Erik ten Hag reveals why he took off Cristiano Ronaldo in Manchester United’s draw against Newcastle United

Erik ten Hag says his determination to keep Manchester United’s strikers ‘fresh’ was behind his decision to substitute Cristiano Ronaldo in his side’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle United.

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The Red Devils dropped two points at home after they were held to a scoreless draw by Eddie Howe’s side, who gave as good as they got at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag was without Anthony Martial and Christian Eriksen against the Magpies, while Marcus Rashford was only able to take a place on the bench because of illness.

That meant a front three of Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Antony but the trio failed to find a break through against Newcastle in the opening 70 minutes.

When Ten Hag turned to his bench to introduce Rashford, he chose to remove Ronaldo ahead of his other attackers.

The 37-year-old was far from happy as he made his way to the touchline and he could be seen shaking his head furiously as he made his way to the bench.

To make matters worse, United started to create chances in the box that Ronaldo likely would have finished – including a 96th minute headed chance for Rashford.

But Ten Hag defended his decision to remove Ronaldo, saying he needs to keep his strikeforce ‘fresh’.

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‘We have to cover four games in 10 days, and especially for the strikers I want to keep them fresh,’ said Ten Hag.

‘I want to keep them all fresh, so we have to rotate there. We have some problems there, Martial is not available in this moment, so we have a player less.

‘Rashy was under the weather so he didn’t have