Midfielder Darren Fletcher has said that Man United players sacrificed themselves for former United player Cristiano Ronaldo. He has also said that United’s success so far this season is because of the departure of Ronaldo.

We all know that Ronaldo scored us a lot of goals but Fletcher is right. Ronaldo would go forward but he wouldn’t come back to defend so that meant that other players had to make up for what Ronaldo didn’t do.

“[Sir Alex Ferguson] has pointed out that Ronaldo has gone and that is a huge goal difference that we need to fill. As players, we all have to rise to the challenge,” Fletcher told the Sunday Telegraph.

“Ronaldo was good for us, but a lot of players sacrificed themselves for Cristiano too. In a lot of games, I’d be asked to play in central midfield but, whenever he went forward, I’d have to get out to the right to cover him.

“Maybe, now we have got back to 4-4-2, where everybody drops back as a four, it gives the midfielders more opportunity to bomb forward.

“I’d like to think I can get double figures this season because, in this team, you are always likely to get chances if you can get into the box.”

Man United did start to rely on Ronaldo too much but I think that this season, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Owen and others will step-up to the mark and replace some of the goals. We have no choice- they have to.