Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has explained why Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to fit into his plans at Old Trafford, pointing to the Portuguese superstar\u2019s physical condition and inability to meet the demands of his preferred style of play.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking to ESPN NL on Sunday, Ten Hag acknowledged Ronaldo\u2019s status as one of football\u2019s greatest players but questioned whether the forward could still perform at the highest level.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion, Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly a fantastic player and one of the greatest players of all time,\u201d Ten Hag said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the truth is that, over the last seven or eight years, he has no longer been capable of performing at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutch coach stressed that physical fitness is essential for success in top-level football, insisting that players who cannot maintain peak condition will struggle to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s simple: if you\u2019re not in peak physical condition, whether in the Premier League, the Champions League, or with the Portuguese national team, you simply have no chance of succeeding,\u201d he explained.\n<\/p>\n
Ten Hag also recalled his initial conversation with Ronaldo when he took charge of Manchester United in 2022, revealing that he had outlined the style of football he wanted the team to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started the job at Man United, I explained to Cristiano Ronaldo the style of play we intended to adopt,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
However, Ten Hag suggested that understanding the team\u2019s tactical approach was not enough, as Ronaldo also needed to demonstrate the physical commitment required to execute it.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBut ultimately, you have to bring something to the table yourself, and he no longer had the ability to endure the hard work required,\u201d the former United manager added.\n<\/p>\n
He further explained that his expectations included players pushing themselves to their limits during training and maintaining the highest possible fitness levels.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means pushing himself to his absolute limits every day, training at maximum intensity, and maintaining peak physical fitness,\u201d Ten Hag concluded.\n<\/p>\n
Ronaldo\u2019s time under Ten Hag at Manchester United ended controversially in November 2022, when the forward left the club by mutual agreement following his explosive interview with Piers Morgan.\n<\/p>\n
Despite the disagreement over his role and the team\u2019s playing philosophy, Ronaldo remains one of the most decorated footballers in history.<\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has explained why Cristiano Ronaldo struggled to fit into his plans at Old Trafford, pointing to the Portuguese superstar\u2019s physical condition and inability… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5857\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}