Dutch soccer legend Danny Blind has hit out on Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United’s playing style ahead of the club’s match against Leicester City.
Manchester United is visiting Leicester coming off an underwhelming draw against Everton. Cynics have been hard on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for dropping Cristiano Ronaldo from his starting XI and some believe that had the Portuguese started, the outcome would’ve been different.
Indeed, Manchester United will be looking to bounce back against Leicester and Ronaldo is likely to start again. However, according to former Dutch national team head coach Danny Blind, Ronaldo wouldn’t be much of a help if Solskjaer will not be able to devise a fresh and effective tactic with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“You are not going to change Cristiano [Ronaldo] anymore in his thinking and his approach to the game,” Blind said via The Mirror. “So [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer will have to come up with a playing style for his team where Cristiano can still flourish and the team can still put their opponent under pressure. Cristiano has come back and scored some important goals.”
“But his presence in the team requires a different way of thinking tactically,” he explained. “Normally, you would expect that the striker is the first man to chase the defenders of the opposition. He will run from one defender to the other. But the team has lost its orientation. They are not in a confident structure now Ronaldo is up front.”
Apart from tactics, Blind concluded that Manchester United also lacked the dominance Manchester City has.
“There is not a tactical plan,” the former Ajax manager claimed. “His team are not able to put pressure on their opponents like Manchester City. United struggle to be dominant – that is the whole problem.”
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