[Skyhightrees]

I've love a big fancy tactical breakdown and analyst from the likes of Gary Neville, Sky and Match of the Day explaining why the greatest goal-scorer in football history isn't in the box in the 90th minute when the team is desperate of a goal.

see if they can actually spin it negatively to blame Ronaldo's age or be ageist even though against Villarreal at home a few weeks before Rangnick took over he was in the box in the 90th minute that's how he scored the winner. And Atalanta home and away etc

Rangnick is winning games so nobody cares as Ronaldo isn't Harry Kane or British but he said he plays players in their best positions.. and he isn't tactically with Ronaldo. And eventually that will come to bite the team in the bum having a striker with no confidence as he's not scoring goals.

a young prime Van Nistelrooy wouldn't score goals in this team either so it's nothing to do with age or ageist when a striker isn't in the box. Rangnick tactically since he came in and Ronaldo's goal scoring and goal output has suddenly fell of a cliff and that's not too much of a coincidence?! These journalists like Luckhurst and pundits like Gary Neville need to give the heads a wobble and smell the coffee.

I’m sorry but you have no idea what youre talking about. Devoid of confidence? Why? He is playing better even if not scoring.

Are you mad that the team won with Ronaldo being important in the build up play and not scoring? HE was the one dropping deep to try things and thats not on Ralf.

Ronaldo did great dropping deep and created the goal occasion. The people slandering him here matter nada in the bigger picture, chill bro

 

[SonyaCross493]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/17408664/manchester-united-west-ham-verdict-ronaldo-greenwood/amp/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/17407906/man-utd-ratings-telles-dalot-ronaldo-west-ham/amp/

if you are not going to play to Ronaldo's strengths as a goal-scorer then please don't play (or start) him at all because hes just getting relentless criticism for following the managers tactical instructions..

he was scoring loads of goals for Ole

like I said Ronaldo will probably more likely leave the club in the summer if this continues (him not scoring goals and getting criticism after EVERY game) so no point playing him if he's not scoring goals as that's the only way he can have a good game in the media and press's eyes to avoid criticism. Even the fans.

Start Cavani instead with Ronaldo having sub cameo appearances and for the club to let mutually Ronaldo leave at the end of the season. I think everyone will be happier then.. Including Ronaldo himself, his backstabbing teammates who leaked the Athletic article, people on this forum and the media/press. Ronaldo can go to a club who will tactically play to his strengths. Like when Sir Alex told the Manchester United players to pass the ball to Van Persie as he will win us the league. Nobody is obviously telling Greenwood to pass to Ronaldo.

 

[The United]

??
Hold on. What exactly do you think made Rooney a United legend and a world class player? Rooney was an amazing link up striker, great holding it up and great playmaking. Even with a heavy touch he always managed to retain the ball with his back to goal because he knew how to use his broad frame to shield the ball. After Ronaldo left, that one season he and Valencia struck an amazing duo many of his goals started with Rooney bringing Valencia into play. By standards relative to the position Rooney was an A+ in playmaking, hold up and link up. He was for all intents and purposes a striker and a number 10. Pretty much a complete striker.

Early in his career his ability to run at defenders started fading from getting too bulky but he compensated with brilliant hold up capabilities, that was in addition to being good at everything else as a ballplayer.

I think you are confusing with what I am trying to say here. Rooney excelled as a link-up striker. There was no doubt about that. His strength helped him retain the ball in situations that you mentioned. But, he was never a pure hold-up player like let's say Zalatan. I do know that Rooney had a very good season in 2010 playing as a lone striker. But even then people were debating that he should stay up more and not coming down to collect the ball too often. Imo, he had a good season in that role because he was a very good player himself.

But that season and after that does not mean anything to my argument because I was talking about the fluid (mostly) attacking play from 2007-2009 period where Rooney was not definitely a lone hold-up striker type. All of them were link-up players which made us great to watch and equally effective.

The point was that you do NOT need a striker just to hold up there to 'bring others into the play'. A fluid front line would do which we should be going for.

 

[Greck]

I think you are confusing with what I am trying to say here. Rooney excelled as a link-up striker. There was no doubt about that. His strength helped him retain the ball in situations that you mentioned. But, he was never a pure hold-up player like let's say Zalatan. I do know that Rooney had a very good season in 2010 playing as a lone striker. But even then people were debating that he should stay up more and not coming down to collect the ball too often. Imo, he had a good season in that role because he was a very good player himself.

But that does not mean anything because I was talking about the fluid (mostly) attacking play from 2007-2009 period where Rooney was not definitely a lone hold-up striker type. All of them were link-up players which made us great to watch and equally effective.

The point was that you do NOT need a striker just to hold up there to 'bring others into the play'. A fluid front line would do which we should be going for.

yeah fair point.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Swap Ronaldo for a young Van Nistelrooy and the striker would still not score goals

this has nothing to do with Ronaldo's age or ageist it's purely tactical from Rangnick

look of the pictures of Rashfords goal. Where was Ronaldo? as he wasn't in the box (like Cavani, Rashford and Martial) in the 90th minute like he should be given his goal-record and experience. It commands respect.

there's no big tactical analyst or breakdown of Ronaldo's role and what Rangnick expects Ronaldo to do in this system. The journalists don't ask Rangnick about Ronaldo because he's not Harry Kane and English. Yet if they asked surely Rangnick would answer.

There's no tactical analyst by Sky, BT or Match of the Day showing a heat map of Ronaldo since Rangnick took over. They have agendas to push that Ronaldo is the problem.

Great, now it's an injustice for him to drop deep a few times.

 

[EtH]

Great, now it's an injustice for him to drop deep a few times.

We need to be doing everything we can to further his brand.

 

[Jim Beam]

Us being given a penalty and Ronaldo blasting it over the bar might just push Sonya over the edge at this point.

 

[Foxbatt]

He did not have a brilliant game but Ronaldo dropping created problems for West Ham. If Mason had a better game we probably could have scored earlier on.

 

[SonyaCross493]

Us being given a penalty and Ronaldo blasting it over the bar might just push Sonya over the edge at this point.

No I now agree with you all now on here that want Ronaldo dropped. I was hoping things might improve but it won't because we won't suddenly start creating chances for him (nobody behind the scenes will tell selfish and greedy Greenwood to pass to Ronaldo like Sir Alex told the players to pass to Van Persie) or changing the way we play tactically to get the best out of him with him now dropping too deep especially with the team winning.. Cavani is probably better at doing that anyway (dropping deep and linking up the play) it's not really one of Ronaldo's strengths so why start him just to shoehorn him into the side if you are not prepared to play to his strengths especially when other players like Cavani do what we are asking Ronaldo to do better? It's not Ronaldo's fault it's not one of his strengths yet we are asking him to do it and it's bringing media criticism. So just drop him and protect the player.

You are all right use him in a substitute cameo role and let him leave the club mutually at the end of the season. Everyone will be happier then including Ronny himself. He can go to Sporting Lisbon or MLS (or maybe another club in a different league) and play for a team and environment that are prepared to play to his strengths. Enjoying his last few years of his career before he retires.

I think Sancho not playing hasn't helped Ronaldo as he's the only creative winger we have. But I don't see Rangnick dropping Greenwood anytime soon.

 

[Cabin Clown]

Wish Ronnie would show more emotion when someone other than himself scores like yesterday. I remember vividly how high maintenance he was the year before he went to Madrid. Let's be honest his ambitions are his own over any team. Amazing player and I adore him but that reaction last week to being substituted really irked me. Then you look at the likes of Cavani coming on and the utter passion he has and no complaints. It's a hard one to call.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

Two managers play him on the right. Maybe he is not exactly a CF material atm or even ever.

Maybe not, but it takes time and patience to develop players.
One of the main reasons there are so few high quality strikers is because generally when a young striker breaks through To the first team the play on the wing, they then spend key years of there development learning a different position, then when they get to about 25 mangers generally then seem to try and put them up top, the odd player manages it, but most just fall into limbo as they never developed the natural instincts for the position.

 

[Gehrman]

No I now agree with you all now on here that want Ronaldo dropped. I was hoping things might improve but it won't because we won't suddenly start creating chances for him (nobody behind the scenes will tell selfish and greedy Greenwood to pass to Ronaldo like Sir Alex told the players to pass to Van Persie) or changing the way we play tactically to get the best out of him with him now dropping too deep especially with the team winning.. Cavani is probably better at doing that anyway (dropping deep and linking up the play) it's not really one of Ronaldo's strengths so why start him just to shoehorn him into the side if you are not prepared to play to his strengths especially when other players like Cavani do what we are asking Ronaldo to do better? It's not Ronaldo's fault it's not one of his strengths yet we are asking him to do it and it's bringing media criticism. So just drop him and protect the player.

You are all right use him in a substitute cameo role and let him leave the club mutually at the end of the season. Everyone will be happier then including Ronny himself. He can go to Sporting Lisbon or MLS (or maybe another club in a different league) and play for a team and environment that are prepared to play to his strengths. Enjoying his last few years of his career before he retires.

I think Sancho not playing hasn't helped Ronaldo as he's the only creative winger we have. But I don't see Rangnick dropping Greenwood anytime soon.

Most people here actually think that Ronaldo had a better game than usual despite not getting on the scoresheet. Of course unless someone wants Ronaldo to fail, every fan would love him to score a goal or more, but he's often been terrible and then scored goal. For once he felt like a much more all around player and had a decent game even if he didn't score. I don't think that's a bad thing. I just think some are obsessed with games/goals ratio because of his legacy and all that, but his legacy is already sealed. He can be utterly wank from now on untill he retires and still has a claim to be the goat depending on how you define it.

 

[Mickeza]

Yesterday was definitely a blueprint we can work with.Good linkup and he worked very hard.

 

[Idxomer]

Yes, his touch and passing have looked much sharper the last two games.

 

[Laurencio]

Yesterday was definitely a blueprint we can work with.Good linkup and he worked very hard.

It's a style of play that suits his age and the decline of is explosivity. I hope Ronaldo sees that this is how he needs to start playing regularly to make sure the team wins matches. He looked much more in sync with the team yesterday.

 

[Mickeza]

It's a style of play that suits his age and the decline of is explosivity. I hope Ronaldo sees that this is how he needs to start playing regularly to make sure the team wins matches. He looked much more in sync with the team yesterday.

Absolutely. The whole team actually looked like a team - instead of a bunch of individuals. The last week has been miles better than anything else this season.

 

[Gehrman]

It's a style of play that suits his age and the decline of is explosivity. I hope Ronaldo sees that this is how he needs to start playing regularly to make sure the team wins matches. He looked much more in sync with the team yesterday.

It was just nice to see how much more smooth his overall play was. And a real teamplayer at that. He doesn't need to turn into a false 9 at this age, but he looked more like a complete forward.

 

[giggs-beckham]

Why would we dismiss last year? The same team looked more fluid without him this year
Try again.

Bring back Ole then?

 

[Foxbatt]

Wish Ronnie would show more emotion when someone other than himself scores like yesterday. I remember vividly how high maintenance he was the year before he went to Madrid. Let's be honest his ambitions are his own over any team. Amazing player and I adore him but that reaction last week to being substituted really irked me. Then you look at the likes of Cavani coming on and the utter passion he has and no complaints. It's a hard one to call.

He did. He went and celebrated with everyone else.

 

[UpWithRivers]

The problem is that we play with 3 strikers. Greenwood, Rashford, even Elanga are strikers. That means no crosses in the box and no creativity. If we want to do that, a bit like Liverpool with Mane and Salah (even though they are more creative but similar) then you need the 9 to be more a false 9 and then you need the fullbacks to create a sht loads of chances. Ronaldo is doing better at being the false 9 like yesterday. But the question is. Is that what we want from Ronaldo? Or do we want him in the box scoring. If its the latter then we need to change the shape of the team. We need a Sancho on the RW and a Martial on the LW for example. We need a proper DM so the fullbacks can push up more. We might even need 2 creative midfielders sometimes. Pogba-----DM------Bruno for example. This is all building around Ronaldo and in these scenarios he would score a sht load. Or are we changing him to be a false 9 and if so even though he is doing ok is he really the best false 9 or is there better options i.e. Bruno at false 9.

 

[Deery]

I thought he was alright yesterday but I’m not going to go looking for things to praise him on after that performance, the worrying thing is he never got a shot in did he that’s a couple of games now.

 

[Gehrman]

The problem is that we play with 3 strikers. Greenwood, Rashford, even Elanga are strikers. That means no crosses in the box and no creativity. If we want to do that, a bit like Liverpool with Mane and Salah (even though they are more creative but similar) then you need the 9 to be more a false 9 and then you need the fullbacks to create a sht loads of chances. Ronaldo is doing better at being the false 9 like yesterday. But the question is. Is that what we want from Ronaldo? Or do we want him in the box scoring. If its the latter then we need to change the shape of the team. We need a Sancho on the RW and a Martial on the LW for example. We need a proper DM so the fullbacks can push up more. We might even need 2 creative midfielders sometimes. Pogba-----DM------Bruno for example. This is all building around Ronaldo and in these scenarios he would score a sht load. Or are we changing him to be a false 9 and if so even though he is doing ok is he really the best false 9 or is there better options i.e. Bruno at false 9.

Yeah without creative fullbacks and a great midfield it's a problem. Forwards can learn to cross though.

 

[Gehrman]

I thought he was alright yesterday but I’m not going to go looking for things to praise him on after that performance, the worrying thing is he never got a shot in did he that’s a couple of games now.

Greenwood could have played him in early for a great chance but was too greedy.

 

[Deery]

Greenwood could have played him in early for a great chance but was too greedy.

I thought Bruno should have played him in instead but even at that it’s should haves rather that Ronaldo having a few shots on goal, especially over two games he really should be producing a bit more.

 

[Leftback99]

He was alright but there's plenty of players around that could give us what he did yesterday.

 

[Gehrman]

I thought Bruno should have played him in instead but even at that it’s should haves rather that Ronaldo having a few shots on goal, especially over two games he really should be producing a bit more.

Maybe yeah but also depends on service and our gameplan. If our gameplan is "get it to Ronaldo" he'll have more chances. Yesterday where everyone was more involved we looked better. But yeah we didn't really create that many chances at all, but West Ham are hard to break down. I feel there was definitely progress in our play, but still a lot to be desired. Especially in the attack.

 

[AndersB]

People complain about Tony's lack of emotion, but it is much more worrying with Ronaldo imo. There's no real spontaneous emotional reaction; it is as if he has to reflect on the moment in order to celebrate. And afterwards it looks pretty contrived. I know there is a limit to what you can read from body language, but it was after all a last second winner in a very important match

 

[Oly Francis]

Yesterday was definitely a blueprint we can work with.Good linkup and he worked very hard.

It's not, because :
A) We've seen him do that in several matches, and he sucks at it half the time
B) You don't get Ronaldo for his link up abilities, it's just not his strong suit and it's not in his DNA, he'll do it fine occasionnally but it's not something you can rely on.

I mean I get that the standards have obviously dropped regarding to most people expectation of his performances but even if the 2nd half was better, it was overall a poor game against a poor West Ham team. From an unbiased spectator like me, the 1st half was terrible. Beside the intensity from United that was pretty good, there was nothing going on from both team.

 

[bakalhau]

People complain about Tony's lack of emotion, but it is much more worrying with Ronaldo imo. There's no real spontaneous emotional reaction; it is as if he has to reflect on the moment in order to celebrate. And afterwards it looks pretty contrived. I know there is a limit to what you can read from body language, but it was after all a last second winner in a very important match

He's become very cold on the pitch. Quite the contrast compared to a decade ago. I've just gotten used to it. He's mostly cold celebrating his own goals too, and only on special occasions can you see him celebrating vividly, mostly on make or break games/situations. It's all good, one of his strengths is being able to keep a toned down emotional profile no matter what's going on the pitch (of course sometimes he loses it too), which in my opinion is one of the reasons he seems to have a knack to make a difference in the dying minutes of a match. I really loved how we was when he was young, but having been through all his matches I just look at it as a natural thing at this point.

 

[Skyhightrees]

No I now agree with you all now on here that want Ronaldo dropped. I was hoping things might improve but it won't because we won't suddenly start creating chances for him (nobody behind the scenes will tell selfish and greedy Greenwood to pass to Ronaldo like Sir Alex told the players to pass to Van Persie) or changing the way we play tactically to get the best out of him with him now dropping too deep especially with the team winning.. Cavani is probably better at doing that anyway (dropping deep and linking up the play) it's not really one of Ronaldo's strengths so why start him just to shoehorn him into the side if you are not prepared to play to his strengths especially when other players like Cavani do what we are asking Ronaldo to do better? It's not Ronaldo's fault it's not one of his strengths yet we are asking him to do it and it's bringing media criticism. So just drop him and protect the player.

You are all right use him in a substitute cameo role and let him leave the club mutually at the end of the season. Everyone will be happier then including Ronny himself. He can go to Sporting Lisbon or MLS (or maybe another club in a different league) and play for a team and environment that are prepared to play to his strengths. Enjoying his last few years of his career before he retires.

I think Sancho not playing hasn't helped Ronaldo as he's the only creative winger we have. But I don't see Rangnick dropping Greenwood anytime soon.

Why do you think you speak for Ronaldo? …the dude is fine

 

[Greck]

It's not, because :
A) We've seen him do that in several matches, and he sucks at it half the time
B) You don't get Ronaldo for his link up abilities, it's just not his strong suit and it's not in his DNA, he'll do it fine occasionnally but it's not something you can rely on.

I mean I get that the standards have obviously dropped regarding to most people expectation of his performances but even if the 2nd half was better, it was overall a poor game against a poor West Ham team. From an unbiased spectator like me, the 1st half was terrible. Beside the intensity from United that was pretty good, there was nothing going on from both team.

Link up is a must in 2022. It's not even negotiable. No one is hoofing crosses and low percentage long balls to a goal hanging poacher anymore. Every striker is expected to contribute to phases of play in all those positions Ronaldo took up in that clip. Vertical tiki taka inherently needs the top man to be involved in passing triangles not just horizontal passing between everyone else..

Also Yes our standards are very low to be praising the 2nd half performance but we're a team that hasn't had much tactical organization since Fergie retired so getting excited over a rough blueprint for progress is kind of where we're at right now. It's also significant because the "Ronaldo problem" is less of a problem if he continues to play this way. I also disagree on Ronaldo's link up being shit. It has been shit this season but not for his career. He started his career as a winger not a limited striker. Not only is it in his DNA it's also within his current skillset, he just has to commit more to playing selflessly.

 

[RedCurry]

Just watching the goal again, Ronaldo played such an important role. He first presses the CB making him play that long ball in a rush, he then picks up the return ball from Telles, draws two defenders, and releases Martial with a perfectly weighed ball.

 

[Oly Francis]

Link up is a must in 2022. It's not even negotiable. No one is hoofing crosses and low percentage long balls to a goal hanging poacher anymore. Every striker is expected to contribute to phases of play in all those positions Ronaldo took up in that clip. Vertical tiki taka inherently needs the top man to be involved in passing triangles not just horizontal passing between everyone else..

Also Yes our standards are very low to be praising the 2nd half performance but we're a team that hasn't had much tactical organization since Fergie retired so getting excited over a rough blueprint for progress is kind of where we're at right now. It's also significant because the "Ronaldo problem" is less of a problem if he continues to play this way. I also disagree on Ronaldo's link up being shit. It has been shit this season but not for his career. He started his career as a winger not a limited striker. Not only is it in his DNA it's also within his current skillset, he just has to commit more to playing selflessly.

It has been shit for years now, it was the same at Juventus before that. Even at Real Madrid he wasn't involved much in the link up with Benzema doing most of that for him.

 

[MrEleson]

It has been shit for years now, it was the same at Juventus before that. Even at Real Madrid he wasn't involved much in the link up with Benzema doing most of that for him.

Not true. His link-up play was excellent in his first season at Juve by anybody’s standards. It regressed more in his final 2 seasons but I wouldn’t call it shit and he still averaged the most dribbles per match in the team each season ( a team containing Dybala, Cuadrado, Chiesa).
In his final 2 seasons at Madrid, his role was simply to be closer to goal simply because of how supremely talented the team was all over the pitch.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

Of course there is uncertainties with a matrix like this, but it is the best tool we have and I believe it paints fairly accurate pictures over a run of games. Do you think it is not even indicative ...

It may be the best tool we have and it may paint an "accurate" picture and it may "indicate" something. But those are qualitative statements. They do not answer the quantitative question of "what numbers do we need to be looking at to make conclusions with an acceptable degree of certainty."

Do you think it is not even indicative for how well a player or team is at converting their chances to goals?

I think that scientifically and philosophically, it is tricky to say the difference between a model's predictions and actual outcomes are the result of a hidden variable (ability to convert chances) without corroborating that hidden variable independently and without judiciously accounting for other sources of error.

It is also an unnecessary argument. Ronaldo's actual goals are as low as they've been in years. His xG is also as low as its been in years. This is happening while he plays for a team that also has a low xG overall. This is all bad and much more justified by data than 'he might be shooting badly.'

He is shooting as badly as Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane by this standard but I can't imagine Klopp is too concerned about that since his team is scoring lots of goals and is expected to score lots of goals.

 

[troylocker]

It may be the best tool we have and it may paint an "accurate" picture and it may "indicate" something. But those are qualitative statements. They do not answer the quantitative question of "what numbers do we need to be looking at to make conclusions with an acceptable degree of certainty."

I think that scientifically and philosophically, it is tricky to say the difference between a model's predictions and actual outcomes are the result of a hidden variable (ability to convert chances) without corroborating that hidden variable independently and without judiciously accounting for other sources of error.

It is also an unnecessary argument. Ronaldo's actual goals are as low as they've been in years. His xG is also as low as its been in years. This is happening while he plays for a team that also has a low xG overall. This is all bad and much more robust than "maybe he's not shooting so good."

He is shooting as 'bad' as Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane by this standard but I can't imagine Klopp is too concerned about that since his team is scoring lots of goals and has high 'expected goals.'

We absolutely agree that the xG data is flawed, it is way to many variables to make an 100% accurate prediction for each and every shot taken by using averages, so if we were looking at numbers alone, without watching the games and adding the two together, it would in theory be possible to have extreme exceptions, yes. The bigger the sample size the more accurate the xG will be though. I've watched all our games and I have no reason to believe his chances this season has been much harder than the average over the 20 games he's played in the league, and I think is finishing has looked pretty toothless with a couple of exceptions.

It's too easy to dismiss stats, because deviations are possible and common to a certain degree for smaller sample sizes.

Only stupid people IMO.
Anyone who played the game won’t care a bit about stats in the bigger picture.

Posters talking about xG, when his only clear cut chances came in Watford game, West Ham first game and that one he was 1 on 1 with the gk. The rest of the service and quality of crosses, positions where he took the shot massively skew the data

Interesting discussion technique here. First you generalize everyone with a different opinion than you and give them unflattering qualities regarding their IQ and belittle their footballing experience, then you go directly from letting us all know how it is about the bigger picture to giving us details about the 2 good chances he's missed this season in your opinion.

Well done! I bet you are popular at parties and social settings.

I'm not going to try to prove to you that I'm not stupid, but I like to back up my arguments with stats and data in addition to what I see, so I obviously must be a bit dim.
I have played football for 35 years though, 20 of them as a striker on senior level, so I can say I have kicked a ball a few times.

I think xG correlates pretty good with what I see with my own eyes most of the time over a span of games. You do obviously have cases like the 2 gifs Iker posted earlier here that makes it not 100%, but like mentioned, over a few games it is a good analysing tool in my opinion.

If you think Ronaldo has looked leathal and efficient in front of goal in the league this season, we have very different views on what it means to be leathal and efficient in front of goal.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Yesterday was definitely a blueprint we can work with.Good linkup and he worked very hard.

He does this well for Portugal as well. We really struggled in recent years to build play through the pitch and not just go long and direct, this kind of extra man coming deep and also if Bruno can stay in his new more disciplined role should make a big difference for us.

 

[troylocker]

He is shooting as badly as Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane by this standard but I can't imagine Klopp is too concerned about that since his team is scoring lots of goals and is expected to score lots of goals.

I'm pretty sure Klopp and the Liverpool coaches are doing what they can to improve Mane's and Jota's finishing (Underperforming their npxG by 20 and 24% vs. Ronaldo's 30%). Both these players, Firmino and Salah are also contributing a lot to the team in aspects of creating, hold up, link up, possession and defensive workrate, so comparing them to Ronaldo this season in all these parameters makes them look really good, and as long as they contribute to Liverpools good overall play they won't be dropped. Ronaldo hasn't contributed to much outside making himself available for service so far this season, so that makes him a concern for us.

Even though Ronaldo didn't get that many chances on Saturday, I think he looked better than he has been lately. A positive game for him, without being great.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

I'm pretty sure Klopp and the Liverpool coaches are doing what they can to improve Mane's and Jota's finishing (Underperforming their npxG by 20 and 24% vs. Ronaldo's 30%).

Mane has been over/underperforming in a random pattern for 8 seasons, with an average value of 0.62 and standard deviation of 3.04. I hope Klopp and his coaches don't see a number that falls well within that random noise pattern and think it's something meaningful.

 

[romufc]

Yesterday was definitely a blueprint we can work with.Good linkup and he worked very hard.

I think the West Ham game was good evidence of not just Cristiano, the whole system as a whole.

it was the first time we looked somewhat balanced in defence and midfield, with a few flashes of forwards.

That will take time, its nothing massive but some of our players need to improve their decision making and Dalot and Telles need to deliver better.

I think if Cristiano can play that role, we can make use of him.