Erik ten Hag explains why he replaced Cristiano Ronaldo in Man Utd draw with Newcastle

Erik ten Hag has said his decision to replace Cristiano Ronaldo in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle United was due to rotation rather than the Portugal star’s performance.

The Manchester United forward began the game with a smile as he posed for a picture with Sir Alex Ferguson to commemorate his 700th career club goal, which he netted last week against Everton. However, the day ended with a brooding Ronaldo shaking his head as he was replaced in the latter stages as United chased a goal.

It was another disappointing display from the No.7 at Old Trafford, with Ronaldo struggling to find gaps in the Newcastle defence and failing to create many shooting opportunities. Therefore, it was no surprise to see the 37-year-old withdrawn with just under 20 minutes to play, although Ten Hag insisted Ronaldo’s performance had nothing to do with the decision to replace the attacker for Macrus Rashford.

“We have to cover four games in 10 days and especially for the striker, I want to keep them fresh,” explained the former Ajax manager. “We have to rotate there and then some problems we have with [Anthony] Martial, he is not available. We have a players less and then Rashy [Rashford] was [ill] and he didn’t have the energy for the whole game. We have to plan to cover the four games because we want to win all four games or at least get a result.”

United do have a busy fixture schedule and face nine matches this month, as well as three difficult games in just seven days, beginning with Newcastle. Next up, it’s Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday before the Red Devils face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

United ‘dominated’ the second half

United managed just two shots on target at home to Newcastle, and found it difficult to exert control over proceedings in the absence of Christian Eriksen.

But Ten Hag claimed after the game that his side had ‘dominated’ the second half and, oddly, pointed to the number of Newcastle players who suffered from cramp late on as proof that his team were superior on Sunday.

“I’m disappointed with the result but I’m happy with the performance,” he said in the post-match press conference. “A lot of elements of the team: the way of play, we transferred that to the pitch, the pressing over the whole game was good.

“Second half, the possession was better. We made an improvement after half-time and then we dominated that game in the second half by far. Also, in the end, the physicality, the mentality, how we kept going, you saw the problems they had and they are one of the most physical teams in the Premier League. They had all cramp and we didn’t because we [made] them run, we were good on the ball and our pressing was good.

“We broke them but didn’t kill them by not scoring. We had the chance with Rashford and the assist on Fred and the header - great cross from Casemiro. That happens in football and I’m happy with the performance, but disappointed with the result.”