Manchester United under the tutelage of Erik Ten Hag is slowly proving itself as a team that has a strong desire to beat big teams. Manchester United has had quite a long drama this season because of some of Ronaldo behavior which resulted in some of the early matches of this season not going as expected but Erik with his myriad of experiences was able to make this a turning point for Manchester United performance because he was criticized several times by the Manchester United legend for not playing Ronaldo and that's Erik scheme of rotating in every match that was able to produce quite good results in some of their matches.
I don't see the conflict between Cristiano Ronaldo and Ten Hag being the reason their match at the start of the season didn't go according to plan. I see it more as a form of their adaptation from pre-season matches to official matches. They were then hot too late to realize that it was their official match that should result in them being heavily doubted. But in the end they were able to get up and slowly show an improved performance from time to time.
I honestly wonder why so many people attribute Manchester United's defeat to Cristiano Ronaldo, even when he's not playing.