Patrice Evra tells Erik ten Hag to stop answering questions on Cristiano Ronaldo

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Cristiano Ronaldo was left on the bench for Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur last night.

Asked on Amazon Prime about the decision, manager Erik ten Hag said he was confident Ronaldo would be able to make an impact from the bench. In the end, he did not even need to bring him on.

Former United star Patrice Evra told Ten Hag he has had enough… of the manager having to justify his decisions.

Evra tells Erik ten Hag to stop answering Ronaldo questions

Evra was on the Amazon punditry panel and spoke before the team announcement about Ronaldo, and says the manager should not have to keep explaining himself.

The Frenchman said: “I want Ten Hag to stop answering questions about Ronaldo. He doesn’t have to answer every time. There are many discussions, we don’t know the background.”

The manager’s press conferences are frequently dominated with questions about Ronaldo, especially if he is not starting.

After the team announcement was made, Ten Hag joined the punditry panel for a short interview, and Evra repeated his comments.

Evra told Ten Hag: “You dont need to justify [Ronaldo decision] every time, you are doing already a great job.”

Ten Hag went on to talk about his desire to protect his players due to the hectic and intense schedule, which has become a real issue with a tight calendar ahead of the World Cup.

This clearly plays a factor in not giving Ronaldo 90 minutes every game, with the forward now 37-years-old.

Co-pundit Roberto Martinez raised a point about now having five substitutes available makes it easier for managers to rotate the forwards.

Ronaldo played 90 minutes against Omonia a week ago, then 72 minutes against Newcastle, and was on the bench last night against Tottenham. United may not need him to start against Chelsea at the weekend either, after such a dominant performance.

Ronaldo creates a problem

Evra is spot on, but Ronaldo made it more difficult to ignore him with his post-match sulk as he walked down the tunnel before half-time.

Ten Hag told Amazon Prime he would ‘deal with’ the situation, when asked about it before the game.

And this is the problem with Ronaldo, it is easy to recommend ignoring him, but it is almost impossible due to his high profile. Eventually United will tire of the circus.