PIERS MORGAN branded Erik ten Hag an “arrogant, deluded twerp” after the Manchester United manager left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench against City.
A fuming looking Ronaldo, 37, had to watch on as his side were trounced 6-3 by their bitter rivals at the Etihad.
Quizzed after the match about why he elected not to bring the Portuguese forward on, Ten Hag claimed it was “out of respect for his big career”.
Sun columnist Piers, however, doesn’t buy the explanation – and tweeted after the match: “Imagine benching @Cristiano for Utd’s biggest game of the season, then using 5 other subs as they’re hammered into oblivion, & then claiming you did it ‘out of respect’ for him?
“Ten Hag is an arrogant deluded twerp & the way he’s treating Ronaldo is disgraceful.”
Pundit Gary Neville responded to Piers’ tweet, replying: “I get his point to be honest.
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“Bringing him on at 4-0 and 6-1 would have been an insult.
“ETH may not have delivered the line correctly and probably would have been best not saying it. ( although I like his honesty )”
Piers was having none of it though, replying to Neville: “Oh come off it.. you know Ronaldo would have been desperate to come on, whatever the score.”
Ronaldo has started just one Premier League match this season – the 4-0 hammering at Brentford in August.
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He has scored just once in all competitions, netting a penalty against Moldovan minnows FC Sheriff in the Europa League.
After his side’s defeat, Ten Hag claimed that his side didn’t believe in themselves enough.
He told the BBC: “It’s quite simple, it’s a lack of belief. When you don’t believe on the pitch then you can’t win games, that is unacceptable.
“We get undisciplined at following rules and you get hammered, that’s happened today.
All the credit to City, but it’s nothing to do with City
Erik ten Hag
“For me it was a surprise. We were not on the front foot, we were not brave on the ball and there were spaces to play but we were not brave enough.
“All the credit to City, but it’s nothing to do with City, our performance was not good. It had to do with the belief as individuals and as team.
“From the first minute I felt it and at half-time we changed things and we changed attitude.
“We saw a different Manchester United after half-time and we scored goals, we created some more.”
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“On the ball we were more brave, we came in the opponent’s half and we scored three goals.
“In this moment I can’t think about positives. We let our fans down, we let ourselves down and we’re hugely disappointed.”
