Premier League: Erik Ten Hag calls Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo tactics stupid
Erik ten Hag criticised Manchester United's strategy of crossing from deep for Cristiano Ronaldo after Sunday's 3-1 loss to Aston Villa, which left him disappointed with his players' performance
Image credit: SALive Image Erik ten Hag described Manchester United’s tactic of crossing from deep for captain Cristiano Ronaldo as “stupid”, claiming that they absolutely were not following instructions in their 3-1 dAston Villa defeated Manchester United at Villa Park in Unai Emery's debut game as the club's manager.
Manchester United have been in the decent form under Erik ten Hag. Still, they finished a distant second as Aston Villa climbed the ladder on a difficult day for the Red Devils and a brilliant one for Unai Emery.
After the game, in the post-match interview, Erik ten Hag spoke in detail about Manchester United's tactics and what went wrong, "We lost the game at the start of the first half, the start of the second half. That's not acceptable. You have to be ready for the game; we were not. We have to be sharper. I said it was up to us."
"It's not acceptable. A player has to take responsibility to be ready. It looked like they were fresher and that's never acceptable."
"The result is clear. That never lies. In football, you get your earnings. Today we were not good enough. You have to read the game. You have to get the right organisation and not concede two goals."
Erik Ten Hag on Manchester United's crossing to Cristiano Ronaldo
Erik ten Hag was especially upset that Cristiano Ronaldo, who was the acting captain in place of Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire, was singled out in the penalty area by opponents.
"I think it was stupid to do that. We delivered too quickly crosses in from too far and too forcing. Then, we don't help him. We have to bring in the crosses at the right moment."
Not only was Cristiano Ronaldo's goal a highlight, but so was the Portuguese forward's fight with Villa's Tyrone Mings.
Following a Manchester United attack, just before the hour mark, the two got into a physical altercation on the penalty spot when a simple struggle for position escalated.
Before other players ran over, Lucas Digne and Douglas Luiz stepped in to help separate the two parties involved in the argument. Ref Anthony Taylor gave a yellow card to both players after things settled down.
Manchester United has gone nine games without a loss in all competitions before this, their first since the derby loss in early October.
Many of Manchester United's problems stemmed from Marcus Rashford, who had to play right wing in Ref Antony's absence and could not continue his recent strong play. Even Erik ten Hag admits that this is not his most impressive acting part.
Without Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United created very little of note in their disastrous 3-1 loss at Aston Villa, which must have disturbed Erik ten Hag.
