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Cristiano Ronaldo blamed by Tim Sherwood for Bruno Fernandes’ penalty miss for Manchester United vs Aston Villa
Speaking after Manchester United suffered defeat in the Premier League against Aston Villa (h/t Metro), former Premier League manager Tim Sherwood remarked that Cristiano Ronaldo has put pressure on Bruno Fernandes since coming into the team.
The match wasn’t a classic by any means and up until the 88th minute, the Villans perhaps had the best chance when Matt Targett squandered a golden opportunity.
But the visitors’ perseverance paid off when Kortney Hause’s header found the net 2 minutes from the 90-minute mark. Ollie Watkins’ was perhaps blocking David de Gea and should have been ruled offside.
But it cannot be used as an excuse for the Red Devils’ poor performance on the day. United had a chance to redeem themselves in added time when Hause turned from hero to villain as he handled the ball inside the box.
Bruno vs Ronaldo for penalties
Fernandes stood over the spot-kick and skied the ball into orbit. According to Sherwood, Ronaldo’s arrival led to the costly miss as the former Juventus and Real Madrid superstar has put pressure on Fernandes.
“Listen, he don’t miss that. You’ve never, ever seen him blast the ball over the crossbar. He always waits for the goalkeeper to go down and rolls it in the other corner. It’s the pressure now of someone else. The main man is here. Ronaldo [being] there 100% is distorting his thinking there. He knows he’s got one chance and one chance only and I think we’ve just seen it go by.”
Sherwood also holds the opinion that there is very little chance that Fernandes continues taking spot-kicks now for the Red Devils. Here, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should intervene and sort it out in the dressing room.
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Both players are good from the spot but knowing that one miss could mean they’re off penalty duty can have an effect on their confidence.
