While Erik ten Hag has generally been praised for his response to Cristiano Ronaldo storming off against Spurs last week, John Giles feels he has shown weakness by bringing the tempremental superstar back into the fold.
Ten Hag initially clamped down on the unprofessional act by relegating Ronaldo to train with the youth team as well as leaving him out of their squad for their subsequent 1-1 draw away to Chelsea.
But the Duthcman has in recent days offered an olive branch which Ronaldo happily grasped by making a scoring return in a 3-0 cruise over Sherriff.
READ MORE: Erik ten Hag pledges to 'correct' Antony in analysis of 'ridiculous' Man Utd incident
Giles feels this was a missed opportunity by ten Hag to jettison Ronaldo from the club altogether since the 37-year-old had given him a perfectly plausible excuse to get rid of any player, especially with him also refusing to come on versus Tottenham and similarly leaving the stadium early while a pre-season friendly was ongoing back in August.
While appearing on his weekly Off the Ball slot, Giles was asked if he'd been impressed by how ten Hag had handled the delicate situation with such an egotistical character.
But he wasn't having it. Instead, he said bluntly: "No.
"I think he's handled it very, very badly. This is the second time that he's done that, that he didn't go on. That's a very, very serious position to be in.
"Last week he wanted him to go on against Spurs, he didn't and cleared out of the dressing room. It's very hard to have a team and get team spirit with that going on.
"Now he's saying 'It's okay, we've had a chat with him and he's back in the squad again.' I don't see that. You're talking about morale and team spirit, you don't get it like that. He's back in again now, everything is forgiven.
"I don't think you can forgive things like that, especially when it's happened twice. You have to clamp down on it and say right, you've got to get out of here."
While United have shown signs of progress under ten Hag, it's a reasonable stance from Giles.
Perhaps if pre-season darling Anthony Martial hadn't been struck down by the injury bug so far this campaign, ten Hag wouldn't be so forgiving of Ronaldo's repeated petulance.
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