Manchester United Rumors: Club Performed Worse Since Cristiano Ronaldo Arrived

Manchester United is in dire need of change amidst its poor run of form, and the summer signing of Cristiano Ronaldo is being blamed for the club’s misfortunes.

As reported by Goal, the 36-year-old Portuguese superstar tends to remain behind and watch the opposing team’s defenders zip the ball through the Manchester United front line before ending up in the possession of their finest strikers.

It has been a major problem for the past couple of weeks for the Red Devils as they struggle to pick up a win in the English Premier League over their past four matches--their last win being against West Ham United on September 19 thanks to heroics from Jesse Lingard.

The brewing Ronaldo problem reared its ugly head once again in their 4-2 loss to Leicester City.

During the match, he practically gave up on plays after the defense intercepted or blocked his scoring attempts instead of rushing back and helping on the defensive end.

Goal’s argument against Ronaldo is that he lacks the sense of urgency to follow through on his defensive responsibilities as a forward, which is preventing that ball from making its way to the midfield easily.

Comparing him to Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku as an example, it was revealed that the Manchester United forward had only 17 such instances of pressuring the ballcarrier and Lukaku having 43.

It is worth noting that these two players are both ranked at the bottom, and the discrepancy is very telling of the problem that Manchester United has on their hands.

However, Ronaldo is not the only person to be blamed.

The lack of foundational tactics from manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has led the club to disarray and a hazy sense of direction on defense.

Fans and observers alike have been hot on the Norwegian manager as the club continues to slip, despite having a wealth of world-class talent on the roster, plus adding Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane during the summer transfer window.

Manchester United had no business losing to middle-of-the-pack Leicester City last weekend, but the lack of reliable fallback plans practiced during training haunted the Red Devils in that match.

Fan opinion has soured even greater on Solskjaer thanks to the loss, and things do not get any easier from here.

Manchester United will be facing Liverpool, the Tottenham Hotspurs, Manchester City, Watford, Chelsea and Arsenal for their next Premier League fixtures.

With the club’s recent performance, there is reason to believe that Watford may pull out a shocker on Manchester United which could be the straw that breaks their back, leading to a potential sacking of Solskjaer.

The Red Devils have an opportunity to right the ship when they welcome Atalanta to Old Trafford for the end of the first leg of the round-robin setup for the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, October 20, 8:00 PM BST (3:00PM ET)