Ronaldo and Maguire benched: Ten Hag proves Man Utd mettle

Erik ten Hag benched Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire for Manchester United's meeting with Liverpool on Monday night. Maybe he's the right man for the job after all?

Ten Hag has endured a difficult start to his career as United manager, overseeing consecutive Premier League defeats against Brighton and Brentford which left the Red Devils rock-bottom ahead of the Liverpool game.

Ronaldo's actions off the pitch - and Maguire's on it - have been problematic for Ten hag so far. Ronaldo wants to leave in pursuit of Champions League football. He has few takers. Maguire wants to defend. Increasingly, he struggles to.

Instead Marcus Rashford led the line at Old Trafford, with Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga in support, while Raphael Varane was preferred as Lisandro Martinez's central-defensive partner.

"Varane is a very experienced player, won everything and will bring the communication in the back four," Ten Hag explained to the BBC before kick-off. "We want mobility and agility in the back four.

No Ronaldo, no problem

"We know Liverpool are a really good team and you need to press them. You are to do that out of a block and need energy, that is why we went with Rashford, Sancho, Elanga.

"I am aware this is the biggest game in the UK, I am very excited to be in this game."

If Ten Hag was excited pre-game he will have been positively ecstatic once the action got underway.

Elanga hit the post before Sancho opened the scoring on 16 minutes, sitting James Milner down before steering the ball beyond Alisson, and Rashford doubled their advantage soon after the restart, converting on the break.

It was a risk to bench Ronaldo. Piers Morgan called it "one of the dumbest decisions in football history," and called for Ten Hag to get sacked if the decision backfired.

It didn't, and on Monday's performance, everyone at Man Utd should now get behind the new man.