Erik Ten Hag Reveals Why He Kept Ronaldo On Bench In 6-3 Demolition By Man City

Manchester United Boss, Erik ten Hag has revealed the reason he left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench while City crushed the Red Devils in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

United lost 6-3 to Manchester City and Ten Hag’s side were 4-0 down to the champions at half-time.

That seemed a logical time to bring on a great goalscorer like Ronaldo, but instead, Ten Hag brought on Anthony Martial just short of the hour mark, and the French forward scored twice late on in the 6-3 defeat.

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Asked why Ronaldo did not feature, Ten Hag revealed he did not want to insult the forward by introducing him with United already 4-0 down.

“I didn’t bring him on out of respect for his big career,” the Dutchman said at his post-match press conference.

“And the other thing, there was then the advantage I could bring Antony Martial on. He needs the minutes but I don’t want to point it out like that.”

On the manner of the loss,  “It’s quite simple, it’s a lack of belief. When you don’t believe on the pitch then you can’t win games, that is unacceptable.”

And he added: “We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we’re hugely disappointed.”