Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo has ‘had enough’ at the Red Devils following their defeat to Everton on Saturday.
Despite being in poor form and on the cusp of the relegation zone, the Toffees beat United 1-0 thanks to a goal from Anthony Gordon in the 27th minute. The 21-year-old’s strike deflected past David de Gea to send Goodison Park into a frenzy.
The defeat means that the Red Devils are now six points outside of the top four and their chances of Champions League football are now extremely slim, especially considering how the team are performing of late. Asked by Premier League productions what went wrong for United after the loss, Hargreaves replied: “What went right? A lot went wrong. What did they do right?
‘The effort isn’t there, their passing was poor, they didn’t have barely any shots on target. I don’t think they did much. There’s a top-four place at stake here. Look, Anthony Gordon played like it meant everything to him. Everton could go down, but United could be in the Champions League where they all want to be.
“Their names suggest that’s where they should be. But it didn’t feel like they thought it was a must-win. You want them to put in a performance but we didn’t see it. There was no real quality. Look at Cristiano Ronaldo during that game, he had had enough. He got no service. He got nothing to him.
“There’s so many good players out there but really you’d expect way, way more from Manchester United.” Ronaldo hardly had a sniff against Frank Lampard’s Everton, struggling to link-up play and influence the game, having two shots – one was blocked and the other was one of United’s four shots on target in the match.
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United are expected to undergo a major reshuffle in the summer when a new manager is appointed, and they will certainly need to be well-backed in the transfer window. Interim boss Ralf Rangnick wasn’t able to sign any players in January, with the higher powers at the club keen for the German’s successor to have as big a budget as possible when they enter the dugout at Old Trafford.
However, the club may be facing the consequences for not allowing the former RB Leipzig boss to sign anyone as he has been unable to apply the high-pressing, attacking system on to the team. Speaking after the defeat on Saturday, Rangnick said: “With all respect to Everton - because they have a good team - but if you don't score against a team who conceded three goals against Burnley, you cannot expect to get anything out of it.
"The first 25 minutes we were in full control of the game. We didn't even in those 25 minutes take enough advantage out of that dominating period. You could literally feel that Everton were crumbling after that result against Burnley. They were quite logically not full of confidence but we didn't take advantage of that."
