Having supplanted Chelsea at the top of the Barclays Premiership, Manchester United may now be prepared to rival the champions for public opprobrium. While the quality of their football is intense, the propensity of one of their players to embrace the game’s darker arts remains undimmed. For Didier Drogba, read Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portugal winger, who enraged England supporters during the World Cup finals, dived on at least two occasions in the 2-1 win away to Middlesbrough. The first earned a penalty, converted by Louis Saha, the second a free kick, taken by Ronaldo, which Mark Schwarzer did well to clear.

The incidents enraged Middlesbrough and Gareth Southgate, their manager, who was unequivocal when asked whether he thought Ronaldo had cheated. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s very difficult for the referee, because it happened very quickly, but how many times are we going to see it? The lad’s got a history of doing it.”

Although he played with verve, Ronaldo was jeered throughout and Southgate was adamant that the 21-year-old’s theatrics undermine United’s excellence. “There is so much good about what they do, it makes the other side so disappointing,” he said. “I am not quite sure who the onus is on, but something has to be done because it is happening with that lad too many times.”

Neither Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, nor Carlos Queiroz, his assistant, condemned Ronaldo for tumbling without contact from Schwarzer and there is no suggestion that they have spoken to the winger. “It looks as though the goalkeeper didn’t touch him,” the United manager said, “but it’s the intent — what could he do? He’s going to be carted anyway. It’s a penalty kick.”

Schwarzer did not agree. “Mark is a very calm man and I can’t remember seeing him as angry as that for a long time,” Emanuel Pogatetz, the Middlesbrough defender, said.

Southgate said it was the first time that he has “been really angry as manager” and his dugout debut in opposition to Ferguson was another eye-opener. “You learn a few tricks in the way Sir Alex deals with officials,” he said. “And he encroached into my technical area. I was tempted to tell him to get back into his own box, but thought it was probably wise not to.”