Manchester United at home to Newcastle United is not the sort of game that would ordinarily draw the eyes of the world. This one though, had an extra dimension.
Ole Gunnar Solskaer’s team had got off to a satisfactory start with seven points from their first three games. Steve Bruce on the other hand had just a single point and looks like he could be in for a long season.
But the backdrop is almost unnecessary for this one. The game was all about one man.
Starting line-ups
Manchester United announced their starting eleven on social media with a tweet (retweeted over 42,000 times) that read ‘The news we’ve all been waiting for…’.
That news, of course, was that Cristiano Ronaldo was starting.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had claimed during the week to be considering not starting the Portuguese superstar, admitting only that he would be “on the pitch at some point”.
But a game at Old Trafford, against a Newcastle side who are surely set for a season-long battle against relegation, looked the ideal environment for the returning hero to step back into his old team and continue where he left off.
Once Ronaldo himself popped up on the club’s official website and said, “I am going to pressure Ole to start in the eleven”, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
With Daniel James having moved on to Leeds United, Solskjaer didn’t even have to drop a player to accommodate the selection of Ronaldo in his side. Mason Greenwood moved out to the right-wing position vacated by the young Welsh attacker, a position he played in already this season against Southampton, freeing up the centre forward role for Ronaldo.
Newcastle, meanwhile, made no less than three changes in personnel to their back five, with Javier Manquillo, Isaac Hayden and Ciaran Clark all returning to the side while, further forward in their 5-4-1 shape, Joelinton replaced the injured Callum Wilson.
The Ronaldo Effect
For all of his talent, which even at 36 years of age is still undeniable, questions still had to answered as to how Solskjaer intended to use Ronaldo to get the most from his new acquisition.
Possibly the biggest challenge was making sure that his presence didn’t have a negative effect on the contribution of the players around him, an issue which arose at Juventus.
So lets take a look at how some of his team-mates adapted to his inclusion.
Bruno Fernandes
Since arriving at Old Trafford at the beginning of last year, Bruno Fernandes has been a revelation. He has scored goals, created goals, and been the heartbeat of Solskjaer’s side.
The Fernandes that we saw for Portugal at Euro 2020 though was hardly recognisable as the same player.
It is easy to see why some pundits put two and two together and came to the conclusion that Ronaldo’s existence in the same starting eleven as Fernandes could cause problems.
But while there are far tougher tests to come down the road, yesterday the pair looked in complete harmony.
As early as the fourth minute of the game, they almost combined for a goalscoring chance. Ronaldo, arguably more so than any other player in the world, is an expert at making the kind of movement that demands the player on the ball to try and find him.
Below we see him look to dart in behind Hayden with exactly the kind of run that challenges Fernandes to try and pick him out. Fernandes executes the pass almost to perfection only for Hayden to get the slightest of touches causing a ball that was destined for Ronaldo’s chest to hit his face instead and bounce away.
Moments later and the pair were looking to combine again. This time Ronaldo pulled into space, allowing Greenwood to move into the centre forward position, before looking to accelerate in behind Clark. Fernandes again supplied the delivery but this time it was Clark who just about managed to get his head to the ball.
When Fernandes got to the byline in the 11th minute of the game and lifted his head to see where Ronaldo was the potential outcome seemed almost inevitable, certainly to Irish football fans anyway.
He delivered the perfect cross into the space in front of wing-back Matt Richie but
surprisingly Ronaldo had failed to make the run. The ball in was so good that Ronaldo immediately raised his hand to apologise to his team-mate for not keeping up his side of the bargain.
The pair continued to instinctively look for each other throughout the game, combining successfully on twenty occasions over the ninety minutes and while they may not have assisted each other for their goals on this occasion, it looks as though that will be only a matter of time.
Filling in at centre forward
As we saw in my recent piece on Portugal v Ireland, Ronaldo’s fondness for going wandering from his centre forward role places demands on the other attacking players around him to fill that position when required.
Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and, in particular, Greenwood adapted to this demand very quickly on Saturday.
Below we see Fernandes recognise Ronaldo’s movement towards Paul Pogba, leading him to drive in behind and latch onto the Frenchman’s clipped ball over the top.
In the next image, Ronaldo has drifted out to his favoured left channel position but the centre forward role is immediately filled by Sancho who almost manages to turn Fernandes’ shot into the bottom left-hand corner.
Greenwood becomes Ronaldo’s new Rooney
It was Mason Greenwood’s movement that really stood out in this game though. Here we see him take up the centre forward position when Ronaldo drops off. He then shows for a one-two with Ronaldo, but Jamaal Lascelles just about managed to close his legs quick enough to stop Ronaldo’s attempted nutmeg from putting Greenwood through on goal.
The most impressive example of what Greenwood offers came during a 20-second tour de force from the young English man.
As Fernandes receives the ball, it’s Greenwood and Sancho rather than Ronaldo who looks to offer penetration in behind. Fernandes is disposed though, leaving Ronaldo and Greenwood in each other’s positions.
Under normal circumstances, Ronaldo would be expected to do the defensive work of the right-wing role until a break in play offered the two players a chance to swap back over.
What we see here though is Greenwood sprinting past Ronaldo to get back across to close Newcastle’s left back Richie. He does such a good job that he manages to force a turnover in possession.
Amazingly, just a few seconds later, and with Ronaldo having hardly moved a muscle, Greenwood is back in the centre forward position again looking to offer a threat in behind.
United fans will hardly need much reminding of the manner in which Wayne Rooney
was willing to cover the workload of two players to allow Ronaldo to flourish during his first stint at the club. If Greenwood offers the same work ethic this time around, then Solskjaer should shower him with praise.
Ronaldo goals
Ronaldo’s goals also offer up interesting discussion points. For his first goal, Greenwood picks of the ball in the inside right channel. He drives inside and opts to ignore the overlapping run of Aaron Wan-Bissaka in favour of having a shot from distance himself.
You would have to imagine that had Newcastle goalkeeper Freddie Woodman managed to hold onto his shot as he should have done then Ronaldo would not have been best pleased with Greenwood’s decision.
He will want to see those full-back runs utilised as often as possible so that he can head
home their deliveries from the end line.
All’s well that ends well as Ronaldo tapped home the rebound, but how patient will he be with Greenwood if he continually makes that same decision. Memories of Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s frustrations and clashes with a certain young United winger come back to mind.
Ronaldo’s second goal showed just how little his athletic powers have waned. As Luke Shaw initially picks up the ball, Hayden looks adequately positioned to deal with any driving run from the forward given that he has almost ten yards on him.
By the time Shaw plays the pass though, Ronaldo has eaten up the ground and Hayden is in trouble. On receiving the ball, his first touch is perfect and allows him to hold off Hayden and finish powerfully.
Same old Ronaldo.
