Ten Hag’s verdict on Ronaldo matching last season’s Man Utd goal tally

Ronaldo returns to Man Utd training after being dropped

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Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag believes it’s possible for Cristiano Ronaldo to match last season’s goal tally of 24 after his effort against Sheriff on Thursday night. The veteran’s striker in the closing stages was just his third goal of the campaign. Yet despite the 37-year-old starting to wane, his manager believes he’s got what it takes it replicate the same feats of 12 months ago.

Ronaldo was reinstated to the team for United’s clash with Sheriff, having been dropped by Ten Hag for the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday night.

The Portugal international had been left out of his manager’s starting XI for the 2-0 win over Tottenham and, when asked to go on in the closing stages, ignored his manager and headed down the tunnel instead.

Ronaldo started to make amends with his goal against Sheriff, which is now his third of the campaign.

And Ten Hag, when quizzed on the veteran ahead of Sunday’s match with West Ham, believes his No 7 has what it takes to match last season’s tally of 24 across all competitions.

“It’s up to him,” he said when asked about the matter.

“But I think when you collect all the chances he creates, the team creates for him in the last weeks, you see he’s still capable to get in the right positions and he’s still capable of finishing them.

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“I think it’s possible, yeah.”

Now, it’ll be interesting to see if Ronaldo keeps his place in the team for Sunday’s intriguing showdown with West Ham at Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford has looked liberated down the middle, while it looks as though Anthony Martial is starting to step up his return from injury.

Ten Hag has also previously used Christian Eriksen as a false nine, too, which means he has plenty of options at his disposal.

And when quizzed on Ronaldo potentially keeping his spot in the team, the United boss kept his cards close to his chest.

“I know some see it like this but I don’t have a Europe team and I don’t have a Premier League team,” he said.

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“I look at the opponent and what we need, what suits the opponent. Now I have to focus on West Ham United for Sunday.

“We will pick the team to start but also have a plan B or plan C in the pocket to win that game.

“That’s what we need finally, to win games, and for that we not only need 11 players, we need the whole squad.”

Ronaldo found himself making the headlines for all the wrong reasons when he refused to come on against Tottenham.

But Paul Scholes, speaking before his former team-mate’s goal against Sheriff, believes the matter is closed – while also suggesting Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have created a situation with Ronaldo in the first place.

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“At the time, it is difficult to explain your emotions,” he told BT Sport.

“Unfortunately this week it has been mentioned this week about myself and it is a low point in my career.

“I really regret it and it was so wrong to do, but I do sympathise with Cristiano.

“We know he did the wrong thing, but in my situation we played against Liverpool on the Sunday and had a league cup game against Arsenal on the Monday, and I was left out of the Liverpool game.

“I was upset and not happy about it and usually when I got left out I wasn’t one to complain, but this incident, in particular, it got to me.

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“The manager didn’t bring me on and your head goes as the game goes on, and that is the same thing that happened with Cristiano.

“He would have been thinking he could have scored three or four goals against Tottenham, and the more the game goes on, the red mist comes and you are not thinking properly.

“To ask him to come on with two or three minutes left, he must be thinking, are you taking the mickey out of me?

“It’s been dealt with and I think the manager has dealt well with the amount of questions about the situation.

“The right thing has happened, he has trained with them this week, it is out of the way, it’s done. Carry on with the game.”

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