Cristiano Ronaldo incident shows Manchester United players are losing likeability factor

It's a hard time to be a Manchester United fan with the club's current struggles. The team's latest defeat came against Everton who were sitting fourth from the bottom of the table and were lacking any form coming into the fixture.

It was not a game of quality from either side, Anthony Gordon's deflected shot that put Everton 1-0 up was the only real chance in the game, but what was clear was that United were completely out of ideas and the players had completely given up. Ralf Rangnick had repeated in his pre-match press conference that the top four was mathematically possible, but as each game passes, that seems less likely.

What was a United squad that every fan liked and could get behind under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has become one of the most fiercely disliked in recent memory. Even fan favourites such as Bruno Fernandes are not completely immune from criticism at this point.

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Yet the players helping themselves. Paul Pogba's performance yesterday was lacklustre and he was frustrated throughout, one instance saw him nearly punching the ball in anger after a foul, and it seemed to show a player who cannot wait for his contract to expire in the summer.

Others appeared to be just ignoring Rangnick's instructions completely. The German manager has commented in the past that he wants quick passes and defined movements to exploit the spaces in the defence of the opposition, but when Alex Telles received it out wide he would consistently try searching balls into the box to little or no effect.

In fact, this has been a running theme throughout Rangnick's tenure. All of the ideas that make up his gegenpressing style,