United Under Ronaldo How Would it Work?

United Under Ronaldo How Would it Work?

Over the last couple of days very strong rumours have been circulating that Ronaldo is on his way back to Old Trafford for a reported £65 million. This is most United fans dreams come true as they have missed the Portuguese footballer ever he since he left Old Trafford for Real Madrid for a record transfer fee of £80 million. Ronaldo has excelled in Spain breaking all kind of records and as it stands has scored more goals than games played in so far for Real Madrid.

But if he did re-join Manchester United how would he fit in and how would United have to play to accommodate him?

Last season Manchester United for the first time in many years attempted to not play the ‘United’ way and did not use out and out wingers to accommodate for a style of play that will help new signing Robin Van Persie excel in the team. This formation led to many boring matches and games where United just did not seem fluid enough as a team but they still went on to clinch the league title by an emphatic eleven points. But if Ronaldo re-joined this summer this tactic will have to be changed. With Ronaldo there are several realistic formations United can play.

A solid 4-4-2 with Ronaldo as the right winger with new winger Zaha on the other this would be a very pacey formation with Van Persie and Hernandez up front not only will this team be filled with pace the two strikers are capable of scoring every time they get a good chance but so can Ronaldo who will be able to supplement the strikers. The central midfield will have to drop slightly further back because Zaha and Ronaldo are not players that track back an awful lot so the midfield will have to cover for them. Overall it is a solid formation choice for United and Ronaldo.

A very appealing possible formation which I am sure would work very well is the 4-2-3-1 formation. Two deep central midfielders to compensate for the very attacking players in the last third of the pitch then you will again have Ronaldo and Zaha on the other winger. But instead of two wingers you will have Shinji Kagawa just behind the striker which would be Robin Van Persie. This formation could allow us to play the ‘United’ way with wingers and full-backs overlapping on the wings to cause devastation to the opposition defence. But it would also allow us to play fast flowing short passing football which as we showed in glimpses last season if we get it right then we can tear defences apart by doing this. 

If Cristiano Ronaldo was to re-join United then I can honestly see our team making an attempt to win the Champions League this year. For the last two years we simply have not been good enough or strong enough to win the Champions League but with Ronaldo in our side we will become one of the best teams in Europe and the Champions League would be a realistic challenge.