Ten Hag rewarded Ronaldo with captaincy, now he is blamed for Villa defeat for this reason

Ronaldo was named United captain for their clash against Aston Villa in the absence of Bruno Fernandes. The move came just weeks after the Portuguese striker left the stadium early against Tottenham and was subsequently forced to train away from the main squad for a few days. Ronaldo's walkout against Spurs caused a lot of issues for Erik Ten Hag in the following days. The striker missed a crunch match against Chelsea, which made a January move likelier.

Ten Hag insisted the decision to make Ronaldo captain was the correct one. He told the BBC, "Nothing changed, when you are captain and leader you have to set an example and that is what I expect from him. He is an important part of the squad, we are happy with him and now he has to taken even more of the leader role." Ten Hag was eager to get his message across to a player that also left Old Trafford early back in July after being replaced during a friendly with Rayo Vallecano.

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After confirming that Ronaldo had snubbed his request to enter the fray against Spurs, Ten Hag added on his future plans for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, “He remains an important player in the squad. I am the manager, I am responsible for the culture here and I have to set standards and values and I have to control them. In the team, we have values and standards and I have to control that. After Vallecano, I told him it was unacceptable but not him everyone…there are consequences.

Was the Villa defeat a failure of leadership?

Ten Hag went on to say of making the all-time great work away from the rest of the senior squad, “It was a time for reflection for him, but also for everyone else. I said at the start of the season, next time there have to be consequences otherwise when you are living together and playing together, football is a team sport and you have to fulfill certain standards. And I have to control it.” Maybe Ronaldo was not the man to follow out there today against Villa.