[Jeppers7]

What a player….standard bearer in this shitshow of a season. At least we have one player in this absolute disaster of a season that we can point to and say to other players….this is what you need to do, over the course of a season. This is the mentality you need to survive here because like all players, you will have rough spells, but that’s only a problem when they go on for 18 months. You need to be strong enough to get yourself out of them.

Laughable that some posters have called him a problem or the problem. An insult to the great man. Some weapons called him the worst signing under Ole he’s probably the best signing we made under Ole at this point, cost, value for money and long term won’t be a problem for us factored in.

 

[Gehrman]

Well player of the year surely. I think he's put the doubters to rest.

 

[roonster09]

Unbelievable he is still scoring so many goals at his age and in a non-functioning side which struggled all year.

I hope ETH makes good use of him.

 

[SportingCP96]

Who was that poster who said some weeks back he’d struggle in the MLS?

People who know literally nothing about football

 

[Devil may care]

He must be saddened to see what has become of the club, he's done his best to step up but barely any have followed his example and he's ended up carrying this dysfunctional dystopian team to at best an EL placed finish.

 

[Morty_]

Unbelievable he is still scoring so many goals at his age and in a non-functioning side which struggled all year.

I hope ETH makes good use of him.

Will he stay though? He loves his CL-football, if we are being honest.

 

[Buster15]

Ok. I am biased because Ronaldo is the best football player I have had the pleasure of watching in the 60+ years I have watched football.
But a few weeks ago, he was getting all the blame for United problems.

As usual, he is making those who posted that look rather silly.
Don't care how old he is because age is what you make of it.
He has been contributing far more than the next best performer.
And who else looks like scoring.
Ronaldo deserves much better than United.

 

[copen1945]

Solely from football perspective, he has been the player of the season for the club.

 

[RepardReece]

It's great to see this guy prove everyone wrong. The endless comments implying he was the problem a few months ago have now been completely put to bed. He clearly isn't and since we returned to 1 game weeks he's looked incredible.

To be fair though, anyone with a footballing brain could see he was not the issue, thinking he was the reason we were conceding goals.... Vindication.

 

[Red Shorts]

Who was that poster who said some weeks back he’d struggle in the MLS?

A poster you should not even acknowledge, or still hanging onto the thought Messi is still better than him at this moment in time

 

[JanK]

Well, surely he'd be a weak link in ETH's system due to his age and playing style, but I see immense value in his knowledge, experience and wisdom he brings to the table. Definitely a dressing room powerhouse, a mixture of SAF's United and Zidane's Real which might be a gamechanger during very tough cup / Europe games.

If he'd be a bit less competitive and not willing to play every game, but maybe become a supersub and run his socks off for 30 mins instead of 75-90 mins, that'd be great. Give him minutes in cup games, Europe but spare him in league, then I think his efficiency and goals per minute are still remaining the highest level. He cares about winning and scoring goals, so if we can provide him with decent amount of support and cohesive game plan, then I cannot see why he'd want to leave.

 

[11101]

It's a tough one. It's obvious we need a more mobile and rounded striker than he can be at this age, especially to those who were around to see van Nistelrooy, but in the absence of that you can't argue with his goalscoring. We'd be nowhere without him and its astonishing to see him doing this at this age. His movement and runs are on another level to anybody else in the league.

Like Scholes, he's one to go and watch just to see how he moves. Ignore the rest of the game. He'll be invisible and then all of a sudden appear in the box totally unchallenged. Nobody else can do that.

 

[Billy Jim]

Was he playing with an injury earlier in the season? Because there was a good 8+ week stretch where he could barely move or control a ball.

Looked very sharp recently though and starting to convince me it could actually work under ETH next season.

 

[troylocker]

Good match and great goal from him, last night.

 

[romufc]

Was he playing with an injury earlier in the season? Because there was a good 8+ week stretch where he could barely move or control a ball.

Looked very sharp recently though and starting to convince me it could actually work under ETH next season.

No, but you cannot expect to have a 37 year old playing every 3/4 days for the club. This was the issue, we had games every 3/4 days and Ronaldo was playing 90 mins in most games.

A little rest and he looks much better, sharper. If ETH can make sure he is rotated well, I think he gets lots of goals.

 

[NoPace]

No, but you cannot expect to have a 37 year old playing every 3/4 days for the club. This was the issue, we had games every 3/4 days and Ronaldo was playing 90 mins in most games.

A little rest and he looks much better, sharper. If ETH can make sure he is rotated well, I think he gets lots of goals.

Will he accept being rotated, though? I guess if we're in the Europa League he might not care about winning it.

 

[romufc]

Will he accept being rotated, though? I guess if we're in the Europa League he might not care about winning it.

I mean, I dont think rotation means he plays 1 and not the other, just that he plays once a week. We can go the group stages of Europa without Ronaldo so first half he plays PL only, no league cup, no Europa.

I think he will accept that if we do well in the league.

 

[sullydnl]

His willingness to be rotated is the only issue, particularly as a lot of the times you'd want to drop him will be in the biggest games where you need that extra work-rate up front. Though as someone alluded to above, the fact that we won't be in the CL drastically cuts down the number of prestige games he might be particularly irked to miss.

If we can keep Ronaldo in the squad to use against the league's cannon fodder next season then there's no question we should. But if we're spending big money on some striker this summer (and all reports are that we intend to) then they should start as first choice ahead of him.

The things to avoid are using him more than he can physically handle, having him as a sulking negative presence because he isn't playing as much as he wants or benching a new CF signing more than we should in favour of him. As long as we don't fall into those traps, he'd be a big plus next season.

 

[NoPace]

I mean, I dont think rotation means he plays 1 and not the other, just that he plays once a week. We can go the group stages of Europa without Ronaldo so first half he plays PL only, no league cup, no Europa.

I think he will accept that if we do well in the league.

Yeah that would be good. His decision to stay might come down to how he and Ten Hag talk, though if Lewandowski does leave I don't see a ton of great Bayern options and bringing him in for a year at lower pay than he's used to might appeal to all parties. Can't see him going back to La Liga to play for a worse team than Real, no other Prem team makes sense, he seemed done with Italy, and I think he wants another season before MLS, Sporting or playing for Mohammed Bin Salman or whatever. PSG I guess is possible, but they'd have to be a bit mad and also Mbappe would have to leave, which now seems less likely.

 

[romufc]

Yeah that would be good. His decision to stay might come down to how he and Ten Hag talk, though if Lewandowski does leave I don't see a ton of great Bayern options and bringing him in for a year at lower pay than he's used to might appeal to all parties. Can't see him going back to La Liga to play for a worse team than Real, no other Prem team makes sense, he seemed done with Italy, and I think he wants another season before MLS, Sporting or playing for Mohammed Bin Salman or whatever. PSG I guess is possible, but they'd have to be a bit mad and also Mbappe would have to leave, which now seems less likely.

Agreed, I think the talk between him and Ten Hag will be important but someone has said, Haller is not the best presser, manages to play in his system. I just think it will take a very strong manager to overlook his goals.

I think Lewandowski stays as Bayern seem to be fighting and he still has a year left and Mbappe looks like he might stay, so I wouldnt be against Ronaldo staying one more season.

 

[JeffFromHK]

Happy to keep him for the purpose of playing the league only. We can rest him when we play Europa League unless we reach semi final.

 

[Kostov]

The problem isn't he? What a player this guy is. And we surround him with dross.

 

[miked99]

People seriously think this guy is the problem. Almost the only bright light in the second half of our season and seemingly the only player who can even score a goal. Without him we'd be bottom half.

37 years old and his work rate and professionalism shame most of our squad. I really hope he's here next season, although I doubt he will be.

 

[Gehrman]

People seriously think this guy is the problem. Almost the only bright light in the second half of our season and seemingly the only player who can even score a goal. Without him we'd be bottom half.

37 years old and his work rate and professionalism shame most of our squad. I really hope he's here next season, although I doubt he will be.

He went through a terrible spell where he looked finished but after he's regained his form I think most are in favour of keeping him. I don't think most people felt he was a problem and maguire and the rest weren't

 

[Gavinb33]

Proving me wrong week on week, one of the only ones who still looks like he has any professional pride left which shouldnt be a surprise given his professionalism in the game over the years.

To be anywhere near the leading goalscorers in the league at 37 is insane and should not be discounted easily.

Having said the above i think its still time to move him on in the summer we need to start planning for the future and that future does not have Ronaldo in it long term and even if that means we jettison the top scorer this year i'd still like to see it done, we need to move on from signing and playing these older players the short term benefit is not worth it especially with the added incentive of 500k per week off the wage bill.

 

[Gehrman]

Proving me wrong week on week, one of the only ones who still looks like he has any professional pride left which shouldnt be a surprise given his professionalism in the game over the years.

To be anywhere near the leading goalscorers in the league at 37 is insane and should not be discounted easily.

Having said the above i think its still time to move him on in the summer we need to start planning for the future and that future does not have Ronaldo in it long term and even if that means we jettison the top scorer this year i'd still like to see it done, we need to move on from signing and playing these older players the short term benefit is not worth it especially with the added incentive of 500k per week off the wage bill.

Given our lack of striker options I don't see why we just don't let him see out his contract.

 

[rooney2009]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

 

[Berbasbullet]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

Is this a poem?

 

[Gehrman]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

You can't always blame one player for the rest of the players performances.

 

[Deleted 112447]

Unbelievable he is still scoring so many goals at his age and in a non-functioning side which struggled all year.

I hope ETH makes good use of him.

Could be the top scorer in a proper well functioning team. Amazing player and some still think he is a problem...

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

Looks like 2+2=5 to me.

You say it's a team game yet all of the things we have wrong with us are down to one player?

The guy has ability, the guy has a great training ethic, has a great mentality.

He could do more but he's not the reason for the things you list, a slight contributory factor... maybe, but (for example), Rashford doesn't play like absolute shit because Ronaldo is up front, that's down to Rashford.

Saying "Ronaldo FC" makes your view pretty clear.

 

[Grande]

Looks like 2+2=5 to me.

You say it's a team game yet all of the things we have wrong with us are down to one player?

The guy has ability, the guy has a great training ethic, has a great mentality.

He could do more but he's not the reason for the things you list, a slight contributory factor... maybe, but (for example), Rashford doesn't play like absolute shit because Ronaldo is up front, that's down to Rashford.

Saying "Rashford FC" makes your view pretty clear.

Well said. Truth is, there are a whole host of things that could have led to us going from 2nd/3rd best team in England, to us being the 5th-8th best. And while it is true that, for all we know, Ronaldo could have a detrimental effect in some visible or invisible way, it could also be the opposite.

He certainly is one of the few that clearly has stood up now when almost everyone is giving up.

 

[Gonçalo Motta]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

Not sure how the team's weak mentality and lack of work ethic is Ronaldo's fault since he represents exactly the opposite. It's a weird logic and it doesn't really make any sense.

The instability of the club is what got us going backwards and not the signing of Ronaldo. The defence mistakes, having no midfield, Bruno drop of form, Rashford not giving 2 fcks about the club, etc are not a Ronaldo issue directly or indirectly.
In the best-case scenario, you could argue that signing Ronaldo was what prevented us to get a defensive midfielder but even in that case that's the club's fault and not his.

Instead of blaming one of the few players that actually seems to care and it's one of the very few positives things this season, maybe you should start blaming the players that a) aren't good enough, b) don't seem to care or c) aren't good enough and don't seem to care.

 

[iHicksy]

It’s almost like the Ronaldo FC fan brigade are happy for Ronaldo to do well at the expense of Man Utd
My priority and club is Man Utd not Ronaldo Fc
Every Utd fan loves Ronaldo but not to the detriment of the the club
Since we signed Ronaldo we have gone backwards as a club and footballing team
We finished 2nd last season and now we will probably finish 6th
The team is now playing for Ronaldo and everyone passes to him
Bruno has stopped scoring,Rashford has disappeared,Cavani doesn’t want to play,Martial,Lingard,Pogba, and Mata want out and everyone else is too scared to shoot
We are not a team anymore
We can’t press or dominate even lesser teams like Norwich
If the plan is to build the future around a 37 year old player then we will be stuck in this rot forever
The confidence of all our players are shot to pieces,they did not all become bad players overnight
Ronaldo is one of the best players of all time but the time to move on is now and to build a more progressive attacking style of football
I do not enjoy watching this Utd team with or without Ronaldo
Football is a TEAM GAME

Contender for worst post of the season?

Imagine you think the only guy in the team who has the right mentality, drive, and the one dragging the team singlehandedly to score goals is the problem. So by your logic get rid of the most technically skilled player and the one who clearly motivates the rest and replace him with the likes of Rashford/Greenwood and we'd be playing better football? Ronaldo plays as a 9, he is the focal point for scoring goals in a team that doesn't press, can barely string 2 passes together and has non functioning midfield behind him - Yet he still manages to win us games. He is not the problem. He is not holding back our style of football from progressing. You'll see this when Ten Haag comes in. He's going to love Ronaldo's mentality and ability.

 

[rooney2009]

Looks like 2+2=5 to me.

You say it's a team game yet all of the things we have wrong with us are down to one player?

The guy has ability, the guy has a great training ethic, has a great mentality.

He could do more but he's not the reason for the things you list, a slight contributory factor... maybe, but (for example), Rashford doesn't play like absolute shit because Ronaldo is up front, that's down to Rashford.

Saying "Ronaldo FC" makes your view pretty clear.

No it doesn't,
We are in a worse position than when he arrived and he is not the solution to the problem
We have to move on from this Ronaldo stuff or we will be stuck in this position for a while
SAF got rid of RVN so that we could get a better team
You guys are satisfied as long as Ronaldo scores even though we've lost the game

 

[SirAF]

Contender for worst post of the season?

Imagine you think the only guy in the team who has the right mentality, drive, and the one dragging the team singlehandedly to score goals is the problem. So by your logic get rid of the most technically skilled player and the one who clearly motivates the rest and replace him with the likes of Rashford/Greenwood and we'd be playing better football? Ronaldo plays as a 9, he is the focal point for scoring goals in a team that doesn't press, can barely string 2 passes together and has non functioning midfield behind him - Yet he still manages to win us games. He is not the problem. He is not holding back our style of football from progressing. You'll see this when Ten Haag comes in. He's going to love Ronaldo's mentality and ability.

The formatting alone makes sure of that.

 

[Gonçalo Motta]

No it doesn't,
We are in a worse position than when he arrived and he is not the solution to the problem
We have to move on from this Ronaldo stuff or we will be stuck in this position for a while
SAF got rid of RVN so that we could get a better team
You guys are satisfied as long as Ronaldo scores even though we've lost the game

I do agree he's not the solution but he is not the problem either.
The focus should be on addressing the priority issues and not addressing something/someone that isn't an issue at all and actually brings more value than most of the current squad combined.

If I recall correctly SAF got rid of RVN because of his clashing with Ronaldo and not because RVN made the team worse.

 

[Pickle85]

No it doesn't,
We are in a worse position than when he arrived and he is not the solution to the problem
We have to move on from this Ronaldo stuff or we will be stuck in this position for a while
SAF got rid of RVN so that we could get a better team
You guys are satisfied as long as Ronaldo scores even though we've lost the game

SAF got rid of Ruud in part because he had a player (ironically Ronaldo actually) that was more important to the team. Which player in this team is more important than Ronaldo at this moment in time?

 

[phelans shorts]

SAF got rid of Ruud in part because he had a player (ironically Ronaldo actually) that was more important to the team. Which player in this team is more important than Ronaldo at this moment in time?

At the time absolutely nobody would have said Ronaldo would be, other than Fergie. So this is something of a moot point.

 

[rooney2009]

Contender for worst post of the season?

Imagine you think the only guy in the team who has the right mentality, drive, and the one dragging the team singlehandedly to score goals is the problem. So by your logic get rid of the most technically skilled player and the one who clearly motivates the rest and replace him with the likes of Rashford/Greenwood and we'd be playing better football? Ronaldo plays as a 9, he is the focal point for scoring goals in a team that doesn't press, can barely string 2 passes together and has non functioning midfield behind him - Yet he still manages to win us games. He is not the problem. He is not holding back our style of football from progressing. You'll see this when Ten Haag comes in. He's going to love Ronaldo's mentality and ability.

Contender for worst reply of the Season
You guys are missing the point
SAF is the best manager ever but even he knew when to go and after a title winning season as well
Ronaldo might not be the problem but he definitely is not the solution
I just don't understand how any proper football person would not see that
You have to build a team around Ronaldo that plays to Ronaldo's strength and that is not the sensible thing to do with a 37yr old
Ronaldo would make a wonderful squad player at this stage of his career but he would never accept this role in a bang average Utd team
My point again is that Ronaldo is not the future and it is time to move on.