Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes Cristiano Ronaldo was telling his team-mates to do whatever it takes to stop Everton’s goal.
They were held to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford as Andros Townsend’s second-half goal cancelled out Anthony Martial’s superb opening goal.
On 65 minutes, from a United corner, Demarai Gray escaped Fred and Aaron Wan-Bissaka as Everton countered. He found Abdoulaye Doucoure whose lay-off to Townsend saw the winger slot the ball past David de Gea.
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And Ferdinand revealed Ronaldo’s frustration at full-time. He said on BT Sport: ‘Man United at that time, Cristiano says take him early in the play, the foreign teams are cute in those positions and counter-attacks with cheeky fouls would’ve stopped and prevented that.
‘You can see him there, telling them “take him out, smash him.”‘
In discussing Everton’s counter-attack, Jermaine Jenas said: ‘I wouldn’t say it was coming but Everton were growing and getting better and better in that second half.
‘Pace and power and quality is what they had in abundance in Doucoure and Townsend and Demarai Gray, that is counter-attacking at his best. ‘All sorted from that weight and strength from Demarai Gray.’
After the game Ronaldo, who started on the bench, stormed down the tunnel. And Ferdinand said: ‘He stormed down the tunnel, disappointed about the result obviously we’ve all been there.
‘I think it’ll be a mixture of things, he’s a man in form, scored five in five, wanted to continue that vein of form and shoot his side to victory, I understand the frustrations and it comes out like that.
‘Pogba down the tunnel after him. A club like Manchester United with the depth they have in their squad should be able to get the job done, you have to remember the players that were missing in this Everton team, neither of their strikers played, probably the weakest they’ve been for a while, you’d expect to go and beat them.
‘Nine games without a clean sheet is a poor record for Man United, that’s what undone them today they controlled large parts of this game but give up a lot of chances.’
