Cristiano Ronaldo returns to the Manchester United squad on Thursday night as they welcome Sheriff Tiraspol to Old Trafford. The 37-year-old was made to train away from the first team squad ahead of their game against Chelsea last weekend. Ronaldo’s refusal to come on as a substitute against Tottenham Hotspur was the catalyst for a show of strength from manager Erik ten Hag. Unequivocally, the former Ajax man proved no man is bigger than the club.
Ten Hag has exerted his authority in a different way to most. Predecessors Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho publicly raged against misbehaviour from big names like David Beckham and Paul Pogba. Ten Hag has dealt with Ronaldo sternly, sure, but he has taken a more measured approach. Rather than invite a dressing room rift between pro-Ronaldo players and his detractors, the head coach has left the door open to the Portugal international.
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Ten Hag has never once strayed from his initial line on Ronaldo, which is that he sees the player as part of his plans. After this latest indiscretion, rather than overreact and isolate him, Ten Hag has welcomed Ronaldo back now that he has served his punishment. The Dutchman has mastered this high-profile tête-à-tête like a master counter-puncher. Ten Hag has taken a step back and allowed Ronaldo to make mistakes, to leave himself open to blows.
Rather than ostracise Ronaldo, you could argue Ten Hag has merely treated him like he would any other player. Rather than letting the number seven remain an unimpeachable fixture in the starting eleven, he has picked his teams based on form. Ronaldo, finally showing signs that his mighty powers are waning, has not been in good enough form to warrant consistent inclusion. It really is as simple as that.
Asking Ronaldo to make a brief cameo against Spurs would have been foolish if the player was performing close to his peak. But attempting to bring him on that late when he is in rotten form is entirely justified. At Ten Hag’s United, the collective comes before the individual. If you aren’t playing well, you don’t play. Ronaldo just isn’t playing well.
Ronaldo will likely get the opportunity to break out of his on-field funk against Sheriff. He has played in all four of United’s Europa League ties thus far. His only goal in the competition this season was a penalty away to Sheriff. But even if Ronaldo does recover his scoring touch tonight and beyond, will it change his long-term situation at Old Trafford?
There’s no doubt Ten Hag likes having Ronaldo to call upon as an option. Some of his liveliest performances this season have come as a late substitute, where his pace over short distances can still stretch a defence to breaking point. But the Spurs debacle clearly demonstrated that, even at an age where most players are retired, Ronaldo refuses to play second fiddle.
Unless Ronaldo goes back to scoring every time he’s on the pitch, it just feels unlikely he will become first-choice in this team. Ten Hag prizes the collective and has instructed United to deploy a fluid front three with positional interchanges. Such a set-up is anathema for a player who has evolved into an old-school number nine as he’s aged.
Ronaldo needs a whole team built around him and, unlike Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick who attempted to do so unsuccessfully, Ten Hag refuses to operate that way. The system is more important than any individual player within it. It is a progressive and modern attitude to football that has seen Liverpool and Manchester City dominate in recent years. United are late to the party on that one, but Ten Hag’s refusal to compromise is encouraging.
The endgame seems close, despite Ronaldo’s return. The player will no doubt hope he can put himself in the shop window with his displays for United, and Portugal at the World Cup, in the coming months. Privately, no matter what the manager says, Ten Hag likely feels the same. A culture of collective responsibility cannot thrive when one component believes he is above the whole institution. As much as his online enablers or his sympathetic cabal of ex-teammates will defend him based largely on past achievements, Ronaldo is no longer performing well enough to justify derailing a whole football club.
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