Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a total of 18 goals this season and 12 have come in the league and six in the Champions League.
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It is hard for a football fan to understand how a star-studded Manchester United line-up has failed to connect on the pitch, leaving them outside the top four in the Premier League and out of all cup competitions this season. The last summer transfer window could not have been any better for the Red Devils. After spending six years at the club during his first stint, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had made a sensational return to Old Trafford from Juventus in the summer of 2021. It was an unexpected signing. At one point in the window, he was heavily linked with a shock move to Manchester United’s local rivals Manchester City. But a whirlwind 24 hours, saw the former Real Madrid star signing for the club that made him the legend he is today.
Not to mention that Manchester United had already made two big-name signings earlier in the window – Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund and Raphael Varane from Real Madrid. In particular, Ronaldo and Sancho’s arrival bolstered an already impressive attacking line-up for former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. With Edinson Cavani, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood already at Ole’s disposal, Ronaldo’s return created a different but an exciting dilemma to the manager’s team selection. United were expected to take the Premier League by storm.
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But things did not go as planned, resulting in Solskjaer’s sacking and Ralf Rangnick’s appointment as interim manager. Due to lack of game time, Martial joined the Spanish side Sevilla on loan in January. With just a couple of months left to play in this season, it’s disappointing to see that United are out of all cup competitions. Even a top four finish, looks like a difficult task at the moment. Currently, United are on 50 points from 29 games and are four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand, and one point behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
Experts believe defence is the club’s problem and they are not wrong. United have conceded a staggering 40 goals in the Premier League this season, which is the worst among the current top eight teams in the division. But defence is not the only problem. The forward line has scored 48 goals in 29 matches in the league this campaign, which is not exactly a bad ratio. But they have been heavily relying on Ronaldo.
The Portuguese superstar has scored a total of 18 goals this season and 12 have come in the league and six in the Champions League. Bruno Fernandes has done well in the Premier League, scoring 9, but has not scored a single goal in any other competition. Their next highest goalscorer is Mason Greenwood, who has scored only six goals in all competitions.
Infact, in the Champions League, the entire team has scored 12 goals and Ronaldo alone scored half of it, with no one else scoring more than one goal. Despite playing in a struggling team like United, Ronaldo’s stats are incredible. But it is too much for the club to rely on a 37-year-old to frequently get them out of trouble.
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Despite Ronaldo being a star-performer for a long period of time in his career, it is not possible to expect him to maintain such a high goal scoring ratio at his age. It was evident in 2022. Since the turn of the year, he has struggled for goals and understandably United also struggled to win points. It was in this period, they dropped a lot of points in disappointing draws against Burnley, Southampton and Watford despite creating plenty of goal-scoring opportunities.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however, silenced his critics by scoring a sensational hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur recently to keep United’s top four hopes alive. But it is high time for others to step up and stop relying on Ronaldo to deliver the goods regularly. If United are to finish in the top four, the frontline needs to work together and support the legendary veteran in the final couple of months of the season.
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