Roberto Martinez is not spineless but he's no fool either... the Portugal boss knows if he takes on Cristiano Ronaldo, he WILL lose, writes IAN LADYMAN

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In the run up to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Gareth Southgate prepared to leave one of the national team's star name players behind and the rationale was simple.

'He won't be in the team and if he's not playing he will just be a pain in the backside,' an FA source told me at the time.

'You want people who will lift the mood rather than suck the joy out of everything'.

It's a really important point when it comes to tournament life. From the outside, spending a summer representing your country looks rather glamorous and to a certain extent it is. The flip side, however, is that six weeks – including pre-tournament camp – is a long time for an eclectic bunch of sports people to be together. Harmony on and off the pitch is hugely important.

Doubtless this is what Roberto Martinez has been thinking as he has tried to guide Portugal through Euro 2024. On our It's All Kicking Off podcast earlier this week, I described the Portugal team as 'Cristiano Ronaldo and 10 other blokes' and that is how it feels. It's been like this for an awfully long time, certainly at the Qatar World Cup and even as far back as the 2016 European Championship in France which Portugal actually managed to win.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the main focus for Portugal in their dramatic win over Slovenia after he missed a spot kick and wept before scoring in the shootout

Roberto Martinez portrays calm wisdom and it can take a lot to swallow your ego

We know what the Ronaldo show is. It's part football and part study in human ego and frailty. And on the sideline stands Martinez, smiling and grimacing in his smart black suit and looking for all the world as though he is hoping things turn out well rather than playing any great part in the whole thing.

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The truth is plain, however. Ronaldo's grip on his team-mates and Portugal's footballing sense of self is so tight and so unwavering that Martinez would be a fool to challenge it. If there is such a thing as management by distance then this is it and for the former Everton and Wigan manager it is the only way.

Chris Sutton, my podcast co-host, described Martinez as spineless in a Mail Sport column this week. After seeing Ronaldo continue to waste free-kicks in his game against Slovenia, he said Martinez should immediately relieve the 39-year-old of the duty, saying that failure to do so betrays only weakness.

I disagree. In this era of Alpha Male football managers, it takes a lot to look at a situation objectively and to swallow one's pride, to take a step backwards instead of forwards. Martinez has done this and in doing so has portrayed only calm wisdom.

A reasonable rule of thumb in life is only to pick a fight that you feel you can win. The fact is that Martinez – a manager of repute and credibility but not of elite standing – would be foolish to take on Ronaldo simply because if he does that he loses.

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The only footballer I can recall having such power at a major tournament is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The great Swedish egomaniac essentially picked his national team in terms of personnel and tactics for years. I remember visiting the Swede's training camp in Russia and his influence was everywhere.

But the Swedes tolerated and indulged Ibrahimovic in much the same way Portugal do Ronaldo. You only have to watch the way Portugal's players interact with him to see how he is revered. His young team-mates are in awe of him and possibly even a little intimidated. The senior ones – player such as Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva – must seethe but are also smart enough to realise their own place in the peculiar order of things.

So how can Martinez seek to get in the way of this? How can he try to reduce Ronaldo to the status of just another member of the team? He cannot simply because Ronaldo is not that.

A disagreement with Ronaldo would blow a hole in everything Portugal have achieved in this tournament. If Martinez loses Ronaldo, he loses the whole squad. It would also mean that any defeat – any perception of failure – would be left squarely at the coach's door.

Martinez must tread carefully in managing the talent and also personality of Ronaldo

So this is the lot of Martinez and it's his job to manage it, cope with it and get on with it. Sutton suggested to me that Martinez sit down and show Ronaldo a montage of all his bad free-kicks and then tell him that he is forbidden from taking the next one.

Yes, and after that he may as well go next door, roll up his shirt sleeve and put his arm in the mouth of a shark. Martinez's deference to football's big beast is not stupid or weak or cowardly. It's smart and, more importantly, it's the only option available.

We must protect our football heritage 

A significant part of my childhood was spent going to games up and down the pyramid with my father on a Saturday afternoon. Wake up, look at the fixtures, choose a game and get in the car.

That simple habit has been under threat for years due to rising ticket prices and the ever-increasing spread of live football across television.

So it makes me shudder a little when I look at the EFL fixture list for the opening weekend of the new season and see every single game will be broadcast live by Sky.

As our game continues to make a mess of distributing its vastly lop-sided wealth across the four professional leagues, the EFL will take television money all day long. But nothing beats the thrill of going to a game in person. I used to feel my heart beat faster when I caught sight of the pitch and sometimes that still happens.

As far as I am concerned, 3pm Saturday kick-offs remain an important part of our football heritage and culture and should be ring-fenced. Attendances in the EFL are generally excellent and this latest step away from English football's traditions only serves to jeopardise that.

We need to make sure we protect our traditions and look after our football heritage

A win for mediocrity 

Manchester United and their supporters are rewriting history when it comes to Erik ten Hag's new contract. 

The plain truth is that it's a victory for mediocrity and at the same time an indication that despite their best efforts, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his gang couldn't find anybody better. 

A reminder that Ten Hag's team finished last season with a negative goal difference.

Erik ten Hag new contract is simply a reward for the mediocrity of last season

Time for Southgate to make his mark 

Gareth Southgate had an awful evening as his team stumbled past Slovakia in Germany. The England manager seemed to drown under the weight of his team's sheer awfulness in Gelsenkirchen and has spent most of this tournament sitting on his hands when it comes to selection, tactics and in-game substitutions.

So the fact he is now considering a back three for the game against Switzerland is welcome purely because it shows the England manager is thinking of ways to inject some purpose, energy and jeopardy into the way his team plays its football.

Southgate has waited four games now for England to improve organically and it hasn't happened. Arguably they have got worse. So it's time for their manager to make his mark on the occasion of his 100th game in charge. This, after all, is his job.

Gareth Southgate is contemplating a tactical shake up for the Switzerland game 

Don't blame Matterface 

Clive Tyldesley has been part of my generation's lives during his decades as a first-rate commentator for ITV.

But all things come to an end and it saddens and angers me that ITV's decision to move him on at the age of 69 has been used by so many as an excuse to demonise his replacement Sam Matterface.

Sam Matterface is not to blame for Clive Tyldesley's departure and is a fine analyst

In my opinion, Matterface is a fine analyst with a deep knowledge of the game and a humble hunger to improve.

If people don't agree that's fine but to go after him just because he is not Clive Tyldesley is quite wrong.