Belgium boss Roberto Martinez says Cristiano Ronaldo has two big problems at Manchester United.
Despite starting in the goalless draw with Newcastle, the 37-year-old was dropped to the bench for the clash with Tottenham on Wednesday. He was seen shaking his head when replaced by Marcus Rashford - who started ahead of him against Spurs - on Sunday.
The superstar would have undoubtedly been unhappy not to start a third Premier League game of the season, having only netted his first top-flight goal of the season against Everton 10 days earlier.
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But Martinez says he has two factors against him in the modern-day Premier League. Speaking on Amazon Prime, Martinez said: "Cristiano Ronaldo is an iconic player and when the Ballon d’Or list came out he was still the highest player from Manchester United.
"He has two problems: one is that he is 37 so when he has a bad game, it is because he is 'too old' and it’s almost like he is not allowed to play a bad game. The problem this year is that you can have five substitutes.
" Ronaldo comes from an era that, when you are not playing 90 minutes, it was seen as a negative. Now we are seeing attacking players not playing 90 minutes regularly, maybe 20 or 30 minutes because of the intensity and the demands of the Premier League."
His Belgium assistant, Thierry Henry, added that the status quo for Ronaldo has changed this season. "It is not an easy one, but for the boss, he is here for the team, not Cristiano Ronaldo," he said.
"Cristiano is part of the team and you need to find that solution. At times, he [Erik ten Hag] has to play without him and what’s difficult is when people talk about him.
"He will talk about what he has done in the game and not many people can sit on his table who have achieved what he has, but it is about what he is currently doing and what he is doing is not what he used to."
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