If only he had more experience.
7
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Goals
- 24
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 9
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) look forward to a new life under Ruben Amorim. What system will we be playing? What players will impress? and how will it all go? We also say goodbye to Ruud Van Nistelrooy and review United's 3-0 win at home against Leicester City.
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If only he had more experience.
A younger Ronaldo would have loved it and probably smashed in a couple of goals. Why can’t people just accept he’s 37 and way past his best. He’s a handicap to the UTD team now.
That’s a fair point. The second Rashford cross isn’t even a bad cross. It’s put into a great area but people need to be getting in the box and attacking them.
Oh no poor Ronnie
It has nothing to do with the way Atleti set up, and everything to do with us. Haller at Ajax would get way more chances against that lot. Same for whoever plays up top for other good teams.
I'm not "campainging" to "defend everything he does", I'm merely pointing out the OTT criticism of him that game is unwarranted. This type of rhetoric where 1 point in a discussion is used to say a poster has an agenda is why discussions on the Caf on certain topics are difficult to have.
You say one positive about a player and you're instantly FC that player.
Isn't he like massively underperforming on xG this season? cc'ing @troylocker who does these calculations in his sleep
Yes his finishing is crap this season, That doesn't mean it was the case in the Atleti game though.
But what about the arguement that if his only attribute is his finishing and movement...and we clearly are not in a position to create the chances he clearly needs...would there not be more value in including a more mobile and active player up top that can at least retain possession, giving the likes of Bruno, Sancho, Elanga and Pogba an chance to pose a threat on goal.
This is why I didn't understand the Martial loan once we heard about GW. Martial is the only thing we have like a striker who can retain the ball. Shite as he was, I would prefer his all round game to Ronaldo’s. A low bar but that is how dire I think his performances have been. When you count dropping deep into space and playing one twos with centre backs as good link up play...you are stretching at best.
Ronaldo has not played a game since his return where you would say it was a stand out performance for a striker. His important goals came in quite anonymous overall displays. I just think he has been entirely ineffective and taking away the penalties his goals are entirely explainable by the fact that he is “a striker”. Very few stand out are Ronaldo genius - maybe 3. So why are we bothering other than the fact that we have loaned out everyone else!? Other than the fact that he is Ronaldo!
Funny that Lindelöf, a CB, puts in the only half decent cross. That passage of play was just sad. We can't cross for shit and we have absolutely no one in the box.
I like your analogy with the fireman
On a side note, I think many people have been unfair on Ronaldo maybe because the high expectation. Give the man a chance to adapt to a new team/league. He has been playing on the continent for the last 12 years, he needs time to acclimatize to playing in the most physcially demanding league in Europe, then doing the business in the CL mid-week.
The whole team has been affect by his arrival and changes to coaching stuff etc. Bruno is only now starting to find form again. Everyone needs time to adjust to each other.
He did well when he dropped deeper. Id like to see him do that more and then have the quicker players move on. Its less static for us and makes us less predictable.
How did he do well?What did he do when he dropped deeper...he headed a ball for the goal but he wasn’t exactly deep then....all he did was play harmless two yard passes backwards? Seriously, if anyone else only contributed that there would not be any praise at all...I’m flabbergasted. He was as shit as everyone else.
Ah! I really like the 4-3-3 generally but it is too isolating for Ronaldo. You could see it last night that he was complaining about being the only person in the box. A 3-5-2 maybe?
Think he might end this season on 20-25 goals at this rate which is a low return for him.
Well he got involved firstly
He retained the ball well, and looked to get on the ball and created some space for others to go into
I'm not saying it was a 7/10 performance but much better than him being isolated up top with the ball not coming to him at all and us being a man down
Exactly. This is exactly it. This is the comment.
Harry Maguire could mark Ronaldo without breaking a sweat.
If we accept that Ronaldo needs a second striker alongside him then that further highlights the problem he poses in the team going forward.
Whatever about this shitfeck season, why would anyone want us adopting a two-stiker system next season just to accomodate a past-it Ronaldo when we could just buy a striker who actually functions in the shape we want to play and leave Ronaldo out of the team?
I’m genuinely surprised how much he has regressed in a matter of months since his second debut against Newcastle at Old Trafford when he smashed in two goals. I thought he still had it back then even at 36. Perhaps he was running on adrenaline or that sort of thing and it eventually wore off
Really shouldn’t be looking to change the team around to fit Ronaldo. His play does not warrant it.
No no apparently United make many chances according to some.This is sad
If I recall correctly he had a few mishit shots from bad angles in that first game back and offered little outside the box. I remember some saying it was down to nerves but the emotion of his return and his goals meant no one really analyzed his performance objectively as they could. As for his goals, the keeper was poor for both and the first was a simple tap in. Newcastle were horrendous
Both assertions, that Ronaldo is in clear decline and that he's being starved of proper service, can be and are true. He's still the best striker we have on the squad right now and without him this season we wouldn't have made it this far in the CL.
‘Somewhat decent’, well not aeons off my ‘quite good’-verdict after all.
I agree Atletico’s collective pressing was impressing, particularily in that first half.This post is an idiot
The only person a two striker formation benefits is Ronaldo. Our midfield is already weak as it is. The 4222 got us nowhere.
Yep. If we had a fully functioning team already, then the addition of Ronaldo could work. Unfortunately he is everything our team doesn't need, slow with no pressing energy.
He was signed as a PR exercise by a club who don't understand what football teams need to be successful.
This video is so obviously fake. Ronaldo taking on players, not misplacing every pass he makes, taking good first touches, getting involved in the build up? Who does this guy think he's fooling? All the football experts on the Caf know Ronaldo is washed and can't do any of those things.
One thing you can never fail to admire is his mentality. Just watching the goal again he gets bundled onto the touchline when heading the ball back to Fred. Most players would think they were no longer in the phase or just get up and jog but Ronaldo immediately springs onto his feet and goes full pelt to try and catch up with play.
Oh, 90% of the morons in here that have never kicked a ball in their lives can certainly fail to admire his mentality.
It’s shocking the amount of fans who believe he was signed for footballing reasons. Fair play to the Glazers, they are masters at distracting the fans from our lack of success.
No you can't post that here, what are you thinking? Making Ronaldo look good when 90% of the Caf have said he was sh!te? Tut tut
See this is the point I was trying to make, but with Ronaldo it is so extreme in both directions, it’s like if he doesn’t score people just assume he was rubbish.
He certainly wasn’t our problem mid-week, not to say that he doesn’t have problems in general.
Who looks at that video and thinks that It was a good performance? What does he do in it that makes you think that he is worth having in there? Or look at it another way....if that were a performance by Athleticos striker - would we say “fuk me” let’s get him this summer? Not in the slightest.
A few decent first time passes very far from goal. In the last 5 or so games he has started to drop deep because anytime he looks for the ball further up he is hassled of it and it’s embarrassing. What good is linking play so deep? He is our striker for God sake. It was a performance that was entirely in line with the teams performance- blunt. He is getting paid more then any other player, has more experience and is being played in the only position on the pitch which is required by default to pose some sort of goal threat. He didn’t. He was a central part of us playing in front of Atheltico for 90 minutes. If we can’t look to our striker to provide some sort of goal threat our outlet to get us up the field- who do we look to? Take off the name from his shirt and look at that performance again- it’s tame at best.
The video is also cut from his entire touches video which shows him lose the ball while we are on a genuine threatening break, lash a tame shot 5 years wide, misplace a simple lay off to Pogba and smack a free kick over the bar.
the problem with these videos is that they don’t show the context. For example, Correa on the the other side was in fact a constant problem for us but posed little goal threat. Ronaldo was shite in the sense that the majority of his touches were in parts of the pitch that didn’t really matter. Literally any striker can drop deep to get more touches of the ball. Does it help the team? Who is posing our goal threat?
It’s not anything against Ronaldo personally...it’s the fact that he adds nothing. but sure what choice have we got till next season?
You keep mentioning pay, but how many of of the other players on the team are deserving of their contract? Rashford is on 200k a week and probably doesn’t deserve 50k a week with his current performances. Cavani is on a similar contract and is never even fit enouh to make the matchday squad. Ditto, 60% of the other players in the team. Don’t see you talking of their pay.
Ronaldo till now is always available and you can’t say he doesn’t give his maximum on the pitch. Beyond that the fact remains that he’s by far our topscorer and we wouldn’t even be in the CL KO rounds without his performances in the group stages. United recently posted a video of our away goals in the groups and Ronaldo scored ALL but one of them.
Hard to see what club capable of winning things takes him after his stint with us?
Don’t think I’m not as tough on any player at Utd - which means fuk all...I’m just a fan.
My issue is exactly that...some people use statements like “Ronny won’t accept this...he will leave”....”Ronny doesn’t deserve to play with this crap”....”the club is letting Ronny down”...that’s the bullshit I don’t understand. He is not deserving of a place in the side based on performances. His important goals came in important moments but his performances in those games were entirely ordinary. He doesn’t get a pass and get excuses made for him. He is part of this problem...a big part.
and now the statement that he wantsmore and to win things...good! Go to Portugal or the US. It’s best for both parties at this stage.
Ronaldo looks bang average in that video. He didn’t do anything that I wouldn’t expect from any premier league striker.
The video didn’t show him beat one single player, do a single trick, make a single assist or have a single shot.
You guys have incredibly low expectations of him, he is paid 500k per week, he’s supposed to make the difference not make up the numbers.
No, no, you're right. Football isn't a team game and he should have picked up the ball in our half and scored a goal that would have overshadowed Maradona's legendary goal.
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