Is Manchester United’s over-reliance on Cristiano Ronaldo hurting the team? | OneFootball

It is no secret Manchester United have relied on the goals of Cristiano Ronaldo since the forward returned this summer.

The 36-year-old needed no time to acclimatise and has proved the difference for United time and time again despite being labelled a problem for the club.

His lack of defensive work has been criticised since his return, but what he is there to do is score big goals at important times and that’s exactly what he has done.

The Portuguese legend has scored 10 goals in 14 games, including six goals in five Champions League games, four of which have secured late draws or wins for the club.

Despite these goals, Sky Sports revealed a number of stats that looked into United with Ronaldo and United without him and they don’t make for good reading.

United average more goals, more points, concede less, and have a higher win percentage without their talisman compared to when he is involved.

While on the surface this would be a cause for concern these stats are heavily impacted by the club’s recent drop in form that saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lose his job.

CR7 hasn’t scored in the league with the same regularity that he has in Europe, but his four goals and two assists still see him sit atop United’s Premier League goalscoring charts.

United’s incoming manager Ralf Rangnick favours a high pressing system and requires maximum effort from everyone for his ideas to flourish.

It remains to be seen whether the German creates a system that accommodates Ronaldo’s lack of defensive actions or if he is able to get some form of defensive output from him.

Either way, Ronaldo was brought to United to score goals and so far that is precisely what he has done, without him it doesn’t even bear thinking about where the club would be.