[Ali Dia]

Adding to the posts above, I think every team needs to play to Ronaldo's strengths, obvisouly you oughta do this with every player in the team, and that's harder to execute than in theory. He creates a lot and usually makes it easy for his teammates by basically setting himself free in the box and adjacent areas and creating a very easy line of sight and an easy pass for teammates. Case in point, RM really squeezed Ronaldo to the max of his incredible positioning and brain, and the plays at several points in time were designed one or two seconds before they actually started. Everyone knew how to play together and to each other's strengths.

Two examples of this are the classical Ronaldo/RM goals of a back low pass into the area, and a low finish by Ronaldo:

Skip to 4:15, RM vs Atletico CL semifinal
CL final against Juventus

And that's where RM excelled. Everyone just knew it, when Ronaldo handed you the ball like in the two videos above, teammates knew he'd find space behind the defensive line and just wait for the right moment. The focal point was Ronaldo in key several seconds of the game, and Ronaldo would make it easy for teammates as long as they didn't complicate and whenever he created an easy pass for them, they no frills just passed to him for a shooting position. In RM it was just smooth, very smooth team play, and Benzema played a part on it and worked together very nicely with Ronnie.

The important thing here, for me, is that Ronaldo should be the focal point, specially when he ditches defenders so easily, and makes it so easy for teammates to look good. But this requires some time, a collective thought to take advantage of him, and knowing each other *very well*, which is very hard with just one month of playing.

But the coach and teammates need to realize that this focal point on Ronaldo needs to be on these micro decisions on several key moments throughout the game. He cannot be, and doesn't need to be, a focal point of the strategy itself. If you play purely for him, defenders will cut it off easily, and you cannot spend a game bombing crosses to the areas. Ronaldo can link very well in small, advanced spaces (quick example 1, quick example 2), and with him up front you can play whatever kind of football you like. You cannot construct plays purely for him, or bomb crosses in. You need to play football for everyone, and 5 or 6 times a game, Ronaldo will create game for others by being world class and finding himself alone in a shooting position, and that's where I believe the decision making needs to be simplified and have him get the ball instead of anyone else.

I'm a firm believer if there's any guy on the pitch today in world football in a shooting position, no one will do it better than this fella. But even then, I've learned throughout the years that a team that purely plays for him, is actually undoing his brilliance because as a target man he'll have 3 defenders in on him. Just play normal football like a team, and let Ronaldo drift and stay out of the game and out of the plays. The more in the shadows he is, the easier it is for him to ditch a defender. If every cross goes to him, and if your strategy revolves around going wide and putting 30 crosses in, it's not going to work.

Sorry for the long post guys.

Not to be a dick. This is a really classy post but i feel like similar posts to these probably happened on the Juve forums too after they spent 100 million on him and it’s probably why real didn’t try to hold on for as long as Barca did with the GOAT. Once these world class guys lose their explosiveness and unpredictability they are still headliner names and occasional match winners but it’s just not the same.

Let me say. Its class that Ronaldo is back. I loved him at Utd from day 1 when he was finding his feet right up until he became so unplayable he didn’t want to be here any more. His talent was undeniable even when he was wasteful. I stopped caring after he left so it’s much easier for me to say that (and worry that) this incarnation and transfer feels like, while it’s probably coming from the right place, it’s just not what we needed. it’s probably not enough to win us stuff if we stick to the same formula as we have done since he came in. It’s a greatest hits tour and we had the nostalgia factor and money on our side. He started making noises about leaving as soon as he was on the verge of truly exploding so why take him back as our biggest earner now when he’s clearly on the way down?

You can’t just keep it tight and stick Ronaldo up front and come away with a win anymore. The teams behind him were perfect at Utd and Real but our current team doesn’t play to his strengths and he doesn’t play to ours either. He probably would have done really well at city as they were missing one ruthless piece up front. I hope I’m totally wrong. I tried to say this a month ago but to be fair I also went along with the celebrations once the first goals went in. I think he can still be a good or even a very good player for us but he shouldn’t be the main guy. If we want to challenge for stuff we need to realise that asap. The Honeymoon is officially over.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

This will be an unpopular post. But hey, bring it on we need to take some steam out.

We need to assess his performances and not that he is Ronaldo. If Ronaldo's performance was from say Martial he would be slated big time.

Huh?
I don't think Messi scored the last game he played, so he's just like Martial too.

What does it have to do with scoring? Ronaldo didn't show up yesterday. He wasn't in the game at all. It wasn't as though he was involved and played decently but didn't score. He was pretty much invisible. It happens, he's 37 and has become a poacher but like our other players, is not above criticism.

 

[KC91]

Juventus fans had a lot of the same issues with Ronaldo, and they've been getting dragged through the mud the last few weeks over it.

Ronaldo is still great, he will score a lot of goals, including some crucial goals that get Utd points. But, he will also play within his limits, which is smart at his current age. He'll show flashes of that complete attacking prowess, where he'll pick up the ball and run at defenders, but for the most part he will be more of a poacher and in order for United to get the most out of him, a lot of the play will have to be centered around getting Ronaldo consistent service.

That being said, Juventus, and United are certainly better teams with him in the squad - but is he enough of a difference maker currently to push a team over the line for a title, or in the CL? I don't think so.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Juventus fans had a lot of the same issues with Ronaldo, and they've been getting dragged through the mud the last few weeks over it.

Ronaldo is still great, he will score a lot of goals, including some crucial goals that get Utd points. But, he will also play within his limits, which is smart at his current age. He'll show flashes of that complete attacking prowess, where he'll pick up the ball and run at defenders, but for the most part he will be more of a poacher and in order for United to get the most out of him, a lot of the play will have to be centered around getting Ronaldo consistent service.

That being said, Juventus, and United are certainly better teams with him in the squad - but is he enough of a difference maker currently to push a team over the line for a title, or in the CL? I don't think so.

Ronaldo has his limitations now, but we as a team need to start playing way better.

Even then, he's still got 4 goals in 4 despite our woeful performances lately.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Ronaldo didn't turn up but we can hardly blame him when others were struggling to play 2 yard passes. We created nothing for him.

 

[Bebestation]

Not to be a dick. This is a really classy post but i feel like similar posts to these probably happened on the Juve forums too after they spent 100 million on him and it’s probably why real didn’t try to hold on for as long as Barca did with the GOAT. Once these world class guys lose their explosiveness and unpredictability they are still headliner names and occasional match winners but it’s just not the same.

Let me say. Its class that Ronaldo is back. I loved him at Utd from day 1 when he was finding his feet right up until he became so unplayable he didn’t want to be here any more. His talent was undeniable even when he was wasteful. I stopped caring after he left so it’s much easier for me to say that (and worry that) this incarnation and transfer feels like, while it’s probably coming from the right place, it’s just not what we needed. it’s probably not enough to win us stuff if we stick to the same formula as we have done since he came in. It’s a greatest hits tour and we had the nostalgia factor and money on our side. He started making noises about leaving as soon as he was on the verge of truly exploding so why take him back as our biggest earner now when he’s clearly on the way down?

You can’t just keep it tight and stick Ronaldo up front and come away with a win anymore. The teams behind him were perfect at Utd and Real but our current team doesn’t play to his strengths and he doesn’t play to ours either. He probably would have done really well at city as they were missing one ruthless piece up front. I hope I’m totally wrong. I tried to say this a month ago but to be fair I also went along with the celebrations once the first goals went in. I think he can still be a good or even a very good player for us but he shouldn’t be the main guy. If we want to challenge for stuff we need to realise that asap. The Honeymoon is officially over.

I hope Ole realised this and I think he did when he talked about Cavani.

He said that Ronaldo can't start every game and that there will be even times when he starts both of them.

I think that's Ole giving a slight public press release so Ronaldo's may understand his own starting situation to know he isn't a guaranteed number 1 ST starter here.

I think Rashford is actually going to be one of the most important players this season. Possibly coming back in October and if he is able to find his near 20 a season goal form or even 3/4 of it - then that pressure on who we plays at ST be it Ronaldo, Cavani or even Greenwood should drop a bit.

The crosses 24/7 like we are trying to assist crouch should drop a bit because we can have some more goal scoring direct players.

 

[UnitedFan93]

Yes, that's likely. Did Ronaldo fly in last year and play incognito to keep the team from pressing then too?

Mason couldn't shoot and wouldn't pass. Villa must have decided he's harmless and let him play with the ball to his hearts' content.
No one can cross -- ever!
The best chance of the game was Ronaldo running up the left and passing across the box. Wound up with Pogba kicking the ball over the goal.
Well, best chance except Bruno kicking the penalty over the goal.

All those players in the midfield and defense couldn't stop anyone.

No, but it's a myth to suggest we didn't press at all last season. For sure there were a lot of games where we counter-attacked, but there were also plenty of games where we pressed teams who thought that they could play out from the back but didn't have the quality of players to keep possession. We were a bit of a hybrid between pressing and counter-attacking depending on the opposition.

The reality is since Peps Barca teams, pretty much all the successful teams have pressed like crazy. If we're to be successful, we're going to have to get better at pressing, which I don't think we can with Ronaldo upfront.

 

[Mickson]

I wonder where all those "experts" who laughed at me for criticizing this signing are now. As I said then: We won't be a better team with him in it. Great goalscorer but not what we need to take the next step. His limitation in his general play will show even more against better opponents, like Liverpool and City.

Our biggest priorities IMO:
1. 1-2 CM's
2. New manager

 

[UnitedFan93]

This doesn't make any sense. Guardiola wanted him and Klopp said he was jealous. Both of those would bite our hands for having the chance to have Ronaldo in their team. The reality is - he doesn't have any service from this team. No clear cut chances to score from. Nothing. You think Lewandowski or Haaland or whoever are gonna fare any better in this team? It'd still rely on individual brilliance because our team has no real pattern of play. In fact, name me a world striker up front who is a "pressing" machine. There are none, because strikers are expected to score and be in the front of an attack, not dally around in midfield.

Klopp wouldn't want him at Liverpool, he doesn't fit Liverpool's style at all.

Pep wanted Kane all summer over him, but couldn't get the deal done so tried to get Ronaldo in last minute when he was available all summer. Part of me thinks City were more interested in Ronaldo for his commercial appeal and using him to establish themselves commercially, over the actual football. Yes, of course, Ronaldo would have contributed to the team but I reckon give Pep would have used him as more of a squad player which would have led to a clash of egos between Pep and Ronaldo, something I bet they're glad they avoided.

 

[Berbasbullet]

I’m quite confused, par 1 bad back heel I didn’t see bad link up at all. He did one brilliant reverse pass and was simply starved of service.

 

[UnitedFan93]

Sorry to break it to you but a) Ronaldo never stopped us from going for a holding mid, we never planned for one, our business was done before Ronaldo became available,

Fair enough, you're probably correct. It's still money taken from future transfer budgets unless the Glazers have suddenly become charitable. A separate issue is the wage inflation that the Ronaldo signing will cause, especially when we're trying to renew Pogba and Bruno's contracts.

b) we have never pressed up front under Ole even before Ronaldo, Bruno pressing like a headless chicken on his own does not count.

We pressed plenty of times last season. Ole has gone on record praising the likes of Cavani, Bruno for their pressing. We were a bit of a hybrid team last season. Counter-attacking against the top teams, and pressing against botton half teams that would try to play out from the back.

Now Greenwood is also mentored by the goat, and Cavani, win win no?

If he can actually get games as a CF, then yes you're right. My worry is he won't now get the opportunities as a CF.

Why are you in the Ronaldo thread saying these things? Shouldn't you be in the ''We are awfully coached thread''?

Because I am talking about issues relating to Ronaldo directly or indirectly.

 

[Bobski]

It is undeniable that he is a much more limited player these days, and I never think it is healthy to base so much of the game around feeding one player, leads to predictability. We saw it with a declining RVN, he still got his numbers but the overall attacking efficiency of the team was less than when we switched to Saha. It is one one of the reasons why I was not that upset with Greenwood yesterday, he was selfish but all of the attackers need to back themselves instead of just looking for Ronaldo.

Individual goal numbers for me are one of the most overrated stats in the game. but at this stage it is too early to make any sweeping conclusions about Ronaldo, he has a habit of making people look stupid.

The Ronaldo following fan boys, those who only seem to be interested in his success, are going to get some backs up this season.

 

[11101]

Days like yesterday are when he needs to be subbed. If we are not able to create finishing chances for him he will provide very little to the team and we would be better off with somebody who will contribute more to our play. No chance Ole sees that though.

 

[Bestietom]

What does it have to do with scoring? Ronaldo didn't show up yesterday. He wasn't in the game at all. It wasn't as though he was involved and played decently but didn't score. He was pretty much invisible. It happens, he's 37 and has become a poacher but like our other players, is not above criticism.

Think Aston Villa done very well in cutting off the supply to Ronaldo. They had much better fight and bite in midfield than us.

 

[Highfather_24]

He is not a Harry Kane or a Wayne Rooney, who every play will go through. He is not gonna come deep and orchaestrate the play, or like Cavani who will hold up the ball and bring others into play. Even in games when they dont score, they can have a great game.

Ronaldo right now, is an elite goalscorer with decent link up play. He is there to finish off moves, and be a constant threat in the box. That's great, because this is the role where he is most effective/efficient now. He is one of those rare 30+ goals/season player.

So naturally in games where Ronaldo will not score/assist, he will be labelled "quiet" or "ineffective". But that's not fair imo. Its just a different style of play. Ronaldo is such a danger for the opposition, he just needs 1 clear cut opportunity, and he'll punish you ruthlessly.

I called this after his first game here. People need to understand his role in the team.

 

[Mr PG]

I hate when people just blurt out stats without any perspective. Ronaldo is very selfish and just shoots on sight ignoring every other teammate. With talents like Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani and Rashford, he has to learn to be a team-player otherwise the whole team will get no-where and will eventually lead to Ole's sacking. Yesterday I noticed Greenwood who has seemed very frustrated lately always being ignored of the ball by Ronaldo has responded by ignoring him as well and I believe that contributed to our loss yesterday and a few times he could have fed a team-mate . I don't blame Greenwood and he shouldn't subvert himself for anybody else on the team either.

 

[bosnian_red]

I wonder where all those "experts" who laughed at me for criticizing this signing are now. As I said then: We won't be a better team with him in it. Great goalscorer but not what we need to take the next step. His limitation in his general play will show even more against better opponents, like Liverpool and City.

Our biggest priorities IMO:
1. 1-2 CM's
2. New manager

Wouldn't say he has limitations in general play. He's not a Firmino or a false 9 but he's definitely not bad, in fact he is quite smart on the ball. He makes us far better as a team because we have someone reliable to score goals for us for the first time in years. How are we not a better team with him in it? Did you see some great team without him or something? No, we're still the same disjointed team that relies on moments. Only now we have a world class poacher to turn more tight results into wins. That's what he does. I'm not sure what you are getting at if for you, a player who gets us more wins, doesn't make us better as a team. It's not like we were 19/20 Liverpool, a well oiled unit that has to change a lot by swapping Firmino with Ronaldo and it might disrupt the balance. We're fecking shite with team play so we rely on players who can pop up with moments, and we've relied on that for all of Ole's time here. Ronaldo improves us with that massively.

 

[Escobar]

Ronaldo didn't turn up but we can hardly blame him when others were struggling to play 2 yard passes. We created nothing for him.

That was always very obvious, no? Who would have thought that Ronaldo will be poor if he's not fed chances...

 

[bosnian_red]

This will be an unpopular post. But hey, bring it on we need to take some steam out.

We need to assess his performances and not that he is Ronaldo. If Ronaldo's performance was from say Martial he would be slated big time.

The problem is Martial puts in invisible performances weekly, and has been an irrelevant forward for most of his time here. Ronaldo has scored 4 in 4 and yesterday had his first quiet/ineffective game (yet we should have given him the penalty anyway, but that's another matter). We also had Greenwood playing with eyes for nobody but himself, which if he didn't might've been a different story, but anyway. Yeah, Ronaldo was ineffective. But it is Ronaldo, so if you are in need of a goal then you keep him on as there's a great chance that he'll find himself in a chance at some point.

 

[Bearded One]

The problem is Martial puts in invisible performances weekly, and has been an irrelevant forward for most of his time here. Ronaldo has scored 4 in 4 and yesterday had his first quiet/ineffective game (yet we should have given him the penalty anyway, but that's another matter). We also had Greenwood playing with eyes for nobody but himself, which if he didn't might've been a different story, but anyway. Yeah, Ronaldo was ineffective. But it is Ronaldo, so if you are in need of a goal then you keep him on as there's a great chance that he'll find himself in a chance at some point.

Spot on, he doesn’t deserve slating at all. What would you expect a forward as old as he to do when chances were few are far between and when Greenwood was such a greedy guy.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Days like yesterday are when he needs to be subbed. If we are not able to create finishing chances for him he will provide very little to the team and we would be better off with somebody who will contribute more to our play. No chance Ole sees that though.

You want to sub off our best goal-scorer?

Not sure that's a recipe for success.

 

[BlueHaze]

I wonder where all those "experts" who laughed at me for criticizing this signing are now. As I said then: We won't be a better team with him in it. Great goalscorer but not what we need to take the next step. His limitation in his general play will show even more against better opponents, like Liverpool and City.

Our biggest priorities IMO:
1. 1-2 CM's
2. New manager

That part made me go from completely disagreeing with you to agreeing. However imo we are a better team with him in it. No way you can say it's better to have Cavani than CR7.

 

[RooneyLegend]

He was never going to give us anything Cavani isn't. Cavani at least also gave us extra physicality.

 

[croadyman]

Surely even those yankee scumbag leeches will listen to a money making machine like him about Ole's managerial inability

 

[RedRonaldo]

I hate when people just blurt out stats without any perspective. Ronaldo is very selfish and just shoots on sight ignoring every other teammate. With talents like Greenwood, Sancho, Cavani and Rashford, he has to learn to be a team-player otherwise the whole team will get no-where and will eventually lead to Ole's sacking. Yesterday I noticed Greenwood who has seemed very frustrated lately always being ignored of the ball by Ronaldo has responded by ignoring him as well and I believe that contributed to our loss yesterday and a few times he could have fed a team-mate . I don't blame Greenwood and he shouldn't subvert himself for anybody else on the team either.

It’s funny you laid all the blame on Ronaldo when in fact it is Greenwood being selfish last game. Yes Ronaldo is selfish sometimes, but his selfishness also allows him scored nearly 800 goals in his career and won 30+ trophies, I think he has earned it being abit selfish at times, it’s proven equation of huge success for him and his teams throughout the years. He shouldn’t learn to play as our team player in a system of mediocre with 0 success in the past, instead our team should learn how to maximize him as our main weapon.

Greenwood though, he has only managed 7 league goals last season, and 10 league goals the season before, he is still on learning curve in terms of goalscoring. While Ronaldo has 29 league goals last season and 31 league goals the season before. It’s not even comparable. So he shouldn’t use this as an excuse for being so selfish in response to Ronaldo selfishness.

Rashford is another player who is being rash and selfish too at times. It’s matter of setting our priority right afterall, in order to maximize our output and efficiency. I only know we have won nothing with Rashford and Greenwood up front, but Ronaldo has won 30+ trophies and breaking multiple all time records, with his teams building around his game, priority must be set if we want to achieve more success.

 

[JPB]

I wonder where all those "experts" who laughed at me for criticizing this signing are now. As I said then: We won't be a better team with him in it. Great goalscorer but not what we need to take the next step. His limitation in his general play will show even more against better opponents, like Liverpool and City.

Our biggest priorities IMO:
1. 1-2 CM's
2. New manager

Oh my god. It's the first game he didn't score and you're here doing the "I told you so".

 

[bosnian_red]

He was never going to give us anything Cavani isn't. Cavani at least also gave us extra physicality.

Huh? He gives us a lot that Cavani doesn't. To claim otherwise is plain wrong. His movement is on another level, he'll score a lot more goals and will score a bigger variety of goals and is much more fit, meaning he won't miss half the season like Cavani tends to. He's much better on the ball as well.

This thread is fecking weird. He had a quiet game. Yet people coming in here as some sort of obituary, calling him a flop despite the fact he's had a terrific first month back? It's crazy.

 

[Sviken]

Klopp wouldn't want him at Liverpool, he doesn't fit Liverpool's style at all.

Pep wanted Kane all summer over him, but couldn't get the deal done so tried to get Ronaldo in last minute when he was available all summer. Part of me thinks City were more interested in Ronaldo for his commercial appeal and using him to establish themselves commercially, over the actual football. Yes, of course, Ronaldo would have contributed to the team but I reckon give Pep would have used him as more of a squad player which would have led to a clash of egos between Pep and Ronaldo, something I bet they're glad they avoided.

Klopp himself says in one of those interviews that he would have love to have Ronaldo, but the team's finances wouldn't permit that. Maybe he is lying, maybe he is not, but Liverpool doesn't have the ability to sign Ronaldo. He could hardly pay Salah's wages. And btw, how does Salah fit his "style" better than Ronaldo anyway? They're both pretty much the same style of forwards.

As far as Pep goes, Ronaldo wasn't available all summer. He only said he wanted out after the Udinese game. Strikers can't play on their own, we need service. Service that a Guardiola or Klopp team can provide. The only thing our team can provide is some freakish assist from Bruno. This reminds me of Van Persie during SAF and during Moyes. He looked like a shadow of himself in that Moyes season in the space of a year. Why? Because the team played like shit and he had zero service, movement or help up top. You put Ronaldo in Klopp or Guardiola's team and he'd be tearing it up. That's the sad reality.

And it's not like he has been underperforming with us. He's already played a huge part in winning us 6 points. We saw what happened in that West Ham cup game where we looked like absolute shit up front. Ronaldo is the least of our problems. We'd probably be in the relegation places if it wasn't for him and I'm not even joking. His goalscoring ability is on another level and in a team that seldom creates any chances, we desperately need that.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Huh? He gives us a lot that Cavani doesn't. To claim otherwise is plain wrong. His movement is on another level, he'll score a lot more goals and will score a bigger variety of goals and is much more fit, meaning he won't miss half the season like Cavani tends to. He's much better on the ball as well.

This thread is fecking weird. He had a quiet game. Yet people coming in here as some sort of obituary, calling him a flop despite the fact he's had a terrific first month back? It's crazy.

It’s nothing new, that’s how typical haters would behave throughout the years, to attack him at any chances. Despite scoring 4 goals in 4 games for us this season (and 6 goals in 5 games overall including Portugal games), he is still regarded as a burden for his team.

Truth is, over his past 9 games for clubs and country, he has scored 11 goals. What more do they want from him? He even tried to help out defending at times doing those running/chasing/pressing, and involved abit in build up play too, but it’s never enough. When we have no supply to him from McFred midfield, they just blame him instead.

 

[Mickson]

Oh my god. It's the first game he didn't score and you're here doing the "I told you so".

It's not all about him though. He's a luxury player and we have already lost three games this season, for example. I don't think he will make us worse, and I think he will score plenty. I'm just not sure we will be better as a team with him in it and to be completely honest, we are not better based on evidence so far, are we?

 

[LoneStar]

I'm pretty sure everyone knew what we were getting from this version of Ronaldo. An elite goalscorer who needs chances created for him to be at the end of those. Not a marauding winger, who can take on 3 players and dribble his way past them. So expecting him to do that would be stupid from us or the coaches.

The service to him last game was non existent. We had Greenwood on one side, who was refusing to pass. And Pogba, who had a stinker. And our fullbacks don't seem to like to cross or cut back (AWB) for some reason. We need to do much better.

As for people saying that he fecked up Sancho's minutes, really? If it were not for Ronaldo, Sancho would be getting murdered on the press for his performances.

 

[carlbcfc]

Rumour is Ronnie wants to become a coach in the academy when he retires (at United) to overseas Jnr….

I called this a while back. Ronaldo has that burning & ruthless desire to win. I think he’ll become a great manager eventually.

 

[Zizo-17]

Jaap Stam believes Ronaldo can't be treated the same way as other teammates.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c.../cristiano-ronaldo-man-united-latest-21664381

 

[RedRonaldo]

It's not all about him though. He's a luxury player and we have already lost three games this season, for example. I don't think he will make us worse, and I think he will score plenty. I'm just not sure we will be better as a team with him in it and to be completely honest, we are not better based on evidence so far, are we?

And you are blaming him on the 3 loss? When 1 of the loss he didn’t even play, the other loss he scored our only goal and was sub out when his replacement assist opponents the winning goal, while the 3rd loss is more to do with Bruno missing last min penalty and Greenwood wasting chances and being selfish throughout.

 

[passtheball]

No player in the team should be above criticism, but those criticizing Ronaldo in this thread are missing the point. As a team, what United put up against Villa on Saturday was the most disjointed performance I have seen in my 20+ years of supporting the club. Service was zero. Ronaldo found great positions often, but players like Greenwood (who I love) never passed or crossed to him.

This reminds me of a story RvP once told on BT. Apparently, when he first joined the club, Fergie told Rooney, Kagawa, Nani etc. that RvP was going to be making great runs, and if they did not find him with a pass, they would not be playing. They did find him often enough that season, and United won the league.

When you have special players in your team (goodness, we are talking about one of the two best players ever), you should have special tactics to extract his talents. Ole and his coaches are failing at that task at the moment.

 

[horsechoker]

The thing is, if he can't get the ball then he has to drop deep to try and dictate the play. If he does that then he finds himself out position. Otherwise he's reliant on others to give him the ball. I don't think any striker past or present would have scored on Saturday in the same circumstances. Unless you're hoping for him to put in tackles in midfield and dribble all the way to opposition box and score which quite frankly is a rare occurrence in football.

It would have literally taken this level of individuality to get us to score because we looked disjointed as a team

 

[Sviken]

Jaap Stam believes Ronaldo can't be treated the same way as other teammates.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c.../cristiano-ronaldo-man-united-latest-21664381

It seems Stam knows more about management than Ole does.

No player in the team should be above criticism, but those criticizing Ronaldo in this thread are missing the point. As a team, what United put up against Villa on Saturday was the most disjointed performance I have seen in my 20+ years of supporting the club. Service was zero. Ronaldo found great positions often, but players like Greenwood (who I love) never passed or crossed to him.

This reminds me of a story RvP once told on BT. Apparently, when he first joined the club, Fergie told Rooney, Kagawa, Nani etc. that Rvp was going to be making great runs, and if they did not find him with a pass, they would not be playing. They did find him often enough that season, and United won the league.

When you have special players in your team (goodness, we are talking about one of the two best players ever), you should have special tactics to extract his talents. Ole and his coaches are failing at that task at the moment.

Because Ole is treating Ronaldo as one of the lads instead as one of the GOATs that can single-handedly win him the title. This is why RVP turned into shit in that Moyes season in the space of a season. Moyes didn't know what to do with him because he was absolutely clueless to a striker who wasn't a basic target man. In turn RVP got absolutely no service and our team looked disjointed as hell and any goal he made was mostly purely out of his own skill. Same thing we are witnessing now. We need the GOAT to do what the GOAT does - win us games, be the focal point of our attacks. I mean, learn something from Zidane's management, Ole, it's not rocket science.

 

[Shark]

And you are blaming him on the 3 loss? When 1 of the loss he didn’t even play, the other loss he scored our only goal and was sub out when his replacement assist opponents the winning goal, while the 3rd loss is more to do with Bruno missing last min penalty and Greenwood wasting chances and being selfish throughout.

You couldn't make it up

Imagine blaming our only attacker that's proved he can put the ball in the net thus far this season, in a system that's utterly shambolic for a top club.

 

[steffyr2]

You couldn't make it up

Imagine blaming our only attacker that's proved he can put the ball in the net thus far this season, in a system that's utterly shambolic for a top club.

I imagine the concern is that Ronaldo isn't making the other players look better. Yet anyway. So far they aren't playing any differently, haven't really changed a bit in fact. It looks bad. It makes the players look bad. It makes the coaches/manager also look bad.
Hopefully they'll get the hint.

 

[Mickson]

You couldn't make it up

Imagine blaming our only attacker that's proved he can put the ball in the net thus far this season, in a system that's utterly shambolic for a top club.

Maybe you should read what I wrote instead of putting a laughing smiley, and in no sentence did I blame Ronaldo for anything. All I said was that I don't think we will be a better team with Ronaldo in it, and so far you can hardly say that I'm wrong. I also think it will be more noticeable in top games when we need to be better without the ball.