{"id":44205,"date":"2021-10-25T18:45:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T17:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?p=44205"},"modified":"2021-10-25T18:45:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T17:45:52","slug":"ronaldo-united-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sky Sports\u2019 flagship Monday Night Football show last week, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville turned their attention to Manchester United vs Liverpool. It is the match which gave their bosses the idea of making them the perfect foil for one another, a sort of anti-double act.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, in an industry filled with poor research and lukewarm opinions, their punditry is why they have become so lauded over the best part of a decade, but their personal rivalry, so loyal are they to their respective teams, has made them entertaining to watch, too.<\/p>\n

But when presenter Dave Jones asked them to put together a combined XI of players from both sides<\/a>, they inadvertently showed the difference between the two sides and why Jurgen Klopp\u2019s Liverpool are so far ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer\u2019s Manchester United. They agreed on seven out of the 11 players, but one issue between Carragher and Neville in particular was the central striker. The former Reds defender selected Roberto Firmino; the Red Devil opted for Cristiano Ronaldo.<\/p>\n

In the realm of an exercise as light as that, when the aim was to choose the best players available, it doesn\u2019t matter too much. Neville was right to suggest that Ronaldo should be in there on talent and reputation alone; after all, this is a team that will never play a game, so discussing tactics is futile. But when he turned to Carragher and asked whether he\u2019d pick Ronaldo for Liverpool, it exposed something more about how the two pundits, and by extension clubs, approach the game.<\/p>\n

The answer was no, and Carragher was ridiculed, softly by Neville but more severely, as expected, on social media, but his point was more than valid. Liverpool are perhaps the most intense team to watch and play for in the world; everything starts on the front foot, and Klopp\u2019s style, which he dubbed \u2018heavy metal football\u2019 is essentially a race to get the ball back as high up the pitch as possible.<\/p>\n

Energy and stamina are key; the Reds have effectively won the Premier League and Champions League without a midfielder whose instruction was purely to maintain possession. It isn\u2019t about domination of the territory, but rather making sure where you do win the ball is as impactful as possible. There can be no passengers; the system is more important than any player.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, that simply isn\u2019t the case for Solskjaer\u2019s side. While signing Ronaldo was understandable and he has already proven his worth \u2014 twice scoring late winners in the Champions League \u2014 he has become the focus of the team as little more than a poacher. At 36, it is incredible to see the way he has understood what he needs to do to get the most out of his latter years, but the things he has sacrificed are basically all the ingredients Klopp sees as essential.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t really press because he has to pick his moments, he doesn\u2019t get involved in the build up play. Where Klopp demands a collective effort, Ronaldo has become the ultimate individualist, capable of digging his team out of a hole, but the antithesis of what the Liverpool boss needs. Of course he wouldn\u2019t pick him.<\/p>\n

But that is what Ronaldo brings and what Manchester United\u2019s biggest problem is. He has to play, in the eyes of many, because of moments like against Villarreal and Atalanta. But the uncomfortable truth is he has also exacerbated an issue with the current set up at Old Trafford; Solskjaer\u2019s tactical identity is not obvious even now, three year as after he arrived in the job\/<\/p>\n

Although Ronaldo\u2019s brilliance has got him out of difficult situations this season, there is only so far he can take the team. The price paid for Ronaldo is also heavy in terms of missing the sort of fast-paced cohesion that has made Liverpool\u2019s front three so effective in recent years.<\/p>\n

There is always a chance with Ronaldo in the team but the most in-form player in the world, Mo Salah, lined up against Manchester United to devestating effect and also has the ability to drag Liverpool out of situations.<\/p>\n

Neville played in an England side which suffered failures because it failed shoehorning the best eleven players onto the pitch at the same time over a thoughtful approach and philosophy. It isn\u2019t an argument against Ronaldo\u2019s quality, but rather a question of values.<\/p>\n

He remains the deadliest finisher in the world and has proven that this season. But hs involvement in the side has not made Manchester United look any more like title challengers; Solskjaer\u2019s issues still remain extremely prominent. Klopp has built a team where the players solve problems for him because they fit into the wider system. The gulf between them was evident on Sunday and it is an issue that even one of the greatest players in history can’t help solve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

You could earn up to \u00a310 (or currency equivalent) in bonus funds by joining Colossus with our New Player Bonus. Click here to join the action.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sky Sports\u2019 flagship Monday Night Football show last week, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville turned their attention to Manchester United vs Liverpool. It is the match which gave their bosses the idea of making them the perfect foil for one another, a sort of anti-double act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643],"tags":[272,76],"class_list":["post-44205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","tag-featurehome","tag-premier-league"],"yoast_head":"\nHave Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies? - Colossus Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colossus Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2GPN923-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ColossusBets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry De Cosemo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry De Cosemo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb\"},\"headline\":\"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":866,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"FeatureHome\",\"Premier League\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/\",\"name\":\"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies? - Colossus Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/ronaldo-united-problems\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"description\":\"Colossus Blog\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Colossus Bets\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Colossus Bets\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SportsBigger\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ColossusBets\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/colossusbets_\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/colossus-bets\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/ColossusBets\\\/featured\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb\",\"name\":\"Harry De Cosemo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Harry De Cosemo\"},\"description\":\"A freelance European football journalist who has worked for a variety of outlets including the Press Association, MARCA in English, FourFourTwo and SportsKeeda\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/harrydecosemo\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.colossusbets.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/harrydecosemo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies? - Colossus Blog","description":"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?","og_description":"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/","og_site_name":"Colossus Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","article_published_time":"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2GPN923-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Harry De Cosemo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo","twitter_site":"@ColossusBets","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry De Cosemo","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry De Cosemo","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb"},"headline":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?","datePublished":"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/"},"wordCount":866,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["FeatureHome","Premier League"],"articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/","name":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies? - Colossus Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-10-25T17:45:52+00:00","description":"Cristiano Ronaldo hasn't lost his goalscoring touch but has it masked bigger problems for Manchester United this season?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/ronaldo-united-problems\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Have Ronaldo magic moments masked United deficiencies?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","name":"Colossus Blog","description":"Colossus Blog","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Colossus Bets","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/rYeFCrFc_400x400.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Colossus Bets"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SportsBigger\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ColossusBets","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/colossusbets_\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/colossus-bets\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/ColossusBets\/featured"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/94dd728157baaf683f9e5ca63e63fecb","name":"Harry De Cosemo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a09f3a53ee707e4c54b6ae3a3e3c04fb3bb1d522819046699fde94983dc9ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Harry De Cosemo"},"description":"A freelance European football journalist who has worked for a variety of outlets including the Press Association, MARCA in English, FourFourTwo and SportsKeeda","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/harrydecosemo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/author\/harrydecosemo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44237,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44205\/revisions\/44237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colossusbets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}