Legendary Dutchman Danny Blind believes Cristiano Ronaldo is the main cause of Manchester United’s recent struggles on the pitch since he rejoined.
Ronaldo’s summer comeback has since see him garner attention for himself with five goals in seven games across all competitions, with the most recent being a last minute winner against Villarreal to save the embarrassment for his team’s manager.
Yet, incongruously, while the Portuguese prima donna has been storming the headlines firing on all cylinders, United have conceded their matches against Young Boys and Aston Villa, besides being kicked out of the Carabao Cup by West Ham and were only able to managed a feeble draw with Everton on Saturday, despite dominating possession.
Blind, who is the father of former United defender Daley, is firmly of the persuasion that Ronaldo himself is actually the cause of United’s struggles and dismal performances, attributing the problem to the Portuguese star’s obsession with thinking about goals only, which hinders the team to play in the style they are accustomed to.
He also mentioned Paul Pogba as a comparison to the 36-year-old on the pitch.
“Ronaldo doesn’t really need to play an active role,’ he told Dutch paper Sportnieuws.
“Like ‘take your time’. You also see the other players looking at you like, ‘how are we going to solve it then?’”
“Normally, the striker runs from one central defender to the other. This caused a lot of miscommunication. Now, they are not playing in their familiar pattern.
“When the ball was deflected, you saw Paul Pogba coaching that they had to put all the pressure on.
“Ronaldo did not do that, he is not like that. He only thinks about goals and hopes others will conquer the ball.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had left Ronaldo left on the bench for Saturday’s draw with Everton but was left with no choice but to bring him on in the 57th minute.
Unfortunately, CR7 was clearly unable to make a significant impact on the proceedings as Andros Townsend cancelled out Anthony Martial’s opener, with the winger also copying Ronaldo’s famous corner post celebration – which did not amuse already irate Portuguese.