Revealed: Man Utd's shocking Ronaldo statistics

Robin Bairner

• 20 Oct 2022 15:16 BST
• 3 min read

Erik ten Hag’s justification for dropping Cristiano Ronaldo to the Manchester United bench seems to get stronger with each passing week, with the Portugal international star doing himself few favours in the meantime.

Storming away from Old Trafford during a 2-0 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday marked a low point in Ronaldo’s career, yet worse is set to come in the near future, with Ten Hag unlikely to stand for such subordination in his ranks.

Man Utd proved by beating Tottenham that they can not only win without Ronaldo, but they can also play a high-quality brand of football. And they have proven it constantly this season, as a string of damning statistics for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner prove.

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The Red Devils have played 10 Premier League matches this season, with Ronaldo starting two of these, an away fixture with Brentford and a home match with Newcastle. They failed to win either of these matches and also failed to score a single goal in either game.

By contrast, when Ronaldo has not started, United have won 2.25 points per game – a tally that would comfortably win them a Champions League spot. Moreover, only in one of these fixtures has he come off the bench to make a tangible difference to his side’s performance.

Indeed, the figure that perhaps best illustrates Man Utd’s tactical problem with him in the side is the total distance run. Without a pressing forward, Ten Hag’s system breaks down and that is illustrated by the fact that the team runs 10km less per game when Ronaldo has started. That equates to 1000 metres – or around nine lengths of the pitch – per outfield player.

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While the sample size is, admittedly, very small, the evidence is stacking up against Ronaldo, with Man Utd increasingly looking a better team for him not being in it.