Bruno Fernandes has admitted that Erik ten Hag lived up to his word by ripping into the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Dutchman was appointed as Manchester United boss at the end of the club’s worst ever Premier League season. He quickly went about resetting the culture within a squad defined by bad body language and negative training ground leaks.
After the arm-around-the-shoulder style of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ten Hag quickly proved it would be a different story under his stewardship. Ten Hag instilled his own rules and beliefs during a summer tour of Asia and Australia, where the players were quickly made aware of what would - and wouldn’t - fly.
Ronaldo missed that summer tour and upon the squad’s return to Manchester, would push for a move away. The Portuguese striker held crisis talks with Ten Hag just weeks into his tenure, after making it clear he wanted to leave.
He would ultimately remain at Carrington for the start of the season, but quickly assumed the role of ‘supersub’ rather than definite starter. The strained relationship showed several signs of fractures throughout the first-half of the campaign, including a notable moment where he refused to come on as a substitute.
Ronaldo’s Old Trafford exit was eventually confirmed prior to the start of the World Cup, thanks to an explosive interview with Piers Morgan. During the chat, the veteran accused Ten Hag of not respecting him and pushing him towards the exit door.
And Fernandes, during an interview with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport, has suggested that Ronaldo - along with the likes of Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford were the examples to the rest of the squad that ill-discipline would not be tolerated - regardless of status.
“He demands from people. He demands and you either do it, or you’re out,” Fernandes explained. “In the beginning everyone was like: ‘Will he do that if a big player doesn’t do what he wants? Will he pull him apart or not?’
“And then he did it many times, he did it with Cristiano, he did it with Jadon and with Marcus also.”
With Ronaldo now out of the club and Harry Maguire unable to command a starting place, it is Fernandes who most often is given the United captain’s armband. It’s a role which he enjoys, despite many believing his perceived negativity on the pitch doesn’t help his team-mates.
He added: “Sometimes when I’m shouting, from the outside it seems like I’m saying something bad to my team-mates, but it’s the opposite way around. It’s the way I do it with the arms and everything. Sometimes I do it in a good way, but you see me waving my arms and you think it’s in a bad way.
“When I think they did something wrong and they had a better option and they didn’t because they want to get their goal, or get their skill done…I will shout at them in a bad way because we have to do things for the team.
“At the same time, if I see someone low on confidence and they miss a pass, miss a shot, miss a chance I will shout at them in an encouragement way.”
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