Crash and Burnley: If only they had Cristiano Ronaldo

Newly promoted EPL underdogs Burnely last night recorded their first top-flight win since 1976. And what a win it was: defeating champions Manchester United 1 – 0, shattering the Red Devils’ 17 match winning streak in the process.

It was a resolute performance by the new-boys to say the least but all throughout the night, despite coming out strong in the second half, I felt Manchester United were lacking something; creativity, pace, threatening balls into the box; or to sum up in two words: Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese offered United so much. Not just the astounding number of goals each season, but pace, runs that created room for their forwards, cheeky assists and two things that United needed most on the night: brilliance on dead-ball situations (highlighted further thanks to a poor penalty miss by Michael Carrick) and penetration through a side intent on just defending. I could easily recall the number of occasions when Ronaldo had provided a moment of brilliance to swing the match their way. Surely what Ronaldo has taken with him cannot be easily replaced. At the same time, Sir Alex has not really made any solid attempts to fill the void by pulling some big names off the transfer market.

Pundits, critics and fans alike are musing – in particular after last night’s loss – whether Manchester United have the squad and the game to defend the title this season. Now I know this is just the start of the season and these results are a part of Football, but with Ronaldo gone, the Red Devils do seem that much vulnerable.