Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr

antk said:
Well Lebron James is 40 too and plays at a considerably higher level.
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Plenty of ironmen that are older and considerably fitter than either. I doubt Ronaldo or LeBron could swim 2 miles, bike 110 miles and then run a marathon one after the other.

They're both insanely fit for their respective sports, but there's levels to fitness. I took part in triathlons for a few years, did fairly well in a few too so I was relatively fit. I wouldn't even have attempted an ironman without a major 6-12 month training regime and a total change in diet, work and social life.

Elite boxers would make them both look like 20 a day smokers in comparison as well. Well, lighter weights would, not tubby lumps like Fury/Ruiz/Zhang etc.
 
Kwabs said:
I don't think you can say he wasn't an elite dribbler, he was, just that Messi was always a better dribbler. And I agree that if you're talking about the greatest dribblers of all time, then Ronaldo is not going to be near the top of that list, but he was one of the best dribblers in the world when he was dribbling, I think that's fair to say.
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For 1 season 06/07, he was one of the best dribblers. Prior to that, he had the numbers but the dribbling was brainless. After that, it was good but not elite and progressively worsening other than 09/10. Overall, in the majority of his prime, i wouldn't call him elite in this particular aspect of his game.
 
Wand of a right foot said:
For 1 season 06/07, he was one of the best dribblers. Prior to that, he had the numbers but the dribbling was brainless. After that, it was good but not elite and progressively worsening other than 09/10. Overall, in the majority of his prime, i wouldn't call him elite in this particular aspect of his game.
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This list was from 2019 I believe. Ronaldo is in the top 5, but he also has played more games than anyone on the list and has the lowest completion rate. Still if you are in the top 10, I think you qualify as an elite dribbler. He´s just not among the very best of his generation, but among the best.

https://m.allfootballapp.com/news/A...-recording-stats-Messi-1st-Hazard-2nd/2054051
 
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Vidyoyo said:
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Sincerely, no pun intended man, I fecking hate trolling in forums. Yet if the vid idea was to show one of his best games, best dribbling, it didn't work that much in that sense
 
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Gehrman said:
This list was from 2019 I believe. Ronaldo is in the top 5, but he also has played more games than anyone on the list and has the lowest completion rate. Still if you are in the top 10, I think you qualify as an elite dribbler. He´s just not among the very best of his generation, but among the best.

https://m.allfootballapp.com/news/A...-recording-stats-Messi-1st-Hazard-2nd/2054051
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Leaving stats asise, he was an elite dribbler by any measure, he wasn't for me (for others he might) in the upper echelon historically or maybe even in his period (not that sjure about this), yet to not think of him as a great dribbler it's too much.
I very much like him a lot more when he was closer to the rival's area, he has some excellent goals in Madrid in such style, where he doesn't have to travel a lot with the ball and already has make his mind of what play to pull, focused on striking once he won the space.
 
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Fobal said:
Sincerely, not pun intended man, I fecking hate trolling in forums. Yet if the vid idea was to show one of his best games, best dribbling, it didn't work that much in that sense
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@Vidyoyo never trolls. Every single of his posts are deadly serious.
 
Gehrman said:
@Vidyoyo never trolls. Every single of his posts are deadly serious.
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:lol:...I was reffering to me, I wasn't trying to dig the vid just for being annoying, I trully don't find that vid that great to showcase Cris ability, it's not bad of course, yet not the finest example of what we were talking about recently
 
Fobal said:
Sincerely, no pun intended man, I fecking hate trolling in forums. Yet if the vid idea was to show one of his best games, best dribbling, it didn't work that much in that sense
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I can't pretend like I had a point. I keep getting recommended these videos on YouTube and clicking on them only to realise they're run-of-the-mill performances and I just wasted five minutes of my time.

So I thought I'd share that pain here so I don't feel quite so alone you know :)
 
Why are people arguing about dribbling? There’s different type of players with different dribble styles. You get Messi, Hazard etc Salah type, short and good centre of gravity.

Then there’s Ronaldo, explosive and quick. Etc Bale

Sure the smaller guys have better dribbling tight control but the other guys can destroy you in open space.

Football isn’t one shoe fit all.

Messi and Ronaldo fans were the worst thing to happen in football.
 
Kwabs said:
I don't think you can say he wasn't an elite dribbler, he was, just that Messi was always a better dribbler. And I agree that if you're talking about the greatest dribblers of all time, then Ronaldo is not going to be near the top of that list, but he was one of the best dribblers in the world when he was dribbling, I think that's fair to say.
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Well, in my post I said he's not a "history elite" dribbler, and you're kind of saying the same thing.
 
Vidyoyo said:
I can't pretend like I had a point. I keep getting recommended these videos on YouTube and clicking on them only to realise they're run-of-the-mill performances and I just wasted five minutes of my time.

So I thought I'd share that pain here so I don't feel quite so alone you know :)
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:lol:
 
Brazilian_Ronaldo_9 said:
Why are people arguing about dribbling? There’s different type of players with different dribble styles. You get Messi, Hazard etc Salah type, short and good centre of gravity.

Then there’s Ronaldo, explosive and quick. Etc Bale

Sure the smaller guys have better dribbling tight control but the other guys can destroy you in open space.

Football isn’t one shoe fit all.

Messi and Ronaldo fans were the worst thing to happen in football.
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Social media mostly and the classic Press following the trend are worse and theones that in some way created a toxic enviroment regarding fans of those two and everything...yet, not even that is the worse thing that happened to football, yet certainly enhaced many of the old more stupid habits.

Anyway why people should not talk about dribbling? or any other aspect/atribute from football? in fact for me it's way better than the "my League is better than yours and such" (that still is talking about football), "you svck because you belong to the rival team" and a large etc....

PD: lots of little (and midsize) fellas can destroy you in open space too, many also had great pace, explosion and were/ are very quick....on the other hand there are quite a number of tall fellas that could get away from extremely tight spaces with their dribbling too.
So that sort of simplication you were talking about, not really settle anything, nor it's need to be settle.
BTW in football there are fellas that are capable of fit in many shoes, that's why those two mentioned in your post were and still are great.
 
Fobal said:
Social media mostly and the classic Press following the trend are worse and theones that in some way created a toxic enviroment regarding fans of those two and everything...yet, not even that is the worse thing that happened to football, yet certainly enhaced many of the old more stupid habits.

Anyway why people should not talk about dribbling? or any other aspect/atribute from football? in fact for me it's way better than the "my League is better than yours and such" (that still is talking about football), "you svck because you belong to the rival team" and a large etc....

PD: lots of little (and midsize) fellas can destroy you in open space too, many also had great pace, explosion and were/ are very quick....on the other hand there are quite a number of tall fellas that could get away from extremely tight spaces with their dribbling too.
So that sort of simplication you were talking about, not really settle anything, nor it's need to be settle.
BTW in football there are fellas that are capable of fit in many shoes, that's why those two mentioned in your post were and still are great.
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Yes I agree with your opinion that not all size fits all and it’s not a general rule. I was talking about different styles of dribbling which different players have. Hence the Ronaldo Bale style being different to the Messi Hazard style.

The other point, smaller builds in sports have a good centre of gravity and balance. Ofcourse you’ll meet players who can tick more boxes which make them special or so.

My whole argument is that Ronaldo does have elite dribbling but just a different style. His style might not be effective in certain situations such as Messi but that’s football. (Different styles)
 
Brazilian_Ronaldo_9 said:
Yes I agree with your opinion that not all size fits all and it’s not a general rule. I was talking about different styles of dribbling which different players have. Hence the Ronaldo Bale style being different to the Messi Hazard style.

The other point, smaller builds in sports have a good centre of gravity and balance. Ofcourse you’ll meet players who can tick more boxes which make them special or so.

My whole argument is that Ronaldo does have elite dribbling but just a different style. His style might not be effective in certain situations such as Messi but that’s football. (Different styles)
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But there is nothing wrong to talk about that atribute (dribbling), while in this case I just don't think it's only a matter of style when people talks about thinking that a certain player is/was better at dribbling than another (or any particular atribute).
Less when many here where comparing Cris ability in such aspect with the very very best ever that usually managed to dribble in a way that it's not mere fanboyism, to think a certain former or actual players is/ was better than Cronaldo (this even not including Messi among those players), it's not a question of mere style.

Another matter would be if you think that some views went a bit or too much over the top in demeriting Cris dribbling ability, but that's another issue, not that between Cris and Pele or whomever it was just a question of style.
 
Fobal said:
Sincerely, no pun intended man, I fecking hate trolling in forums. Yet if the vid idea was to show one of his best games, best dribbling, it didn't work that much in that sense
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To be fair the skills at 4:30 and 9:50 mark were absolute filth. Yes I watched the whole thing and I don't regret it one bit - that 10 min old video was more entertainment than United provides in a whole season these days :(
 
Gehrman said:
This list was from 2024 I believe. Ronaldo is in the top 5, but he also has played more games than anyone on the list and has the lowest completion rate. Still if you are in the top 10, I think you qualify as an elite dribbler. He´s just not among the very best of his generation, but among the best.

https://m.allfootballapp.com/news/A...-recording-stats-Messi-1st-Hazard-2nd/2054051
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Fobal said:
Leaving stats asise, he was an elite dribbler by any measure, he wasn't for me (for others he might) in the upper echelon historically or maybe even in his period (not that sjure about this), yet to not think of him as a great dribbler it's too much.
I very much like him a lot more when he was closer to the rival's area, he has some excellent goals in Madrid in such style, where he doesn't have to travel a lot with the ball and already has make his mind of what play to pull, focused on striking once he won the space.
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I would be more interested in dribbles completed per game than total dribbles. Ronaldo has more total dribbles than Neymar although the later completely destroys him in that particular aspect of the game, reason ofcourse being the former's longevity.

From sources, he averaged 2.5 to 3 per game seasons 06-08, around 2 per game 08/09, 3.3 per game season 09/10, 2 to 2.6 per game seasons 10/11/12/13/14. After that it was below 1 per game. For comparison, someone like Neymar averaged well above 4 per game throughout his time in Europe.

Plus he needed acres of space to dribble whereas the likes of Neymar could dribble in any kind of space.

Based on these stats during his prime, i would not classify him as a good dribbler, not elite.
 
Wand of a right foot said:
I would be more interested in dribbles completed per game than total dribbles. Ronaldo has more total dribbles than Neymar although the later completely destroys him in that particular aspect of the game, reason ofcourse being the former's longevity.

From sources, he averaged 2.5 to 3 per game seasons 06-08, around 2 per game 08/09, 3.3 per game season 09/10, 2 to 2.6 per game seasons 10/11/12/13/14. After that it was below 1 per game. For comparison, someone like Neymar averaged well above 4 per game throughout his time in Europe.

Plus he needed acres of space to dribble whereas the likes of Neymar could dribble in any kind of space.

Based on these stats during his prime, i would not classify him as a good dribbler, not elite.
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I trully don't give that much importance to the quantity, to such stats, if a player knows how to do it and in great form, it's more than enough for me. Also sofascore and cia not few times rank many of their stuff in a way I do not conccur even if at least they are consistent with their very own criteria and it can be a useful tool (like any other similar place).
Like I've said before I preffer other players driblling, yet not considering him Elite or simply put, not even good at it, it's way too much for my taste.

I dunno if Ardiles, Bochini, Iniesta, Figo and so many others ever top any chart regarding the ammount of dribbles per game, etc...yet they were great dribblers all of them, even if perhaps they weren't at some aspetcs as good or prolific as Robben, Best, Sivori or Garrincha.
 
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CG1010 said:
To be fair the skills at 4:30 and 9:50 mark were absolute filth. Yes I watched the whole thing and I don't regret it one bit - that 10 min old video was more entertainment than United provides in a whole season these days :(
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Yeap I've said it was a good vid, but there are also too many plays were he actually does not made a great play with some of the critics expressed many times in this thread, granted sometimes some of those critics a bit over the top for my taste.
 
CG1010 said:
Wonder if Ronaldo having been a United legend also has something to do with it?
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That and @SirAF bumping the thread every time Ronaldo knocks a pen past a Saudi bricklayer.

That Messi vs Ronaldo thread was great rubbernecking material, mind. Some genuine nutters on both sides. I don't think you could say one lot were worse.
 
V.O. said:
That and @SirAF bumping the thread every time Ronaldo knocks a pen past a Saudi bricklayer.

That Messi vs Ronaldo thread was great rubbernecking material, mind. Some genuine nutters on both sides. I don't think you could say one lot were worse.
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Oh I think you could tbf.

But…I suppose that’s only natural because Ronaldo himself is somewhat of an anomaly in this whole boring ‘GOAT’ debate.
 
This is the sort of vid with the plays I've mentioned before that he was fantastic, a single or couple of dribbles and a great finish.
In these type of plays his dribbling, focus and balance was really great.




PD: I hate those suppose dribbling focus vids, apparently made to "defend" his Man Utd dribbling period that quite franly does not need any sort of defense yet ends not few times in many badly made vids, that unintentionally expose some not that great aspects of his game in general and his dribbling. Things like a silly backheel with his rival at 3 metres, or 34 stepovers without advancing a single cm or when he loooses balance and ends on a dead alley, on contrair someone should focus on making vids with lots of these sort of plays I've witness him doing throught the years. Stuff that makes him one of the best ever forwards the game has ever seen.
 
He won't win the league with Al Nassr this season either so should convince Casemiro to come in summer and help him regarding that next season.

 
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