid footballing philosophy which no player is above.
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Steve McLaren Interview
Former United coach Steve McLaren recently spoke out in support of Ten Hag, in an interview with The Telegraph.
“I couldn’t fault his approach [with Ronaldo]. He really handled it very well.”
“He came in with set standards. Set rules. Set way of playing. And if you didn’t run, you didn’t play. He was rigid on that”, McLaren explained.
Many questioned Ronaldo’s ability to operate in a high attacking press, due to his age and fitness, which is a common demand on modern forwards.
McLaren went on to explain that Ten Hag was right to stand firm against Ronaldo.
He cited how previous managers failed when trying to adapt their playing style to the striker’s needs.
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“He took on Ronaldo, and quite rightly. Other managers have tried to adapt. Erik didn’t feel it was necessary to do that.”
“Rangnick had tried and it hadn’t quite worked out and Ole the same. So [Ten Hag] stuck to his guns and developed other players”, McLaren said.
To this day, Ten Hag and Ronaldo have a sour relationship, with the latter criticising the Dutchman in a recent interview with Rio Ferdinand.
Both parties share the aim to bring United back to the top of world football by winning trophies.
However, their approaches to this goal did not align, which ultimately led to Ronaldo’s departure from the club.
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