[Rojow]

No one will buy Ronaldo and pay his massive wages. He is trapped with us for at least another year, or maybe we are with him. But hey, he sells shirts and generates clicks on our social media, who lives from the past and keep posting shits from ages ago instead of nowadays things. I find that so pathetic.

If he isn't dropped in the next few matches it will confirm, for me at least, he has a minimum starts and minutes in his contract.

 

[The Irish Connection]

I'm comparing Cavani last season with Ronaldo this season.

Granted, league only - and Ronaldo obviously has impressive stats in the CL that will boost his overall numbers.

I had to log off yesterday and don’t have time to respond to all, but I still disagree with ye. Ronaldo has been our best outfield player this season.
Cavani has 2 in 8 I think and no assists.
He is obviously not great at holding it up but to say that he loses the ball every time it’s passed to him is another biased statement. Like Fred can’t pass.
And he does work off the ball too.

I’ll say it again, Ronaldo is way down the list of our problems. The group behind him on the pitch are far more at fault.

 

[honirelandboy]

Apparently a big divide in the dressing room with Portugal Vs English players. Bruno and Ronaldo thinking there better than the squad.

Greenwood and Rashford getting pissed off with the preferential treatment of Ronaldo

Ronaldo will be our greatest ever and worst ever signing.

 

[troylocker]

I had to log off yesterday and don’t have time to respond to all, but I still disagree with ye. Ronaldo has been our best outfield player this season.
Cavani has 2 in 8 I think and no assists.
He is obviously not great at holding it up but to say that he loses the ball every time it’s passed to him is another biased statement. Like Fred can’t pass.
And he does work off the ball too.

I’ll say it again, Ronaldo is way down the list of our problems. The group behind him on the pitch are far more at fault.

I did the detailed analysis version yesterday, so I'll do it the tabloid and simplistic way today:

No, he hasn't been our best outfield player. He's been the least contributing player to our general play and our defensive collective.

- He has played a full 90 minuted in 100% of our losses this season.
- We were leading in both the matches when he was subbed on and didn't win any of them (not playing great though, but still leading when he came on)

We will not improve before he stops starting games for us. Our players all performs worse with him on the pitch. His general impact on this squad is piss poor.
From a sports perspective for the club I can't see one single positive aspect of this signing, and I suspect it will get worse the longer he is undroppable.

 

[The Irish Connection]

I did the detailed analysis version yesterday, so I'll do it the tabloid and simplistic way today:

No, he hasn't been our best outfield player. He's been the least contributing player to our general play and our defensive collective.

- He has played a full 90 minuted in 100% of our losses this season.
- We were leading in both the matches when he was subbed on and didn't win any of them (not playing great though, but still leading when he came on)

We will not improve before he stops starting games for us. Our players all performs worse with him on the pitch. His general impact on this squad is piss poor.
From a sports perspective for the club I can't see one single positive aspect of this signing, and I suspect it will get worse the longer he is undroppable.

Nah, disagree with you sorry. Who has been better than him?

 

[Wolf1992]

He will stay for his two years. Who else in Europe would buy him? PSG?

No way, Neymar and Messi wouldn't want Ronaldo at PSG, too many egos together.

He has no other place to go, Sporting Lisbon could be(if he wants CL football), but that would require him to lower his wages....by a lot.

 

[troylocker]

Nah, disagree with you sorry. Who has been better than him?

Who has not become worse with him?

 

[The Irish Connection]

Who has not become worse with him?

But you can’t blame Maguires form, for example, on him.

 

[Pyroblazer]

I had to log off yesterday and don’t have time to respond to all, but I still disagree with ye. Ronaldo has been our best outfield player this season.
Cavani has 2 in 8 I think and no assists.
He is obviously not great at holding it up but to say that he loses the ball every time it’s passed to him is another biased statement. Like Fred can’t pass.
And he does work off the ball too.

I’ll say it again, Ronaldo is way down the list of our problems. The group behind him on the pitch are far more at fault.

Based on what exactly? He has been as bad as everyone else in the league. I don't see how he is our "best player" which also doesn't mean a lot when everyone is bad and the main criticism here points to our team playing "for him" and making him look better on the scoresheet and sacrificing other players. The argument is other players playing better without him in the team. It's ok to sacrifice someone like Benzema for peak Ronaldo. It's not ok for a very limited version of him.

Ronaldo scored 5 in last 14 in the league. That's obviously not great. Comparison with Cavani is pretty pointless. Cavani started only 4 games and only had 3 full games and obviously has a much better overall game but this isn't the Cavani thread. Ronaldo started every game bar Everton and Chelsea where he still had a cameo. He played for 90 minutes in all his starts bar Spurs. Obviously a huge difference in gametime?

Stats point to his overall game beeing really bad, it doesn't look better from the TV for me either. Also yeah we have other problems too but this is the Ronaldo thread, other issues and players can be discussed in their threads.

 

[troylocker]

But you can’t blame Maguires form, for example, on him.

Partly you can. We have declined in every measurable team parameter of the game and the dressing room is filled with poison since his arrival. Everyone elses fault and/or coincidence?

 

[The Irish Connection]

Based on what exactly? He has been as bad as everyone else in the league. I don't see how he is our "best player" which also doesn't mean a lot when everyone is bad and the main criticism here points to our team playing "for him" and making him look better on the scoresheet and sacrificing other players. The argument is other players playing better without him in the team. It's ok to sacrifice someone like Benzema for peak Ronaldo. It's not ok for a very limited version of him.

Ronaldo scored 5 in last 14 in the league. That's obviously not great. Comparison with Cavani is pretty pointless. Cavani started only 4 games and only had 3 full games and obviously has a much better overall game but this isn't the Cavani thread. Ronaldo started every game bar Everton and Chelsea where he still had a cameo. He played for 90 minutes in all his starts bar Spurs. Obviously a huge difference in gametime?

Stats point to his overall game beeing really bad, it doesn't look better from the TV for me either. Also yeah we have other problems too but this is the Ronaldo thread, other issues and players can be discussed in their threads.

The team being forced to play for him is nonsense. If he’s in a good position to score, you pass to him, that’s all. Everyone knows he’s a top finisher. In the last few games, he’s been in goal scoring positions and the pass has either been crap or not even seen.

I just find it bizarre how much the Ronaldo thread gets bumped after yesterday when the reality is, Cavani has been moaning about wanting to leave since day one and yesterday, he was shocking. Not passing to Greenwood with an open goal was as poor as anything I’ve seen this season.

According to the post match threads, Ronaldo has been man of the match or top 3 in a fair few more than Cavani or others.

Lets leave it there, as we could go around in circles for days.

 

[Bebestation]

https://youtube.com/shorts/MjC_6hT486E?feature=share

Ronaldo missed this exact goal against Wolves. Didn't even hit that target.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The team being forced to play for him is nonsense. If he’s in a good position to score, you pass to him, that’s all. Everyone knows he’s a top finisher. In the last few games, he’s been in goal scoring positions and the pass has either been crap or not even seen.

I just find it bizarre how much the Ronaldo thread gets bumped after yesterday when the reality is, Cavani has been moaning about wanting to leave since day one and yesterday, he was shocking. Not passing to Greenwood with an open goal was as poor as anything I’ve seen this season.

According to the post match threads, Ronaldo has been man of the match or top 3 in a fair few more than Cavani or others.

Lets leave it there, as we could go around in circles for days.

As poor as Ronaldo’s headed pass to Jimenez?

They were both dire against Wolves. Cavani’s getting a load of stick in his own thread for that performance. The reason Ronaldo’s thread is the busiest right now is because we’ve seen our attack function well without him (including with Cavani) but it’s been completely dysfunctional in every match he’s started. So that’s bound to make people wonder if signing him was a bad idea (even ignoring his age, the short term nature of the move and the circus that follows him round)

 

[The Irish Connection]

https://youtube.com/shorts/MjC_6hT486E?feature=share

Ronaldo missed this exact goal against Wolves. Didn't even hit that target.

Ronaldo was further away to be fair and that’s Greenwoods (slightly) better foot.
Ive said my piece now, so will leave it there.
On some common ground though, with Cavani leaving and Ronaldo pushing on, in the summer and next season we need to seriously consider bringing in a new striker and/or giving Greenwood more chances as centre forward.

 

[Pyroblazer]

The team being forced to play for him is nonsense. If he’s in a good position to score, you pass to him, that’s all. Everyone knows he’s a top finisher. In the last few games, he’s been in goal scoring positions and the pass has either been crap or not even seen.

I just find it bizarre how much the Ronaldo thread gets bumped after yesterday when the reality is, Cavani has been moaning about wanting to leave since day one and yesterday, he was shocking. Not passing to Greenwood with an open goal was as poor as anything I’ve seen this season.

According to the post match threads, Ronaldo has been man of the match or top 3 in a fair few more than Cavani or others.

Lets leave it there, as we could go around in circles for days.

I can just recommend you to read troylockers long and informative post. Ronaldo's finishing is actually not that great anymore and he also misses a lot of chances. He also gets a lot of chances because he is very selfish on top of his still very good movement. Putting the blame on everyone else is as dismissive as blaming Ronaldo for everything. Not every pass has been crap (some of them were) but we also are just easier to defend in general.
We played shit many times last year too but our individual quality was spread out and we could score goals from all sides and different scenarios. This got less and less overall with Ronaldo in the side and it happens with him in the team all the time, even before United. But when he scores 50 goals in the league it doesn't matter how many goals are scored in a similiar way. It matters when you have the current version of him.

And again, what other players do is kind of pointless here, everyone can complain about Cavani in his thread.

 

[Gehrman]

No way, Neymar and Messi wouldn't want Ronaldo at PSG, too many egos together.

He has no other place to go, Sporting Lisbon could be(if he wants CL football), but that would require him to lower his wages....by a lot.

And their age. Ancient Ronnie and Messi don't mix.

 

[The Irish Connection]

I can just recommend you to read troylockers long and informative post. Ronaldo's finishing is actually not that great anymore and he also misses a lot of chances. He also gets a lot of chances because he is very selfish on top of his still very good movement. Putting the blame on everyone else is as dismissive as blaming Ronaldo for everything. Not every pass has been crap (some of them were) but we also are just easier to defend in general.
We played shit many times last year too but our individual quality was spread out and we could score goals from all sides and different scenarios. This got less and less overall with Ronaldo in the side and it happens with him in the team all the time, even before United. But when he scores 50 goals in the league it doesn't matter how many goals are scored in a similiar way. It matters when you have the current version of him.

And again, what other players do is kind of pointless here, everyone can complain about Cavani in his thread.

Fair enough. Cheers for the debate.

 

[Gehrman]

It's the juventus debate all over again except he's even older. It was a rushed buy without a lot thought put into it.

 

[bakalhau]

It's the juventus debate all over again except he's even older. It was a rushed buy without a lot thought put into it.

I can't disagree with both. Regardless of my opinion on how Ronaldo has played so far, a club of this status, so big, shouldn't really be making emotional decisions with transfers, specially basically near deadline day.

I'm just dying inside and wishing hard this works out. When I mean work out, meaning that one day, we can look back, as we can say Ronnie came in and gave a big help, and mantain his legacy, and we can chat here on how we had a nice period with him, preferrably with trophies. The problem is the only way you guys are ever gonna be happy with him is if he scores 50 goals each season, all while getting 15 assists and playing top football in all aspects of it, including pressing, beating players one on one every game, etc. I think he's been quite a help so far (with margin for improvement, of course), but clearly most people see things differently than me and I'm just afraid when the shop gets closed for the 2nd time all there will be left is hatred. I don't think I've ever wanted something in world football to work out so much, except for Portugal winning an international trophy. I've been a big fan of United since I was 9, and a big fan of Ronnie ever since he came to us first time, and I'd love so much if we could win something with him here again.

 

[Gehrman]

I can't disagree with both. Regardless of my opinion on how Ronaldo has played so far, a club of this status, so big, shouldn't really be making emotional decisions with transfers, specially basically near deadline day.

I'm just dying inside and wishing hard this works out. When I mean work out, meaning that one day, we can look back, as we can say Ronnie came in and gave a big help, and mantain his legacy, and we can chat here on how we had a nice period with him, preferrably with trophies. The problem is the only way you guys are ever gonna be happy with him is if he scores 50 goals each season, all while getting 15 assists and playing top football in all aspects of it, including pressing, beating players one on one every game, etc. I think he's been quite a help so far (with margin for improvement, of course), but clearly most people see things differently than me and I'm just afraid when the shop gets closed for the 2nd time all there will be left is hatred. I don't think I've ever wanted something in world football to work out so much, except for Portugal winning an international trophy. I've been a big fan of United since I was 9, and a big fan of Ronnie ever since he came to us first time, and I'd love so much if we could win something with him here again.

I just want him to make us a better team. I'm not sure he does because of the decline of his overall ability. Some people say he would score goals for fun in City or whatever. But he's not there. He's not a pep type player either. Some people think that if you point fingers at Ronaldo you don't critize the rest of the team, nothing could be further from the truth. Many of our players have been far worse this season and that's not Ronaldo's fault.

 

[KingCavani]

It's the juventus debate all over again except he's even older. It was a rushed buy without a lot thought put into it.

He legitimately was excellent for Juventus though. I do think Serie A was a far better league for him at this stage in his career and he's struggling to adapt to the PL. He was taking 2-3 shots more per game and was getting dispossessed a lot less. Obviously a lot is just due to getting older too.

His performances have gotten much worse of late and it's pretty ridiculous that he isn't being rested for any games.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

For all the "we don't deserve him" cries we often hear, I think we are perfect for him. The fans treat him like a God and the club will always indulge him more than any other club would. He gets to maintain a nice goal tally all the while. Meanwhile, our fortunes...

 

[Maniron]

Unfortunately Ronaldo has returned to the club at the wrong time for both him and the team. How many of our new recruits in the last 3 or so years have actually enhanced their reputation? How many of them have improved the team? Unfortunately they fairly quickly fall into the current malaise that is prevalent throughout the club and they then become part of the problem. How do we move from a collection of talented individuals (not all of them, I agree, but Ronaldo is one ) to an effective team where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts?

 

[bakalhau]

I just want him to make us a better team. I'm not sure he does because of the decline of his overall ability. Some people say he would score goals for fun in City or whatever. But he's not there. He's not a pep type player either. Some people think that if you point fingers at Ronaldo you don't critize the rest of the team, nothing could be further from the truth. Many of our players have been far worse this season and that's not Ronaldo's fault.

I'm not gonna pretend I know at this point whether he can make the team better. Specially because I read this thread a lot and the guys pound so hard on him sometimes even I start having doubts. I do think he's contributed heavily so far. I do think his attitude and professionalism is impeccable. He was criticised for not pressing, 2 weeks later he was doing it and getting applauded for it. He's an example, and should be to everyone else on the team, if he can show immediate improvement on things he's never done before in a couple weeks, I expect the standard to be raised with other players too.

He's not a perfect guy, but I believe in him, truly. He's not the same player as before, but I'm still firmly in the camp of "form is temporary, class is permanent" with him.

 

[rooney2009]

I do not understand the need to constantly defend Ronaldo on this Forum
we are all united supporters 1st
The club is bigger than any one individual and that includes Sir Alex, Ronaldo or Roy Keane
We are all fans of Ronaldo from his 1st Spell
The truth is that Ronaldo is almost 37 and the premiership has moved on
We are now playing with 10 men in most games whilst he goal hangs
He has not made the team better and He is not good enough to justify any kind of undroppable preferential treatment
There is no point of defending the obvious. Rival fans are now praying that he stays at United for the next few years
I'm sure some of Ronaldo's frustration stems from the fact that deep down he knows he cant perform at the high standards he set himself anymore
Age and time catches up with all of us at some point, I remember when Gary Neville retired after a poor game
its amazing though how his united friend Neville, Keane and Ferdinand refuse to criticise him
The quicker we stop defending his non performances and making excuses for him, the better United can move forward

 

[Fredo]

I did the detailed analysis version yesterday, so I'll do it the tabloid and simplistic way today:

No, he hasn't been our best outfield player. He's been the least contributing player to our general play and our defensive collective.

- He has played a full 90 minuted in 100% of our losses this season.
- We were leading in both the matches when he was subbed on and didn't win any of them (not playing great though, but still leading when he came on)

We will not improve before he stops starting games for us. Our players all performs worse with him on the pitch. His general impact on this squad is piss poor.
From a sports perspective for the club I can't see one single positive aspect of this signing, and I suspect it will get worse the longer he is undroppable.

We have a striker who scored more than 800 goals, will leave it there...

Can you do a comparison with Ibra? It would be interesting to see how we were able to accommodate his age with a less talented squad and ended up winning 2 trophies (+Community Shield)

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We have a striker who scored more than 800 goals, will leave it there...

Can you do a comparison with Ibra? It would be interesting to see how we were able to accommodate his age with a less talented squad and ended up winning 2 trophies (+Community Shield)

I would also be interested in that comparison. I reckon Ibra was miles more involved in our all round play than Ronaldo and gave up possession much less frequently.

 

[rooney2009]

We have a striker who scored more than 800 goals, will leave it there...

Can you do a comparison with Ibra? It would be interesting to see how we were able to accommodate his age with a less talented squad and ended up winning 2 trophies (+Community Shield)

so why not bring Giggs and Rooney back as well?
they have very good records as well

 

[FCAES_7]

Ronaldo was poor the 2 last games same as the rest of the team. Saying it is his fault everyone else is playing badly is just people listening to the media, when the media smells blood from us they just start pounding, Pogba first, then Bruno, De Gea, Maguire and now Ronaldo the list goes on. how is it Ronaldo's fault that Sancho, Rashford can't play a simple pass anymore or our defense can't keep a clean sheet if our life depends on it. From a football aspect Ronaldo is not why we are playing bad, but if his presence is dividing the locker room then that's the managers fault not his.

 

[troylocker]

I can't disagree with both. Regardless of my opinion on how Ronaldo has played so far, a club of this status, so big, shouldn't really be making emotional decisions with transfers, specially basically near deadline day.

I'm just dying inside and wishing hard this works out. When I mean work out, meaning that one day, we can look back, as we can say Ronnie came in and gave a big help, and mantain his legacy, and we can chat here on how we had a nice period with him, preferrably with trophies. The problem is the only way you guys are ever gonna be happy with him is if he scores 50 goals each season, all while getting 15 assists and playing top football in all aspects of it, including pressing, beating players one on one every game, etc. I think he's been quite a help so far (with margin for improvement, of course), but clearly most people see things differently than me and I'm just afraid when the shop gets closed for the 2nd time all there will be left is hatred. I don't think I've ever wanted something in world football to work out so much, except for Portugal winning an international trophy. I've been a big fan of United since I was 9, and a big fan of Ronnie ever since he came to us first time, and I'd love so much if we could win something with him here again.

I’ve been a big fan of Ronaldo too, but he isn’t the player he was anymore.
He is a soon to be 37 year old, with an enormous ego and a paycheck that makes the rest of our players paychecks look tiny that doesn’t work for his teammates and shares the spotlight with no one. Our club is turning into a carcrash both on and off the pitch and he is in the center of it. Imagine you were a homegrown 19 year old scoring in the all the first 3 matches of the season and believe you have a real shot at the #9 position this season, then over night…you know what happens next. Dream environment for young super talents this. It cannot end well before he realizes that he no longer holds claim to the throne and steps down.
This was never going to be the fairytail the board and his biggest fans hoped for. Unfortunately there is no club in the world that has any use for a 37 year old who doesn’t run, demands 30M a year and to be #1.
I don’t know if he has a clause in his contract regarding gametime, but if he does and he stays here to the summer of 2023; We’re fecked!

 

[SATA]

I said it before, he is not even a lethal or a good finisher anymore. Tends to miss and fluff his chances than score. So what good does he bring to the team if that isn’t his main strength anymore? It’s sad to see he has regressed so much with age

 

[The Plump Poet]

I know, I know. It's so hard to watch your heroes become old and hopeless.

Dear dear...I know it's hard to accept. Who needs a hug? Let it all out...

 

[El Jefe]

For all the "we don't deserve him" cries we often hear, I think we are perfect for him. The fans treat him like a God and the club will always indulge him more than any other club would. He gets to maintain a nice goal tally all the while. Meanwhile, our fortunes...

His goal tally isn't even worth it to us as far as the league is concerned. Only scored in 6 of the 16 games he's played in the PL this season.

The 18yo Ronaldo that barely scored would be of more use to this team right now. I love him but I don't think he's a net positive to the team.

 

[Sandikan]

For all the moans, who would we actually have played up front instead?

Cavani has only been available for about 4 games.
Rashford is playing at levels you wonder if he'll even be here in a year
Martial woeful last 18months and ready to be shipped of
Greenwood is a long long way off being a central striker.

 

[ThierryHenry14]

Ronaldo can't create something out of nothing anymore and he is a poacher in the box, and he is very good at it. He needs a strong team behind him who can create chance for him to score.

https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/16390/players/expected_goals/premier-league

How many "big chances" Man Utd created this season? 33. Behind Pool (57), City(50) and Chelsea (44). I believe this is the area Man Utd needs to improve. Defense is another issue but here just mainly focus on Ronaldo being the problem.

https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/16390/teams/big_chance_created_team/premier-league

 

[Marwood]

Who has not become worse with him?

Almost all of them. They were all pretty much this bad from Jan 2021 onwards.

The big difference this season to second half of last season is form of Maguire and Shaw and Cavani being out injured. None of which are down to Ronaldo.

You think Rashford and Bruno are worse now than they were back end of last season?

When doing comparisons between this season and last it might be interesting to split last season in two. How has Jan-July 2021 compared to what we've seen so far this season?

 

[Ladron de redcafe]

He legitimately was excellent for Juventus though. I do think Serie A was a far better league for him at this stage in his career and he's struggling to adapt to the PL. He was taking 2-3 shots more per game and was getting dispossessed a lot less. Obviously a lot is just due to getting older too.

His performances have gotten much worse of late and it's pretty ridiculous that he isn't being rested for any games.

He wasn't excellent or anywhere near it. Juventus had won 4 doubles in a row prior to him joining and immediately regressed as soon as he joined, culminating in the disaster that was his last season when they were 5th and outside the UCL spots after the penultimate match of the season, after which they benched him and snuck into the UCL in the last match.

He played there 3 seasons, offered very little besides goals and even then, failed to hit 40 goals in any of those seasons, never came close to winning a golden boot, and only won the domestic top scorer once in the three years, having been outscored by a Fiorentina player 2 years older in one of those seasons.

 

[Rojow]

But, he had those 3 goals against Atlético.

I would expect at his age to have a more teamplay vision. When he was a winger, in season 2006/2007 he was creating chances all matches, he has nothing of that now. I'm amazed how a player of 37 years old, regressed so much his game. It's really sad and many fans are seeing things many of us saw for years about Ronaldo. He had the goals and clutch moments, for sure, but you expect a player of his caliber to deliver more than only those moments, at least as a team player.

 

[Nordmore]

For all the moans, who would we actually have played up front instead?

Cavani has only been available for about 4 games.
Rashford is playing at levels you wonder if he'll even be here in a year
Martial woeful last 18months and ready to be shipped of
Greenwood is a long long way off being a central striker.

I'd take Greenwood over Ronaldo every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I'd give Greenwood a try after watching him wrestling the Wolves defender down in the last match. Or was actually the only player who could receive the ball despite being pressed from behind then turn forward or pass to another forward.

He got pace, brain, technique, two footed, can pass, excellent finisher. Only thing he lacks is strength and experience. He looks quite strong enough already. With more playing time he'll get the experience required. And he really needs that playing time to develop as well.

Then bring Ronaldo on if Greenwood has a bad day when the opponents are tired. It'll be the best for both I reckon.

 

[troylocker]

Almost all of them. They were all pretty much this bad from Jan 2021 onwards.

The big difference this season to second half of last season is form of Maguire and Shaw and Cavani being out injured. None of which are down to Ronaldo.

You think Rashford and Bruno are worse now than they were back end of last season?

When doing comparisons between this season and last it might be interesting to split last season in two. How has Jan-July 2021 compared to what we've seen so far this season?

I don't have time to do'em all, but is it the Bruno that scored 14 and assisted 11 goals for us between 1/1 - 1/6 - 2021 you mean? ...or the Rashford that scored 7 and assisted 9 in the same period?
Yeah! I think both are worse now.