Man Utd accused of repeating Falcao mistake with Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani found themselves starved of service against Wolves – and it has reminded Rio Ferdinand of Man Utd’s failure to get the best out of Radamel Falcao

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

The video will auto-play soon8Cancel

Play now

Ralf Rangnick reflects on Wolves defeat

Manchester United are adapting to a new system under Ralf Rangnick – but former centre-back Rio Ferdinand has concerns.

The Red Devils mustered just two shots on target in their 1-0 defeat against Wolves on Monday night, one of which was a late free-kick.

Front-two Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani were both kept quiet whilst Jadon Sancho had another tough evening.

But Ferdinand has attributed the blame to United’s build-up play – in particular a lack of width and crosses into the box.

He believes that Ralf Rangnick is simply not playing to the strengths of the experienced Cavani and Ronaldo.

And he drew comparisons with the mistakes made when Radamel Falcao became a big-money flop at Old Trafford several years ago as United failed to play to his strengths.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Manchester United change their tactics to get more out of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani? Join the discussion in the comments section!

Speaking on his Vibe With Five podcast, Ferdinand said: “It’s all going off. I can’t even sit here properly. Having to sit here and defend this team is killing me.

“My biggest gripe is that if you’ve got Cavani and Ronaldo in your team — two of probably the best attackers of the ball from wide areas — and you don’t play with any real width or any people that are capable of putting the ball in good areas — then it almost feels like a pointless task.

“You’ve got to play to their strengths. It’s like when we played [Radamel] Falcao years ago. You bring in someone great at attacking balls, but then never cross the ball. How can you expect them to produce the goods?

“Cristiano Ronaldo can do things from other areas, so can Cavani.

“But if two of their big strengths are from when they cross the ball, get the ball in the box.

“Play with a bit more width, maybe. If he plays this 4-2-2-2, it’s about full-backs providing the width then.”

Rangnick’s tactical approach was also slammed by Jamie Redknapp immediately after the game, who accused the German of “making up systems”.

“They [Wolves] were playing a side so devoid of confidence, of ideas, of how to play, the system,” he said on Sky Sports.

“We talk about managers coming into the game, and Rangnick came in with this famed 4-2-2-2 system.

“It doesn’t work if you don’t have the right players. You have to play the right system. Then he went to a three at the back, a 4-4-2, and at the end I think he was making up systems.

“There was no real identity of how they were trying to play. The Watford performance was a real low, but I’m sure the United fans thought at least they were good going forward.

“There was nothing today. When you watch Man City and the best teams, they have control of the midfield. United never had that.

“Never once did they play passes to each other, or have an ability to take the sting out of the game, they were so poor today.”