Suffice it to say that Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t doesn’t in the least look like he’s truly enjoying his second stint at Manchester United right now as the Portuguese forward has disconsolately cutting a frustrated figure pretty often this period on the pitch..
This was again evidenced most recently in the 0-0 draw against Watford when Ronaldo in obvious frustration raised his arms in the air after compatriot Bruno Fernandes totally ignored him and did not pass the ball to him in the first half and the 37-year-old was spotted with his hands on his hips, shaking his head at full-time.
In the stalemate against Watford, Ronaldo added two offsides to his tally to take it to 25 for the season — it could’ve been a different story for United if the Portuguese star had managed to stay onside when firing home a first half effort. There was a sense of inevitability when the flag was raised.
Throughout the years, the five-time Ballon d’Or has found himself topping individual tables for his goals scored and came into his Premier League return on the back of winning the golden boot in Serie A, despite Inter Milan ousting Juventus as league champions.
At this later stage in the race in the Premier Leagye, Ralf Rangnick’s side are keeping all fingers crossed on hoping to finish in the top four in the Premier League although it seems they’re not exactly doing a great job at doing that presently.
Before the Watford stalemate they were faced with the disappointment of having to be content with draws against Burnley and Southampton. Now, the path they face isn’t going to get any easier having to face a much harder run in March that includes games against Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool in the Premier League.
If they are to finish in the automatic Champions League places then they’re going to need a a lot more definitive action from Ronaldo, who has scored just once in 2022 after a dismal run just prior to that and is now ranked as the 69th best player in the league.
Per WhoScored, there have been 68 better players in the top flight this season with their data assigning Ronaldo a rating of 6.93, which is worse than his United team-mates Scott McTominay and Fred.
Here’s the full list of better players so far in 2021/22:
- Mo Salah (Liverpool) – 7.84
- Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool) – 7.55
- Joao Cancelo (Man City) – 7.43
- Sadio Mane (Liverpool) – 7.36
- Bernardo Silva (Man City) – 7.35
- Rodri (Man City) – 7.34
- Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) – 7.33
- Son Heung-min (Tottenham) – 7.31
- Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) – 7.31
- Phil Foden (Man City) – 7.29
- Joel Matip (Liverpool) – 7.29
- Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace) – 7.27
- Allan Saint-Maximin (Newcastle) – 7.25
- Diogo Jota (Liverpool) – 7.24
- Ilkay Gündoğan (Man City) – 7.24
- Andrew Robertson (Liverpool) – 7.23
- Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) – 7.22
- Harry Kane (Tottenham) – 7.22
- Mateo Kovacic (Chelsea) – 7.20
- Paul Pogba (Man United) – 7.19
- Bruno Fernandes (Man United) – 7.18
- Thiago Silva (Chelsea) – 7.18
- Fabinho (Liverpool) – 7.17
- James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) – 7.16
- Reece James (Chelsea) – 7.16
- John McGinn (Aston Villa) – 7.16
- Jack Grealish (Man City) – 7.15
- Declan Rice (West Ham) – 7.15
- Ivan Toney (Brentford) – 7.14
- Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea) – 7.13
- Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves) – 7.12
- Mason Mount (Chelsea) – 7.12
- James Tarkowski (Burnley) – 7.10
- Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Tottenham) – 7.08
- Raheem Sterling (Man City) – 7.08
- Thiago (Liverpool) – 7.08
- Dwight McNeil (Burnley) – 7.06
- Tomas Soucek (West Ham) – 7.04
- Riyad Mahrez (Man City) – 7.04
- Youri Tielemans (Leicester) – 7.03
- Raphinha (Leeds) – 7.03
- Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) – 7.02
- Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) – 7.02
- Lucas Moura (Tottenham) – 7.02
- Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) – 7.02
- Oriol Romeu (Southampton) – 7.02
- Romain Saiss (Wolves) – 7.01
- Mohammed Salisu (Southampton) – 7.00
- Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton) – 6.99
- Yves Bissouma (Brighton) – 6.99
- Mason Greenwood (Man United) – 6.98
- Michail Antonio (West Ham) – 6.98
- Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) – 6.97
- Charlie Taylor (Burnley) – 6.97
- Ethan Pinnock (Brentford) – 6.97
- Sergio Reguilon (Tottenham) – 6.96
- Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal) – 6.96
- Scott McTominay (Man United) – 6.96
- Maximilian Kilman (Wolves) – 6.96
- Naby Keita (Liverpool) – 6.95
- Jose Sa (Wolves) – 6.95
- Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) – 6.95
- Fred (Man United) – 6.95
- Ruben Dias (Man City) – 6.95
- Adama Traore (Wolves) – 6.94
- Jordan Henderson (Liverpool) – 6.94
- Christian Norgaard (Brentford) – 6.93
In addition to that, Ronaldo has come out tops in another stat that he certainly won’t be happy about in that he has been caught offside more times than any other Premier League player this season – a total of 25 times, six more than Wolves’ Raul Jimenez. In the stalemate against Watford, Ronaldo added two offsides to his tally to take it to 25 for the season.
Could all this mean that this is realistically the beginning of the end for Ronaldo at the top level?