Why Cristiano Ronaldo does NOT fit into Erik ten Hag’s Man Utd philosophy as Chelsea eye blockbuster transfer

ONE of the biggest narratives of the last summer transfer was Cristiano Ronaldo’s blockbuster return to Manchester United.

The signing of Ronaldo from Juventus was seen as both a statement of intent from United and an indication that the player still held the club in high regard.

Indeed the thought at the time was that Ronaldo had turned down a potential move to Manchester City to join their local rivals.

What a difference 12 months make, right? 

Fast forward a year and the question as to whether the return of Ronaldo to English football has been a success is a difficult one to answer.

Ronaldo has a huge global following and they would be quick to point to the strong output that he generated across the season with 30 goals in all competitions.

Taken in isolation we have to be clear that any striker scoring 30 goals for their team would have to be considered to have had a strong season, so why is there still an element of doubt about it?

Well, we will cover that in this article.

Ronaldo shocked fans last week when he told United chiefs he wants to leave, with a year left on his contract.

Given that he is coming closer to the end of his career, Ronaldo has made it clear that he wants to play in the Champions League – although there are not many clubs of that level who would likely see a move for the Portuguese forward as being a sensible one.

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That said, when it comes to ‘brands’ like Ronaldo, common sense and football clubs don’t often make good bedfellows.

Despite his impressive goal output across last season, we can still make a clear argument for Ronaldo not being the right fit for the new Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag and as such it would perhaps make sense for United to explore options for unloading the expensive forward.

Let’s look at that in more depth.

Lack of dynamism

For all that Ronaldo brings to United (goals, mainly – and possibly some shirt sales and big hits on Insta) he also takes certain things away.

He is such a huge presence on and off the field that he demands the ball in all situations.

As such when we see United building the attack we often see the player in possession trying to force the ball through to him when there have been better options available.

We have also seen Ronaldo start to drop into wide or deep positions in order to get the ball, when he does so he, again, demands possession of the ball and will look to link the play. 

Here, we see Ronaldo as he drops deep into his own half to get the ball.

As he does so he leaves United with no focal point in the highest line that they can play forward to.

The issue is that when doing so he then lacks the dynamic movement to make an aggressive run to get back into his forward position.

He is still, after all, a supremely gifted technical football player who can link the play.

The issue is that when he does come in and link the play he does not then get back into his forward position quickly enough as the play develops.

We have seen Erik ten Hag have considerable success with a central striker who drops off the front line to link play.

Indeed, when he took his Ajax side to the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 2018/29 season he did so with the former Southampton winger Dusan Tadic playing as the central striker.

The difference between this version of Ronaldo and that version of Tadic, however, was that the Serbian forward retained his dynamic movement in terms of linking play and then driving to get back to the central striker position.

That version of Ten Hag’s Ajax also had wide forwards who were quick to crash infield when Tadic dropped deeper.

This is not something that we saw often enough from United’s wide attackers last season. Could it happen this season if Ronaldo is out of the way?

This time we see Ronaldo still in the opposition half but in reality, does he have to be there?

There are enough United players positioned in space to progress the ball and the forward would be better served playing against the opposition defensive line.

Passive out of possession

Ronaldo has shown the ability to reinvent himself throughout his career and his work ethic and willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of his career are well documented.

Let’s not forget that when Ronaldo first arrived at Old Trafford it was as a winger who had preferred feints and tricks to actually delivering a final ball or scoring a goal.

That version of Ronaldo is incredibly different to this version and as he has aged he has started to rely less on his power and pace and more on his game intelligence and ability to save energy to make explosive movements in the penalty area when the ball arrives. 

This evolution of Ronaldo has also seen him drop off notably when it comes to pressing and working off the ball. Put simply, he just doesn’t bother with that side of things anymore.

We see a situation where Bruno Fernandes, playing as the ‘10’ behind Ronaldo has had to work between three opposition players as he chases and tries to press the ball.

In the end the ball is played through the press easily as Ronaldo stays passive on the far side.

Ronaldo neither shows the appetite to press with any intensity nor the willingness to drop off and form a part of the defensive block behind the ball.

This leaves his United teammates isolated and stretched out as the opposition looks to build their attack.

Often we see either the wingers, ex-Borussia Dortmund player Jadon Sancho especially, or the more attacking central players, in Fernandes, attempting to press but getting isolated and picked off.

Ronaldo again shows no intent to press and close down the ball carrier and as such the player in possession is able to step out with the ball and to find a driven pass in behind the United midfield.

While we have seen different tactical systems and structures from Ten Hag so far in his coaching career there have been some constants within that.

One of these has been that he wants his team to be aggressive and to defend from the front. He will expect his forwards at United to press and counter-press and to be aggressive in their approach off the ball.

Does Ronaldo still have the appetite or physical profile to do this? Er, no. No he doesn’t.

What does a striker look like under Ten Hag?

While, as mentioned earlier, Ten Hag has been known to use different types of players as his striker we believe that he will favour a target-man style player who can receive the ball with his back to goal and bring others into play.

This was the way that he set up last season at Ajax with the Ivorian international striker (and former West Ham man) Sebastien Haller in that role.

This was not the first time that Ten Hag had coached Haller, having previously used him as his forward at Utrecht.

While, like with Ronaldo, you cannot argue with Haller’s output last season – as he scored 40 goals in all competitions – but it was his all round play that most impressed.

Haller is a forward who makes others around him better by giving his team a focal point from which they can play in the attack.

It’s hard to suggest United’s current number 7 makes the other players around him better nowadays.

Haller drops off to receive the ball and allow it to be played into the final third.

Crucially though once he passes the ball off he then spins and aggressively attacks the space to occupy the highest line again.

Where Ronaldo is more likely to attract the ball towards him in the attacking phase and to look for opportunities to shoot wherever possible we see Haller receiving the ball and then linking unselfishly.

Haller will take possession and bring others into the game but he is also more likely to receive and keep possession while allowing wingers and his attacking midfielders to move beyond the ball.

With Ronaldo, on the other hand, the wingers and attacking midfielders tend to remain relatively static as they expect him to make something happen on his own.

Again we see Haller moving to receive with his back to goal and then playing wide. Again, he is quick to spin and attack the space in the penalty area.

There is no doubt that Ronaldo has the profile and skill set to be able to play in the same way that Haller did for Ajax last term.

The question is though whether he has the willingness to sacrifice himself and work as a team player as opposed to looking to be the ‘main man’ in the United side going into next season.

Conclusion

Ronaldo himself seems to have answered that question by asking to leave.

It’s hard to imagine Ten Hag begging him to stay given the possibilities that open up for his new side if the Portuguese legend leaves the building.

Wages could be reinvested – and let’s pretend for a minute United might do that a little more sensibly this time – and tactically, well they’d be able to do it a bit more like Ten Hag really wants. And that’s probably a good thing overall.

Maybe Ronaldo and Jose will get a chance to grow old together in Rome. Wouldn’t that be nice?