Erik ten Hag's subtle swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford over Man Utd strops

Erik ten Hag appears to have taken a swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho after the former Manchester United boss claimed modern-day footballers cannot "deal with criticism".

Ten Hag spent two-and-a-half years in charge of United and had public falling outs with Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho during that time. Ronaldo's second stint at Old Trafford came to a premature end after he criticised Ten Hag in an interview, with the club terminating his contract.

Rashford, meanwhile, was fined and disciplined by the Dutchman after he went out partying in Belfast before reporting ill and missing a game. Sancho also fell foul of Ten Hag, with the winger frozen out after he accused the manager of making "completely untrue" comments about his performances in training.

And in an interview with his agency, SEG, Ten Hag has taken aim at the likes of Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho. "This generation usually find it difficult to deal with criticism," Ten Hag said. "Criticism really gets to them.

"The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct. I was approached much more directly. If I would do that with my current group of players I would demotivate them. If you do that to the current generation they find it offensive."

Hiss comments come after former United defender Raphael Varane said Ten Hag was "always in conflict" with his players and admitted he was "surprised" when the club gave him a contract extension just three months before he was ultimately sacked.

"I was surprised he stayed," Varane told the Athletic. "The connection with the group no longer existed. It's hard to find the right words. It was very tense at times. Sometimes he made an effort to listen to the players' feedback. Sometimes he made decisions without listening to the players feelings.

"So there were ups and downs. It was complicated at times. He always needed an example of a player who was alone the entire time he was at Manchester. He did that with at least one important player on the team. He was always in conflict with certain leaders of the group. That is his way of managing."

United have continued to struggle since Ten Hag was replaced by Ruben Amorim and the Red Devils are currently languishing 15th in the Premier League, having won just two of their last ten games.

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