Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes some of the club’s players are not able to handle the pressure of playing along side Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese was Red Devils’ best player in the previous season as he scored 24 goals in 38 matches across all competitions but he didn’t get support of his teammates.
Ferdinand feels Ronaldo has the same aura in Manchester United as former captain Roy Keane had during his heydays. The former defender feels players like Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher and John O’Shea were able to flourish after Keane left the club.
Similarly Ferdinand believes Ronaldo’s presence on the pitch and in the dressing room is a burden for some of his teammates as they aren’t able to deliver their best. Ronaldo is one of the best players to have ever graced the game but the rest of the Manchester United players are not able to lift their game.
Ferdinand said on his Vibe With Five podcast (via Manchester Evening News): “There’s two things: his reputation and is he weighing heavy on others’ shoulders? Is his energy about wanting to be there? Roy Keane was a huge character, leader, aggressive, in people’s faces, very different to Cristiano but he had an aura around him that I felt, and players who I speak to suppress some people and players. Natural instincts, natural way of playing, the way they carry themselves in training, matches.
“The likes of John O’Shea, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Wes Brown, Darren Fletcher – he’ll tell you that himself. When he left, Roy Keane, they flourished as not only football players but as people. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer not so much as a football player, but they were allowed to breathe and they felt more comfortable.”
He continued: “He did so much positive for them, he was brilliant in the way he spoke to those players, but also at times he was maybe a detriment to them, the pressure he put on them – unknowingly I suppose – just because of who he was and the stature of player that he was.
“I think maybe Cristiano’s stature, he’s not a talker and someone who’s going to sit down and talk to me. He’s more ‘you’re going to watch me and you’re going to learn’ and the aura that he has to be one of the best players ever could be a burden on some of these players, and they’re not able to handle that pressure that’s coming from him.”
Meanwhile, Manchester United has got off to a worse possible start in the season as they have lost both of their matches. Brighton and Hove Albion defeated them by 2-1 at Old Trafford and then suffered an ignominious loss of 4-0 against Brentford while playing away. Furthermore, even Cristiano Ronaldo has not scored for Erik Ten Hag’s team.
Manchester United will next Liverpool on 23rd August at 12:30 am IST.
