Gary Neville makes damning Man Utd assessment despite ‘special’ Cristiano Ronaldo performance
Gary Neville has blasted Manchester United for their sub-par display against Tottenham which was saved by a ‘special’ Cristiano Ronaldo showing.
37-year-old Ronaldo overtook Josef Bican to become FIFA’s all-time record men’s goalscorer with a hat-trick at Old Trafford. His goals helped United to win 3-2 and go two points ahead of Arsenal before their clash against Leicester on Sunday.
However, it was certainly not a complete performance from the Red Devils. As usual, they gave opposition attackers plenty of room to operate and could have conceded more than two goals on another day.
Spurs found the net through Harry Kane and a Harry Maguire own goal.
Ultimately, Ronaldo had the final say, but Neville thinks his top performance is papering over the cracks.
“They are not very good!” Neville told Sky Sports. “I have to say that. The moments in the game were magical and the fans are absolutely buzzing because they have seen Cristiano Ronaldo and they feel like they have seen something special.
“But in terms of the performance, if it is Spurs scoring that late goal, United fans will be going home saying, ‘how bad were we today?’
Ronaldo lifts mood in United camp – Gary Neville
“But big moments happen and the big player turned up and ultimately that has sent them home happy. But it wasn’t a great performance.”
Neville also made a worrying claim about Ronaldo’s future in Manchester, given his ability to rescue them time and time again.
“There’s this looming decision at the end of the season which everyone I think knows is coming – is Cristiano Ronaldo going to be at Manchester United next season?” Neville said (via the Daily Express).
“And people are saying, ‘will Manchester United keep him?’. It’s not their gift. Cristiano Ronaldo will make that decision.
“He’s got another year left on his contract, it’s whether he wants to be here. Whether this is the sort of project, that players sometimes like to say, that he believes in and is enjoying it.”
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Ralf Rangnick lauds hat-trick hero
Rangnick told Sky Sports (via BBC Sport) after the match: “[Ronaldo] was also energetic today. He was part of the whole team when we had to defend, because we had to defend a lot. It was a top performance by him, but also by the rest of the team.
“I didn’t expect him to score three goals, but I expected him to score. That’s why I decided to play him. His training session was so good on Thursday that I decided to start him and not bring him from the bench. I spoke to him before training on Friday and he said his hip flexor was good enough to play.
“Coming back after two goals showed we had the right mentality. We deserved to win. The performance was aggressive enough at least. We showed the desire to win that game. I said before the game, the team who wants it more will be successful.”
The German also made a surprise claim about the difficulties when managing Ronaldo…
READ MORE: Ralf Rangnick admits ‘challenge’ when managing Ronaldo, makes ‘best performance’ claim
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