Former Tottenham and Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has told Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag to ‘keep his mouth shut’ after explaining to the press why he made Cristiano Ronaldo captain at the weekend.
Ronaldo returned to the starting XI in the Premier League on Sunday at Villa Park and was given the captain’s armband by Ten Hag.
This came just a couple of weeks after he was left out of the squad for a clash with Chelsea for refusing to come off the bench against Tottenham in the Premier League.
Asked to explain the quite dramatic turnaround, Ten Hag explained that his other options for captaincy were either not available or not well placed to take the role.
‘We have more leaders, Harry [Maguire] is on the bench, Bruno [Fernandes] is suspended, you take the player who has the leadership,’ said the manager.
‘The goalie is often far away from the situations, especially in the opponent’s half and we want to play in the opponents half. Casemiro is not speaking full English language yet, then you come to Cristiano, he is doing really (well) the last two games, I hope he keeps that process going.
‘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.’
Sherwood could not understand why Ten Hag chose to explain the situation in this way, placing Ronaldo well down the list of options to be captain, instead feeling that the manager could have just chosen not to explain his decision.
‘What basically he’s saying, he was fifth choice isn’t he,’ Sherwood told talkSPORT. ‘Why he has to justify why he’s given Cristiano Ronaldo the armband, I just don’t know. Just keep your mouth shut.’
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