Ramos confident despite rampant Ron

JUANDE RAMOS has seen enough to believe ending Manchester United’s winning streak is possible — but his plan will not involve an attempt to man-mark Cristiano Ronaldo out of the game.

United have won their last six games, with Ronaldo scoring in five of them, although Ramos is wary of the other obvious threats that Tottenham will face at White Hart Lane this weekend.

“How do you stop him? Well, we will not be dedicating a special player to mark him and try to close him down, you will find yourself short defending against the rest of them,” said head coach Ramos.

“Wayne Rooney will score, or maybe Carlos Tevez or Ryan Giggs. It is a team with so many good players it is not a wise strategy to concentrate on just one player.”

Ronaldo has racked up 27 goals as United have mounted their Premier League title challenge. The 22-year-old added another brace in midweek against Portsmouth.

“Stopping Ronaldo is difficult, he is a very important player for them and playing exceptionally well,” admitted Ramos.

United’s last defeat was against West Ham just before the new year, although Ramos was encouraged by Spurs’ FA Cup 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford last Sunday. “It is not an impossible task playing them,” said the Spaniard. “In the cup match we put in a good performance and felt we came close to a victory.

“The result went Manchester United’s way, especially after (Michael Dawson’s) red card. We know they are a very good team but we put up a valiant performance and I hope we can continue like that.

“Manchester United are scoring a lot of goals, but they have managed only a few more than us and we are also among the highest scorers in the division so we always believe we too can score in every game.”

Ramos completed the signing of Gilberto from Hertha Berlin on deadline day and the left-back is expected to be in the squad to face United, and he could be handed the task of marking Ronaldo.

“We’re focused on getting better and we want to win games, titles and cups,” said the Brazilian.

Jonathan Woodgate is in the squad, as is Alan Hutton, who was linked with a move to Old Trafford before eventually signing for Spurs. “You need to test yourself against the best players,” said Hutton. “You want to play against the likes of Ronaldo and it is a challenge I’m looking forward to.”