Manchester United had a near-perfect night against Spurs, but it was tarnished by more Cristiano Ronaldo petulance. It’s time for him to go.
On so many levels, it was the night when Erik ten Hag truly arrived at Manchester United. A comfortable 2-0 against an admittedly flaccid-looking Spurs was the best performance since his arrival at the club. It was a marker that, while a tilt at the Premier League title this season remains overly optimistic, the new manager has nevertheless already made a truly significant mark on a team that has been under-performing for most of the last decade.
Yet the story to have dominated new headlines has involved a late non-substitution that should have been of little to no consequence involving a player who can’t even really be considered the future of Manchester United to any meaningful extent.
Not for the first time, Cristiano Ronaldo has embarrassed himself with his petulance; this time it feels as though it will probably be the last time.
What happened late in this match started as rumour, but has since been confirmed by Ten Hag: Ronaldo refused to come on as a substitute and then left Old Trafford before anyone got back to the changing rooms. He has now been separated from the rest of the Manchester United team and will not be in the squad for their Saturday tea time trip to Stamford Bridge to Chelsea.
Ronaldo has subsequently issued a somewhat garbled statement on the matter, which was primarily notable for what it didn’t say rather than what it did. There was no hint of contrition over his behaviour, no sign of an apology to any of those he’d embarrassed with his uniquely self-centred form of non-verbal complaint.
It’s striking that whether he apologised or not almost feels besides the point. Because it now feels plausible that this may have been the last time that anyone will see him in a Manchester United shirt.
It is, of course, entirely reasonable that Ten Hag will be able to sit down with him and grant one further opportunity to not tarnish his Old Trafford legacy. Ten Hag has, after all, sought to build bridges with him since arriving at the club at the end of last season.
But at the same time… why should he? There’s a new group of players at Old Trafford and most of the signs suggest they are unlikely to need a scarecrow in a Manchester United shirt standing on the opposition’s penalty spot imploring his teammates to pass him the ball at exactly the right weight and to precisely the right…
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