KEY POINTS

  • Former Crystal Palace owner defended Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo
  • The Manchester United manager was heavily criticized for this decision after a 1-1 draw against Everton
  • "He cannot play 60 games, most players can’t," said the former owner referring to Ronaldo

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been criticized because of his decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo in the Everton match, but another manager came to his defense.

Former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan spoke with talkSPORT in an exclusive interview and issued a statement in favor of Solskjaer's decision.

“I don’t argue with the [principle] of always playing your best player,” said Jordan.

“But the argument cannot be that unless Cristiano Ronaldo plays every second of every minute of every single game, [Manchester] United will turn to the situation and say ‘should have played [Cristiano] Ronaldo’.”

The Portuguese superstar was visibly upset when his side was unable to pull out a win against a heady Everton side this past weekend, storming off into the tunnel after the final whistle.

Ronaldo has a reason to feel this way as Manchester United had a great shot at winning the game after maligned winger Anthony Martial’s screamer found the back of the net at the 43rd minute for the 1-0 lead.

However, Everton stormed back 11 minutes later with Andros Townsend getting a goal through goalkeeper David de Gea for the 1-1 equalizer.

Jordan stressed that Manchester United’s dearth of talent should have been able to hold back Everton and that the blame cannot always be placed on Solskjaer and Ronaldo.

“They had enough on that pitch to win that game and it shouldn’t all be about [Cristiano] Ronaldo. The game itself was there to be won and there was enough talent on the pitch to be able to win that game,” the 53-year-old stated.

“Irrespective of whether it is Ronaldo or not, he is 36 years of age. Whilst he can play at a certain level and score a lot of goals, there are times when he will need to be rotated and need to be rested.”

Solskjaer opted to start Edinson Cavani for this match, which was a surprising occurrence for the Uruguayan star who found himself on the bench multiple times after Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho’s arrival during the summer transfer window.

He was replaced by Ronaldo at the 54th minute.

The English Premier League will resume after this weekend’s international break, giving Manchester United ample time to prepare against Leicester City when they visit them on October 16.

RELATED STORIES