Cristiano Ronaldo's sister made her feelings clear about Erik ten Hag after the Manchester United manager substituted the Portuguese international on Sunday.
Last season's top scorer Ronaldo has netted just once in the Premier League this season, and drew another blank against Newcastle United at Old Trafford. He saw a goal chalked off against the Magpies in a goalless draw, with United's players getting into hot water for their reaction to the decision from referee Craig Pawson.
Ronaldo has completed a full 90 minutes just once in the league this season, back in August when his team lost 4-0 at Brentford, and looked unhappy to be withdrawn on Sunday. He has yet to start back-to-back Premier League matches under Ten Hag, prompting questions about the ex-Ajax manager from a number of directions.
After the game, Ronaldo's sister Elma Aveiro shared a post from Portuguese-language account 'Futebol Divertido' which claimed 'If it continues like this, Ten Hag won’t last until January'. She added the caption 'It's too late'.
Pundit Danny Murphy, meanwhile, has encouraged Ten Hag to hold showdown talks with Ronaldo. The veteran forward scored 24 times in all competitions last season, earning a 20th-place finish in the final Ballon d'Or voting, but had looked ready to leave Old Trafford before Ten Hag took charge of his first competitive game in August.
"I think the manager should be having a conversation with him before each game, he deserves that respect from any manager," Murphy said on talkSPORT. "It is a conversation where you go 'look, give me everything, you're probably going to come off after 70 minutes but I don't want the histrionics when you come off, does me no favours'."
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Ronaldo was handed a start by Ten Hag after coming off the bench to score in a win against Everton in United's previous game. However, the manager was quizzed on his decision to withdraw the former Juventus star on Sunday.
"We have to cover four games in ten days. I want to keep the strikers fresh," Ten Hag said. "We have to rotate there. Rashy [Marcus Rashford] didn't have energy for the whole game so we have to plan it.
“I thought Rashy had an impact and if he scored the goal, we would have done everything right. The performance was good, a clean sheet, we pressed well, we controlled the game and in stages we were good on the ball - especially in the second half.
"Then, we dictated the game and in the end we could - we should - have scored the winning goal. One from Fred, and then [Marcus] Rashford had to score. In the end we could have got the win, we deserved the win."
