Manchester United legend, Paul Ince has told manager, Ralf Rangnick, that Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t want to spend 90 minutes pressing.
Rangnick is famed for a ‘gegenpressing’ style, an approach many feel will not be suited to Ronaldo.
But Ince feels that Rangnick and Ronaldo can definitely form a successful partnership together at Old Trafford.
“Listen, let’s put this right. Ronaldo is one of the greatest players to grace a football pitch and if it wasn’t for him, Man United wouldn’t be where they are in the table or in the Champions League. He’s been the main man, he’s scored the important goals. We need to get away from this ‘Ronaldo pressing here, Ronaldo pressing there’.
“You want him to be fresh, he is the main man and the one scoring goals. With Cavani out, they are struggling to score goals so they need that. You need to keep him fit.
“Yes, Rangnick has a pressing philosophy that he’s used wherever he has been. But he now has the best player in the world. Ronaldo doesn’t want to spend 90 minutes pressing. They need to find a solution where they press as a team and when they win it, they get it to Ronaldo’s feet and let him do what he wants to do.
“What Rangnick has done, he’s made the team compact, so when they are pressing, they’ve put some alongside Ronaldo like Rashford. Ronaldo can press five, ten yards. He’s not asking Ronaldo to press 20, 30 yards.
“What you saw at the weekend is that he could do that. As long as the team is compact and pressed together, then that will suit Ronaldo,” Ince told Mirror Football.