Manchester United are becoming reliant on Cristiano Ronaldo as their sole goalscorer, says Paul Parker
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 30/09/2021 at 15:10 GMT
Former England and Manchester United defender Paul Parker breaks down United's 2-1 victory over Villarreal in the Champions League. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored five goals in his five appearances since returning to Old Trafford in the summer transfer window. After Ronaldo's 95th minute winner was required to beat the La Liga side, Parker feels United are relying too much on the 36-year-old.
'We are a proper team,' insists Solskjaer after Ronaldo rescues Man Utd
All Manchester United can take from their win over Villarreal is the result, because the rest of it was a million miles away.
My worry, which was what I felt when they made the signing, is that I hope United are not going to rely on Ronaldo to score goals for them and to be their only goalscorer. It seems like they are.
Bruno Fernandes has not got the same influence as what he had before. His completion rate is nowhere near what it was in the previous season and a half. Their reliability on Ronaldo is getting bigger every time they go into big games.
Fernandes doesn't seem as far forward. It seems only when things are going the right way he suddenly pushes on more.
If you watched that match in its entirety you would have realised that United went to a sale at Primark and came away with Hugo Boss clothing. That's how it worked out for them.
If the game stayed as it was they would have been bottom after two games of the group stage which would not have been good for Solskjaer. But now the jury is out again for United because the performance was absolutely terrible.
DE GEA SHOWED WHY HE IS MAN UTD'S NUMBER ONE
Experience counts in goal. He's not the greatest with his feet, no one was bothered about that ten years ago. Now people are more concerned with whether he can find people with the ball at his feet like Jordan Pickford.
But can Pickford be as consistent as De Gea? No. Can he strike a ball like Ederson and have an incredible passing range? No, but he is as consistent as Ederson at making saves and takes less major risks on the ball.
Manchester United have gone down the right path with De Gea. He has at times this season, like against Villarreal, kept them in games.
His saves were big saves and were not efforts that were straight at him, but if two of them went in then people would have questioned him.
People want to dig De Gea out when he does something wrong. It's no different to when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer does not win a game, people want to dig him out. That's what football has become now, you're not allowed to make mistakes as a human being.
DALOT HAD A NIGHTMARE
Diogo Dalot should be in hospital having serious surgery, perhaps stomach surgery, because he was getting twisted all over the place.
The first 45 minutes Arnaut Danjuma just beat him whenever he wanted to. He was either getting dribbled around or rushed past. Dalot could not guess what Danjuma was going to do next which is a nightmare as a right-back.
He was having an absolute nightmare. You saw a game where a defensive right-back was needed. The one who everyone has been having a go at - Aaron Wan-Bissaka - was needed badly just to do a job and defend. Dalot was not doing anything on the defensive side.
Everyone is quick to have a go at Wan-Bissaka. But a few people after 45 minutes would have wished Wan-Bissaka was playing because in the first half 90 per cent of the traffic was down Dalot's side.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article