"Clearly Ten Hag has some agenda", "Show some respect" - Cristiano Ronaldo fans fume as Manchester United superstar is left out of starting XI against Manchester City

The Portuguese forward has been relegated to the bench in each of the Red Devils' last four league outings, with the club winning all of those fixtures.

It has been a difficult start to the season for the striker, who has been misfiring for both club and country.

Ronaldo has managed just one goal this season for Manchester United, coming from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Europa League.

Ten Hag's decision to continue dropping the forward is polarizing, and the player's fans are enraged by his latest snub.

Meanwhile, David de Gea starts in goal, with a familiar back four of Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia.

All four impressed on international duty this past week, with Dalot particularly shining for the Portuguese national side despite Ronaldo's woes.

The right-back scored a brace against the Czech Republic on September 24 in a 4-0 win.

Ten Hag has chosen Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen in midfield, with Bruno Fernandes in front of those two.

The front three of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Antony will look to replicate their performances against Arsenal in their last league outing, where United won 3-1 against the league leaders.

Rashford scored a double that day and the English forward is taking Ronaldo's place as Manchester United's main striker.

He has only just recovered from a hamstring injury but starts at the Etihad Stadium.

There are debates over whether the legendary striker should be on the bench for such a game as the Manchester derby.

Here are some reactions from fans on Twitter who were not best pleased to see Cristiano Ronaldo benched:

Manchester United go to battle without Cristiano Ronaldo

Manchester United will be looking to make a statement against a City side who are in top form under Pep Guardiola.

They will do so without Cristiano Ronaldo and Ten Hag's call over the forward may be one that shapes how the game pans out for his side.

United are currently fifth in the league, winning all four of their last league fixtures whilst losing their opening two games.

Meanwhile, the Cityzens have started the campaign off with five wins and two draws, with them sitting in second.

Guardiola's men will want to continue their unbeaten run and boast one of Europe's most in-form strikers in Erling Haaland.

The Norweigan has had no problem adapting to life in the Premier League, with 11 goals in seven league fixtures.

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

Matthew always strives to go beyond a story and offer unique and lesser-known insights, while maintaining an unbiased tone in his articles. His reporting exploits at the company have helped him gain a humungous readership of 25 million, with one of his articles raking in a whopping 724,000 reads.

A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

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