God I hope he stays. We desperately need him.
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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I love the narrative that we had a team ready to press and run their socks off and playing Ronaldo would be a weak point in that system, when the guy puts in more work than any of our forwards.
What a phenomenal player he is. Elite mindset and ability, playing with a bunch of amateurs. 5 goals behind arguably the best player in the world, in arguably the best team. Would be the top scorer in a better team. Even his link up play has been very good.
With everything he has accomplished, he was still the most disappointed after the draw last night.
What a phenomenal player he is. Elite mindset and ability, playing with a bunch of amateurs. 5 goals behind arguably the best player in the world, in arguably the best team. Would be the top scorer in a better team. Even his link up play has been very good.
With everything he has accomplished, he was still the most disappointed after the draw last night.
and he decided to build the team around Ronaldo and Rooney
This is my point exactly, it is time for another rebuild and we can not waste another year on Ronaldo
We cannot build another team around Ronaldo as he is too old and we can not achieve anything with him in it
He will always score his goals but we will do nothing as a team
I enjoyed last season much more than this season and we did not have Ronaldo then
It is possible to build and have a good team without Ronaldo
Unrelated - but is there a reason you format posts like some kind of literary psychopath?
Hands up I was dead wrong about Ronaldo.
The problem always was Rashford and Greenwood not being creative or hardworking enough to feed the goat and not the other way around. To be fair to me at least I knew as a front 3 it was going to flop miserably and I still have doubts about his chemistry with Bruno. I’d be selling Rashford and Greenwood and getting players who can actually complement Ronaldo and our new striker next season. As I said last year. 2 x Dan James either side of a fit Cavani and we’d have won more games. Our wingers work rate is absolutely appalling. Playing the game at a walking pace. Losing the ball every time you get it. Always looking for the shot or the dribble into a crowd, all while seemingly learning nothing from game to game.
The problem always was Rashford and Greenwood not being creative or hardworking enough to feed the goat and not the other way around. To be fair to me at least I knew as a front 3 it was going to flop miserably and I still have doubts about his chemistry with Bruno. I’d be selling Rashford and Greenwood and getting players who can actually complement Ronaldo and our new striker next season. As I said last year. 2 x Dan James either side of a fit Cavani and we’d have won more games. Our wingers work rate is absolutely appalling. Playing the game at a walking pace. Losing the ball every time you get it. Always looking for the shot or the dribble into a crowd, all while seemingly learning nothing from game to game.
Our oldest and most successful footballer is working harder than the rest of the team. Tells you everything what's wrong
Will you stop posting in this format!
Mods - I got a PM once from you guys for poor formatting of posts.
Not really. The fact was the manager had a vision for how he wanted his team to look and a plan for how to do that. He didn't apply some vague 'get rid of Ronaldo because we need to move on from him' logic that the other poster is applying. If ETH gets rid of Ronaldo it will be for a specific reason and in service of a broader vision, not because of a vague suspicion that 'we need to move on' from somebody that's been our top performer this season.
Because past equals future, and everything in football is constant, and Liverpool will remain abit average like last season forever. You might as well lock yourself in the past, stay away from reality, and never step outside from it.
Well I wouldn't class myself as one of "you guys" (don't know what that's suggesting... maybe another phrase like your 'Ronaldo FC'. Odd) but no I'm NEVER happy when we lose a game.. whether Ronaldo gets 1, 3 or 0.
Post whatever opinion YOU think but don't be so presumptuous to assume you know what I'm thinking, you don't... as you've just proved.
All other discussions aside, the touch and finish was so good
I have to say around christmas I thought he was finished. Ronaldo being Ronaldo though has come back and proved everybody wrong, again.
Clearly 3 games a week over the festive period was too much for his body. He does need some help and hopefully he accepts more rotation next season, but he's definitely able to play a big part again next year.
What an athlete.
Clearly 3 games a week over the festive period was too much for his body. He does need some help and hopefully he accepts more rotation next season, but he's definitely able to play a big part again next year.
What an athlete.
Agreed, safe to say I'm a complete moron though. My personal pick for our POTS, he's earned the right to choose if he wants to stay or leave next season. Ultimately I'm glad he came back, even if for a short while.
Heartwarming thread to read yesterday and today for me. It's not about him not having negative points, being a solution or not, or some of you preferring to have him out by the end of the year, I can understand those views, I'm just happy that a lot of people have come to appreciate what he's done, if not for the actual footballing he still has, for the passion, and work he puts in every day to help out. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't like after 2022 started, but the amount of passion and work he puts in is the same every single day, and it's great to see it recognized by everyone.
I don't know what the future holds but I really wish we could win a PL with him once again, would be amazing.
I don't know what the future holds but I really wish we could win a PL with him once again, would be amazing.
It's hilarious to read through this thread because it's so schizophrenic. Ronaldo doesn't score for 9 games or whatever and he's useless and finished. Then he goes on a scoring run and he's incredible and United are lucky to have him.
To know what the answer is, all you have to do is look at the teams that are actually successful in this league, i.e. Man City and Liverpool and then ask yourself how many 37 year olds they have in their squads, let alone starting every game in key positions.
What he contributes as far as goals (which is fantastic for his age TBF) is not the whole issue. It's about whether United can win the league with him in the team and starting almost every game. Let's say ETH comes in and keeps Ronaldo and he keeps scoring but the team still doesn't win. What then? He'll be 38 and breaking personal records whilst Liverpool and City continue to break point gathering and trophy winning records. And he's too big a figure to play a supporting role, let's be honest.
Why not just move him on (and several others) and retool with a new crop of younger players that will fit the system ETH wants to play? Ronaldo is many things but one thing he's not is the future. You cannot build a new side to challenge the top teams for the next decade around him.
There's such a strange notion with some on here that the club cannot possibly survive without him, which makes no sense at all. He's one of the greatest players of all time but he's hardly indispensable at 37.
This month we've played 6 PL matches. We have lost to Everton, Arsenal and Everton, we have drewn against Leicester and Chelsea and we've got a narrow win against 20th placed Norwich. We haven't dominated a game in months, not with Ronaldo and not without him. Yet this thread is filled with praise and "I told you so"-posts in celebration of Ronaldo's recent great scoring form. We have the exact same problems as we had when he was out of scoring form. Our game has changed drastically the last 8 months, we just can't win the ball in favourable areas anymore and we will not change when you play the striker with the lowest pressingnumbers in the top5 leagues on top. Yesterday we were totally dominated by a team that worked a lot better than us collectively and they forced errors on us over and over again throughout the game.
Chelsea pressings in their attacking 3rd from their attacking trio last night: 38 (Havertz/Lukaku 10, Werner/Pulisic 12 and Mount 16)
United pressings in our attacking 3rd last night from our attacking trio + Bruno (Bonus): 18 (Ronaldo did 2)
How are we ever going to dominate possession or games in general when we don't collectively press to win the ball back when we lose it or the opponent starts from the back?
We'll literally let them enter our half every time they win the ball, while we struggle to get out of ours.
Ronaldo has been great on the offense lately and he really seems to have found his shootingboots again. I'm really impressed with that and that's great, but that is not 100% of his job. No topteam can afford the luxury of having a player that only works when we have the ball, the level of the competition is too tough for it work any more and it's become impossible to succeed with a player of that profile as the main man. As much as I want to see Ronaldo lift a trophy for us again, I just can't see it happening, unless he suddenly improves drastically in the defensive department. We need a striker who can do both the offensive and defensive parts of a modern strikers job to be able to compete at the top level again (not the only change needed, but a necessary one).
Yes, the entire team has looked dysfunctional for almost the entirity of the season, but playing the way we have been this season, we were allways going to fail....
I have no good explanation for why simple things (simple short passes, being able the trap a ball or totally out of position defenders multiple and giving away easy early goals etc.) have been looking hard for a lot of our players this season or how many players suddenly look half the players they where 12 months ago, but let's start by not overloading them every game.
ETH has a massive job on his hands when he arrives.
Chelsea pressings in their attacking 3rd from their attacking trio last night: 38 (Havertz/Lukaku 10, Werner/Pulisic 12 and Mount 16)
United pressings in our attacking 3rd last night from our attacking trio + Bruno (Bonus): 18 (Ronaldo did 2)
How are we ever going to dominate possession or games in general when we don't collectively press to win the ball back when we lose it or the opponent starts from the back?
We'll literally let them enter our half every time they win the ball, while we struggle to get out of ours.
Ronaldo has been great on the offense lately and he really seems to have found his shootingboots again. I'm really impressed with that and that's great, but that is not 100% of his job. No topteam can afford the luxury of having a player that only works when we have the ball, the level of the competition is too tough for it work any more and it's become impossible to succeed with a player of that profile as the main man. As much as I want to see Ronaldo lift a trophy for us again, I just can't see it happening, unless he suddenly improves drastically in the defensive department. We need a striker who can do both the offensive and defensive parts of a modern strikers job to be able to compete at the top level again (not the only change needed, but a necessary one).
Yes, the entire team has looked dysfunctional for almost the entirity of the season, but playing the way we have been this season, we were allways going to fail....
I have no good explanation for why simple things (simple short passes, being able the trap a ball or totally out of position defenders multiple and giving away easy early goals etc.) have been looking hard for a lot of our players this season or how many players suddenly look half the players they where 12 months ago, but let's start by not overloading them every game.
ETH has a massive job on his hands when he arrives.
Good post
Exactly, people are talking as if United was regularly finishing outside top 10 in PL before Ronaldo..
United had 3 top-3 finishes in PL in the last 4 years with an FA Cup final and a semi-final and now are having the worst season in the last 30 years in terms of the number of points and total number of goals..
It is strange that Ronaldo has now switched the narrative to we'd be mid-table without him, from finishing 2nd last year as if without his presence there is this vaccuum where nobody takes a shot on target or nobody gets in position to score, that we'd go several games goalless without his presence, even though the team is scoring pretty much the same number of goals with or without him, as if his arrival has had absolutely no effect on Cavani, Martial, Fernandes and Rashford this season: Fernandes (they don't fit together at all, Fernandes is suffering to the point he's lost all confidence), Cavani (went on holidays when he found out he wasn't going to be first choice), Rashford (doesn't seem to me that he gets on with Ronaldo, seems to be having a permanent strop), Martial (wasn't even in matchday squads, so wanted to leave). There is only so much room in the box, only so many goals to be scored, so much attention to be given. We will never know for sure, but in a vaccuum I believe these players step up to the level they have showed in the seasons before Ronaldo was here.
This tired narrative of "Ronaldo would score 50 goals for City" needs to die, the reason they are so fluid and winning games is because they don't rely on a limited central striker and can rotate several players. Ronaldo forces you to play him almost every game or a circus ensues. He is actually probably bigger than the club, at least going by social media followers. He is the highest paid player in the league. He dominates every single dressing room, every single team he goes into. That rubs some personalities the wrong way.
Ronaldo on an individual level has been superb in the past few months, better than I expected, his individual drive for goals has kept up his personal standards. But the team is badly suffering from the point of his arrival. It's not entirely a coincidence:
That we have been so terrible defensively all of a sudden with him as the main striker. The whole team defends. Centre backs pick out passes through the middle, unpressured by Ronaldo, and are then exposed by McTominay (who doesn't know how to position at all). The amount of times the defenders are left on disadvantageous one-on-ones is shocking. The number of shots that De Gea has had to save this season is absolutely embarrassing for a top team. We are very badly coached. But the whole team has malfunctioned and two players that are "saving the day" (Ronaldo and De Gea) are a part of that too, in their deficiencies outside pure shooting or saving.
This post sums up how i feel 100%
It’s funny seeing all the Billy Big Bollox’s from earlier on in the thread squirming to throw shade on Ronaldo with anything they’ve got left..
You were beaten by a 37 year old, give it up
You were beaten by a 37 year old, give it up
If only United were half decent and provided Ronaldo proper assists, he would have score at least 10 more goals.
He missed a fair few easy chances in that period where we were facing some beatable opposition, to be fair.
He's on a great run now though and I hope he continues it for his own sake.
Gotta the last couple of matches his hold up and link up play has been superb. I have been a bit critical of him over the season as this part of his game was lacking during parts of the season, but these last 2 games he has looked really sharp
The idea that we shouldn't build a team around a 37-year old (Ronaldo, no less) is idiotic, not because we should be doing it, but because, why build a team around one single player anyway? Those who spout this nonsense, often refer to Man City and Liverpool not having 37-year olds in attack, but they also haven't built a team around one player either, have they? The best players play, Ronaldo is our best player so he plays.
The hope is that Ten Hag comes in and builds a system that is clear enough, so the players are interchangeable and the team doesn't suffer dramatically as a result. This is what Liverpool and Man City have built. Not some weird "37 year olds be built around" bollocks. Adding to that, what they have built is not the only way to operate and as long as Ten Hag wants Ronaldo in the team and it's paying off then why would we care?
The hope is that Ten Hag comes in and builds a system that is clear enough, so the players are interchangeable and the team doesn't suffer dramatically as a result. This is what Liverpool and Man City have built. Not some weird "37 year olds be built around" bollocks. Adding to that, what they have built is not the only way to operate and as long as Ten Hag wants Ronaldo in the team and it's paying off then why would we care?
Have people on here who constantly bring it up ever asked themselves how Real Madrid won everything they've won without Ronaldo pressing?
Granted, Madrid had a different system and different players, but that's on Ole for thinking he can have Ronaldo in his team.
23 years old Mbappe defensive stats aren't much better than Ronaldo's. 8 pressures per 90 compared to Ronaldo's 7.
He's not finished. It's just a bad, VERY bad, marriage.
Granted, Madrid had a different system and different players, but that's on Ole for thinking he can have Ronaldo in his team.
23 years old Mbappe defensive stats aren't much better than Ronaldo's. 8 pressures per 90 compared to Ronaldo's 7.
He's not finished. It's just a bad, VERY bad, marriage.
True. Building around 1 player doesn't really add up to a great team. Messi and Ronaldo in their prime were the key attacking players but they were surrounded by world class players as well. Ronaldo is good for his age but he's not in his prime anyway. Despite the fact that west ham don't have a Ronaldo they are above us with moyes of all managers.
World class players and managers. That real Madrid squad is one of the best in history.
I don't get your point. Are you saying we move Ronaldo on because we won't win a title with him and go for a crop of younger players because we would win with them? How? Who's out there available and young that is a better number 9 than him? Also make no mistake, had City got him he'd bang them in left and right for them. Or imagine Ronaldo for this Chelsea team. Ronaldo isn't the typical 37 year old, he looks way fitter than the likes of Rashford or Martial.
I'm not against getting a younger striker in, we should. But someone that can compliment or replace Ronaldo in certain games while we keep Ronnie but rotate him more. Whenever he had enough rest he looked very good for us this season. Question will be whether he'll be ok with being rotated but I guess he will with 38 years of age. Competition will do him and a young striker that we hopefully bring in very good.
A legend. I can't really think of anyone at 37 performed at this level in top level football before, and especially in this Utd team.
Its not really that particular players fault, but to rely on a single player too much for goals is rarely a good thing, for a successful and complete team, you ideally want at least one other goalscorer, if not two.
Ronaldo has scored, was it 8 out of your last 9 goals? Again, not really his fault, but its not a substainable model.
Ronaldo has scored, was it 8 out of your last 9 goals? Again, not really his fault, but its not a substainable model.
Whether we should have bought him back or not is now irrelevant I feel. He's here now and he's our only performing striker.
If he doesn't leave in the summer he'll be a stop gap whilst we refill our striking options, probably over two seasons. Cavani, Greenwood, Martial (probably), Lingard are all leaving and Rashford needs to wake the feck up. We have a lot of rearranging to do. Having Ronaldo to assist in that transition could be very good for the club.
If he doesn't leave in the summer he'll be a stop gap whilst we refill our striking options, probably over two seasons. Cavani, Greenwood, Martial (probably), Lingard are all leaving and Rashford needs to wake the feck up. We have a lot of rearranging to do. Having Ronaldo to assist in that transition could be very good for the club.
Spot on. Good post.
Imagine watching football your whole life and then when Cristiano Ronaldo, a footall and more importantly United legend went on a goal drought at our club, you suggested he was a problem rather than an asset to the club and/or claimed he was finished as a top player.
You should be truly embarrassed, for your stupidity as well as your lack of loyalty.
You should be truly embarrassed, for your stupidity as well as your lack of loyalty.
Is it really a good post though? People were saying that about 37 year old Ronaldo and got proven wrong and Ronaldo is only contracted for one more season so not sure the post even makes sense when we are actively looking another striker anyway.
Spot on.
The Ronaldo thread in the football forum was constantly bumped when he didn't score a hat-trick in recent years. It's his first time not scoring in a little over five games - but it's still just that isn't it ? Five games ! Just a few games playing shite when the rest of the team has been shite too (except Sancho).
Look I could very well be wrong and he is fecked, all I'm saying is people have prematurely written off Ronaldo every year for the past five years. He doesn't look much slower or less powerful now - so I have a hope we can eke out some more GOAT level performances from him!
I know! Why don’t we get a team full of good players, just like man city and Liverpool did? The idea that we should get rid of our 1 world class player to make the rest of the team better…. Well maybe you could convince RM, City, Liverpool that they should do that.
Nothing unreasonable about doubting a 37 year old or wondering whether he was what this team really needed.
As for loyalty, I don’t remember much of that from 2008 onwards. And I don’t think his return to United was based on romance but more 500k a week.
There doesn't seem to be much about loyalty when fans say we don't deserve him or they would love to see how he would do at City. Not really stuff you'd say about Robson.
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