According to Wesley Sneijder, a Dutch icon, Erik ten Hag should have seen the handwriting on the wall when he benched Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United’s team over 18 months ago.
When the 39-year-old spoke to Piers Morgan in November 2022 and claimed he didn’t respect Ten Hag and questioned the Glazer family’s management of the team, he infuriated both his manager and the club’s upper echelons.
Prior to that, Ronaldo and his management had already been at odds over his decision to leave a preseason friendly against Rayo Vallecano before the game had ended.
Ten Hag informed the Portuguese star at a team meeting that he would not be playing in the next match against Liverpool; he also made a dramatic entrance down the tunnel before full-time in a victory against Tottenham.
After Ronaldo’s interview with Morgan, Real Madrid immediately cancelled his contract and the former Real Madrid striker quickly joined Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
While Ronaldo’s former Real teammate Sneijder praised Ten Hag’s hard attitude at the time, he now feels that it has added to the mounting pressure that Ronaldo is now under at Old Trafford.
Sneijder thinks that United’s players lost respect for Ten Hag because of his power struggle with Ronaldo, and Ten Hag is battling to save his job after another dismal defeat against Burnley over the weekend.
As Sneijder put it on Monday night’s episode of the Dutch TV programme Veronica Offside, Ronaldo “already made a mistake” by trying to compete with him.
Everybody stopped respecting him after that. Obviously, he was mistaken; the reverse would not work.
“Is this man crazy?” the men in the changing room wondered.
“Of course he already knows that he has to leave,” Sneijder said in response to rumours that Ten Hag would be let go at season’s end.
But you won’t be travelling alone. To be honest, I’d be content to wait there till he gets fired if I were him.
United’s chances of finishing in the top four were officially dashed in their draw with Burnley; now, they are competing for a spot in the Europa League. Despite this, manager Garry Ten Hag has defended his players and thinks he is assembling a future-proof squad.
We established this club since we have several talented young players. He said over the weekend that it takes time and that they create it by bringing in young players.
The Premier League is more tough every year, and Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, and Kobbie Mainoo are all players in their debut season.
According to the numbers we’ve seen, this season is far more intensive than last, particularly when compared to the previous four or five. It will take time for those players to acclimatise.
I feel terrible for all of you. As a result, I have a lot of impatience, but I know that we and the supporters need to be patient. A crew was assembled here, and they need experience.
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