Cristiano Ronaldo Blamed For Getting Manchester United "Out Of Their Pattern"

Cristiano Ronaldo has been blamed for Manchester United's poor form, due to the fact that he has stopped the team's being in their usual 'pattern.'

Ronaldo had scored five goals in five games since returning to Old Trafford at the end of the transfer window, but was left out of the starting XI for Saturday's game with Everton.

Despite the good form of the 36-year-old, United have struggled and have won just three times in seven games since Ronaldo's signing.

The former Juventus star wasn't able to have much impact at all when he came on against the Toffees and former Ajax star Danny Blind believes the forward is at fault for the team's issues.

"Ronaldo doesn’t really need to play an active role," Sportnieuws report, via Sport Witness.

"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."

Ronaldo didn't make much impact on the game on Saturday. Image: PA Images

Blind, whose son Daley used to play for United, suggests that Ronaldo won't chase down defenders and therefore makes it more difficult for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team to put pressure on the opposition.

His claims were backed up by stats earlier this week that showed no other attacker in the league presses the opposition less often than the five time Ballon d'Or winner.

As long as the Champions League all time top scorer is getting on the scoresheet, as he did in the final minute in midweek against Villarreal, then fans won't care too much.

However whilst the team are failing to find form, and Ronaldo isn't scoring, then Blind's criticism will start to resonate more with Solskjaer's critics.

The former Real Madrid striker replaced Edinson Cavani. Image: PA Images

In contrast to Ronaldo's lack of closing down, Edinson Cavani was upfront for United for much of last season and the Uruguayan is well known for his work ethic.

The 34-year-old once again showed off that part of his game when he closed down Villarreal players on Wednesday, after coming off the bench, to the approval of United fans.

Topics: Premier League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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