EPL: Ten Hag speaks on Ronaldo’s reaction to Newcastle substitution ahead of Tottenham clash

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has said he understood Cristiano Ronaldo’s reaction to being substituted against Newcastle on Sunday.

Ronaldo was taken off with 18 minutes left and the Red Devils still searching for a goal that would have broken the deadlock.

The 37-year-old was clearly annoyed with Ten Hag’s decision as he trudged towards the dugout before being replaced by Marcus Rashford.

Pressed on Ronaldo showing signs of dissent in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s match against Tottenham, Ten Hag said: “I think no player is happy when he comes off and especially not Ronaldo. I understand that.

“As long as it’s a quiet, normal way, no problem with that. Of course he is convinced he should stay on and he should score a goal. That’s why he is that good.

“The start of the season we try to plan for the overload on players and you see around many clubs now many injuries are coming up. You can’t avoid it, tough football injuries will come.

“This many games in a long season and what a huge problem is players don’t get a break in the summer, a huge overload and they can’t recover.

“You have to manage that and protect players not only from injury but to keep them in the right form.”