Cristiano Ronaldo’s electrifying start to life back at Old Trafford have all but sputtered almost to a complete halt with his dry goal-less patch in 6 games.
Portugal’s top international goalscorer had begun with an incredible start to the season, scoring four goals in his first week but his dream second debut against Newcastle now seems like a fading memory.
His lightning start to the season included his two strikes against the Magpies, a Champions League goal against Young Boys and another in a 2-1 win over West Ham.
However six months down the line and Ronaldo and the Red Devils are in a dire state of trepidation even after former gaffer Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been axed but his interim replacement Ralf Rangnick is apparently befuddled by the lack of cohesion and dedication of his frazzled players.
The earlier hope of a Top Four finish is now rapidly slipping from their grasp with them now being outsiders at best. The Red Devils have incomprehensibly drawn their last two top-flight matches and even crashed out of the FA Cup in February.
Much has also been focused on Ronaldo’s form that has also massively nosedived as the 37-year-old suffers his longest goal drought currently since 2009. The Portuguese dynamo has failed to score in six club appearances for the first time in over a decade.
However, startling though it may be, Ronaldo’s goal-scoring drought isn’t even what’s most unsettling thing for the superstar striker currently. The glaring fact that Ronaldo hasn’t scored a Premier League header since he returned to the club is what’s alarming, after having sealed his reputation as arguably the game’s most lethal player in the air over the last two decades.
However, in all fairness to the player, questions must be asked of the service and quality of crossing within the current United squad as it is simply inconceivable that the Portuguese suddenly got atrocious at scoring headers overnight.
Dean Ashton joined talkSPORT on Monday and said Ronaldo is clearly NOT to be blamed for the poor run of form. Instead he criticised Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot for the dubious quality of their deliveries, besides questioning Rashford’s ‘knuckleball’ crossing technique.
“It’s not his fault for a start,” the former Norwich striker told Drive. “He’s getting angry because the service is that bad.
“When you buy Ronaldo, you don’t buy the player that he was ten years ago, you buy the player that he is now.
“You watch Juve, he didn’t take three or four players on then smash it in. He didn’t score goals from outside the area.
“His game was inside the area. Great movement, sharp movement, delivery, goal. Sight of the goal, back of the net.
“Manchester United are playing every other way except what’s needed for him and to get the best out of him.
“Why have the best goalscorer in the history of football and not give him the service he needs?
“Rashford, why does he persist on trying to knuckleball every cross? He just knuckleballs it to the first player.
“Why are Dalot and Shaw crossing from really deep, when it gives Ronaldo less opportunity to get on the end of it and beat a defender?
“This is a guy with an unbelievable leap and he’s not scored a Premier League header. What? They’re not giving him the service.”
Manchester United will be hoping they can get back to winning ways on Tuesday when they take on Brighton in the Premier League.