Rio Ferdinand orders Jamie Carragher to stop mentioning Cristiano Ronaldo’s pressing

Rio Ferdinand has told Jamie Carragher to stop talking about Cristiano Ronaldo’s pressing game after the forward scored his 700th club goal on Sunday.

Ferdinand and Carragher have been at a war of words during the last week over a difference of opinion on the Manchester United forward, with Carragher accusing Ferdinand of sticking up for his friend.

Speaking on his show FIVE, however, Ferdinand praised the 37-year-old once again before ordering Carragher to ‘take that argument out of your mouth’ in regards to Ronaldo’s ability to press off the ball.  

Carragher has criticised Ronaldo’s defensive work when his side are out of possession

The forward scored a landmark 700th career club goal against Everton yesterday evening

‘People say he doesn’t press,’ began Ferdinand.

‘If he doesn’t press, I will take that argument on the chin and say you are right if other people came in and they looked completely different with the way they press. 

‘This team looks no better or worse when Ronaldo is playing or not when they’re pressing to retrieve the ball, there is no difference. 

‘Take that argument out of your mouth, all these people that keep talking about it, Jamie Carragher, you’re another one, I don’t want to hear it.’

Ferdinand insisted United are no better at pressing when Ronaldo isn’t in the team

Sky pundit Carragher had previously accused Ferdinand of simply sticking up for his friend

Ronaldo’s first half strike against Everton marked his first league goal of the season, with the forward having to settle for appearances from the bench after trying to push through a move away from United in the summer.

Ferdinand has been a regular advocate for the Portugal star to play more minutes, and told doubters that he ‘can’t be the problem’ in the Red Devils’ poor run because of the volume of goals he scores.

‘I went nuts when that goal went in because I see too many people disrespecting Cristiano Ronaldo and saying he’s the problem,’ he said. ‘You can’t be the problem in a team when you are the one scoring 24 to 26 goals last season.

‘I saw a stat the other day. With Haaland, as good as he is doing and we are all going crazy about him and rightly so, for the next 15 years or 16 seasons he’s got to score 43 plus goals per season to get to that number, that just puts in into perspective. 

‘That’s just where we are with him, this guy’s doing mad stuff. Messi is going to hit that target, and these two are doing stuff we’ve never seen. 

‘We all have favourites, some will say R9, some will say Diego Maradona, some will say Cruyff, Ronaldinho, Zidane, and rightly so, they had their moments, but these guys had a career at that level. It is a long time.’