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2021-22 Performances

View full 2021-22 profile

5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
38
Goals
24
Assists
3
Yellow cards
9
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Leonzo1 said:
We need to play another striker to partner Cristiano. against Villareal and Aston Vila he was really isolated up front, and since his hold-up play is basically non-existent we look completely lost upfront. we need Rashford back ASAP but I reckon Cavani will also work great with Ronaldo. Ronny always delivered his best output when he had a second striker playing off his shoulder whether it was Rooney, Benzema, Higuain, Dybala, etc.
Cavani's and Ronaldo's constant movement in the box is a joy to watch, I think this lineup makes us a lot more fluid upfront:

Cavani - Ronaldo - Sancho
Bruno
Matic - Donny

obviously, we won't get it and it will be Pogba shoehorned somewhere on the pitch and the good old McFred.
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Agreed, across his whole career I've never seen him deliver consistent top class performances as a lone striker. There's a stigma around him that he's a pure poacher now, but he still gets far more involved in the game than some of the traditional #9s around Europe.

For the time being I'd have him off the left in the kind of wide striker role we saw Rashford take up in 19/20. Let Cavani occupy the CBs as he drags them all over the place, leaving Ronnie to ghost around the front line looking for opportunities to get on the ball.
 
You don't bench Ronaldo. If he's fit and ready to go then he plays. He's the most inevitable footballer in the world, it doesn't matter if he has a bad game because he'll most likely come up with a goal to win it.

He didn't play bad against Villa it was just a quiet game for him because he didn't receive great service. He was in some good positions to score but Greenwood couldn't find him. He was bad against Villareal though but he still scores the winner.
 
This guy…

His reaction after their goal: motivated his teammates immediately.
Reaction after Telles scored: picking the ball out of the net asap.
Own game: not up to his standards but still managed to win the game for his team.

Play with more speed and finally get some good crosses inside the box and he will do the rest for sure.
 
frostbite said:
If he runs around and creates goals, then it is worth it. If he runs around and misses the goal then it is not worth it. Remember Welbeck? He was running around a lot but he couldn't score. The important thing is to score. The whole point of running is to get in a position to score.
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Or to create chances to score. Or to play the pass before the assist to open the opposition up. Or to hold up the ball and bring others into play. Or to press the opposition into mistakes.
 
Wonder how Ole will manage his minutes this season, he looked exhausted at the end of the 90 minutes on Wednesday and a game as quickly as Saturday morning is going to be tough.

He will 100% start the match but I think its important we don't burn him out over the course of the season.
 
Devil81 said:
Wonder how Ole will manage his minutes this season, he looked exhausted at the end of the 90 minutes on Wednesday and a game as quickly as Saturday morning is going to be tough.

He will 100% start the match but I think its important we don't burn him out over the course of the season.
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He will play him in the majority of matches and run him into the ground like he did with Rashford.
 
The Plump Poet said:
That's so beautifully put and absolutely correct :lol:
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Not really. We have exactly the same problems that we had in the previous seasons but now we have another player that can change the final result. The same game last season would most likely end up in a draw.

It's not going to matter that much if we don't address the midfield issues because he will get us a few extra points but it won't be enough to win either the PL or the CL.
It would be fun that he would go full rampage in the KO stages like in the 16/17 season where he scored a hat trick or a brace against anything that moved but unfortunately I don't see that happening.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
Not really. We have exactly the same problems that we had in the previous seasons but now we have another player that can change the final result. The same game last season would most likely end up in a draw.

It's not going to matter that much if we don't address the midfield issues because he will get us a few extra points but it won't be enough to win either the PL or the CL.
It would be fun that he would go full rampage in the KO stages like in the 16/17 season where he scored a hat trick or a brace against anything that moved but unfortunately I don't see that happening.
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Yes, the same problems, but worse. That's two games in a row you've looked like the inferior team. In todays game, you can't afford a player that provides little to link up play, because then you get games like Villa where you looked worse than you had for many years. Even Martial provides more in that regard.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
Not really. We have exactly the same problems that we had in the previous seasons but now we have another player that can change the final result. The same game last season would most likely end up in a draw.

It's not going to matter that much if we don't address the midfield issues because he will get us a few extra points but it won't be enough to win either the PL or the CL.
It would be fun that he would go full rampage in the KO stages like in the 16/17 season where he scored a hat trick or a brace against anything that moved but unfortunately I don't see that happening.
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I don’t think that’s a reasonable assumption. Obviously we can’t know for sure but we turned plenty of games around last year with late goals.
 
Jericho said:
I don’t think that’s a reasonable assumption. Obviously we can’t know for sure but we turned plenty of games around last year with late goals.
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That's why I said "most likely" instead of "definitely" and in this specific case I can actually use the exact same game from last season where we drew with them 1-1 and lost in the penalties (and that was only 4 months ago).
Still, doesn't make it a fact that we would draw without Ronaldo in this game, but it's a reasonable assumption.
 
The Plump Poet said:
Yes, the same problems, but worse. That's two games in a row you've looked like the inferior team. In todays game, you can't afford a player that provides little to link up play, because then you get games like Villa where you looked worse than you had for many years. Even Martial provides more in that regard.
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If you think that Martial provides more of anything than Ronaldo then I'm not sure what to say. Maybe martial of a few years ago but he's shown nothing this season or last to show he's a man to link up play. Not saying Ronnie is a master at it (though he's not as bad as you claim) just that Tony is dreadful in pretty much every department. Imo we can't blame Ronaldo for us looking the way we look at the mo.
 
The Plump Poet said:
Yes, the same problems, but worse. That's two games in a row you've looked like the inferior team. In todays game, you can't afford a player that provides little to link up play, because then you get games like Villa where you looked worse than you had for many years. Even Martial provides more in that regard.
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As opposed to the last season where we looked like the superior team most of the games?

It's not worse, it's the same. Ronaldo didn't come to fix that, he came to score goals when needed and his build-up play isn't as bad as you trying to make although I do agree that in the last 2 games he wasn't exactly great overall.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
That's why I said "most likely" instead of "definitely" and in this specific case I can actually use the exact same game from last season where we drew with them 1-1 and lost in the penalties (and that was only 4 months ago).
Still, doesn't make it a fact that we would draw without Ronaldo in this game, but it's a reasonable assumption.
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And that's why I said assumption.

Again, given that we've had similar games with similar performances and results I don't think it's a reasonable assumption. Atleast not yet.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Such a simplistic view on football. A striker who links up well and helps create openings/presses well/holds the ball expertly can result in the team scoring more goals. Drogba's hold up play would torment oppositions even if it didn't result the "G/A" stat. Ronaldo is IMO undoubtedly good for us but this whole "goals are all that matter" is something I disagree with. The point isn't to beef Ronaldo's goal tally but improve our football team to achieve genuine excellence and win big trophies. And the hardest part in football, based on our experience over the past 8 years, is to play high quality football. We've had the likes of Ibra and Lukaku score 25+ goals for us before, we've had a young front three all score 15-25 goals each two years ago and it hasn't led to success.
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This, if goals are all that mattered we would still have Lukaku up front and we would never have gone with Saha over RVN. Andy Cole at 28 scoring 20 goals a season was a far better footballer than the Newcastle version who scored 40.

Drogba is a good example, Lukaku will annihilate his scoring record but is not even close to Drogba as a player.
 
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Pogue Mahone said:
He’s absolutely correct.
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Not even remotely correct to be honest. You just have to wait and see more of current day Ronaldo and then form an opinion. He’s still settling in a team that’s having trouble to build up play. Easy to blame him for it, it’s also wrong.
 
People underestimate how important having a cohesive unit is to scoring alot of goals as a team. He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that.
 
RooneyLegend said:
People underestimate how important having a cohesive unit is to scoring alot of goals as a team. He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that.
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The biggest unbalanced area right now is in the midfield...
 
RooneyLegend said:
People underestimate how important having a cohesive unit is to scoring alot of goals as a team. He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that.
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Yet United dropped 11 points within a couple of months against the likes of Sheffield, Arsenal, Everton, West Brom, Palace.

They took 4 of 6 points from Chelsea and City in back to back fixtures. United compete and give themselves a good account against said better teams. They've had more issues against the lower sides.
 
RooneyLegend said:
People underestimate how important having a cohesive unit is to scoring alot of goals as a team. He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that.
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If better players don't help against the better teams, why do teams pay so much money for them?
 
Bobski said:
This, if goals are all that mattered we would still have Lukaku up front and we would never have gone with Saha over RVN. Andy Cole at 28 scoring 20 goals a season was a far better footballer than the Newcastle version who scored 40.

Drogba is a good example, Lukaku will annihilate his scoring record but is not even close to Drogba as a player.
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So Cole getting 40 goals and 14 assists was an inferior player to him getting 24 goals 7 assists? interesting.
 
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edcunited1878 said:
Yet United dropped 11 points within a couple of months against the likes of Sheffield, Arsenal, Everton, West Brom, Palace.

They took 4 of 6 points from Chelsea and City in back to back fixtures. United compete and give themselves a good account against said better teams. They've had more issues against the lower sides.
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We were 2nd last on the traditional top 6 table. Only above Spurs who were in a crisis the whole campaign.
 
Bobski said:
This, if goals are all that mattered we would still have Lukaku up front and we would never have gone with Saha over RVN. Andy Cole at 28 scoring 20 goals a season was a far better footballer than the Newcastle version who scored 40.

Drogba is a good example, Lukaku will annihilate his scoring record but is not even close to Drogba as a player.
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Exactly, Lukaku will score 3 against lesser teams but when it matters he wouldn’t score champions league winning goals like Drogba. He just isn’t in the same stratosphere. Luis Saha was unbelievable for us and would of been even better if he could stay fit!
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
I read that post & was about to write something similar, one of the strangest posts I’ve seen.
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It's rubbish in all honesty. Cole and Beardsley were devastating. How Newcastle managed to sell him is baffling even today. Btw Cole scored alot for us, but he should have scored more. His numbers didn't shrink because of how he played, more because his finishing went backwards under the weight of expectation of playing for our club.
 
The complaints here remind me of a similar situation when we last won the CL. Many said he was selfish and did not run towards VDS like other players. We always find some gems like these
 
RooneyLegend said:
We were 2nd last on the traditional top 6 table. Only above Spurs who were in a crisis the whole campaign.
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I think you underestimate how good Ronaldo still is. He's not a one trick scoring pony. Ronaldo will not run around or press like Cavani. However, he can still link up, pass, and interchange across the front line.

At the same time, he is a primary focal point at the top center of the pitch. If United are funneling everything towards him and just relying on him for goals, that's a mistake. Unfortunately, the team is trying to adapt with him in the side. Learning when and how to feed Ronaldo, but also make sure players such as Bruno, Greenwood, Sancho, and soon to be Rashford, have their opportunities (again, balance) will be important.
 
edcunited1878 said:
I think you underestimate how good Ronaldo still is. He's not a one trick scoring pony. Ronaldo will not run around or press like Cavani. However, he can still link up, pass, and interchange across the front line.

At the same time, he is a primary focal point at the top center of the pitch. If United are funneling everything towards him and just relying on him for goals, that's a mistake. Unfortunately, the team is trying to adapt with him in the side. Learning when and how to feed Ronaldo, but also make sure players such as Bruno, Greenwood, Sancho, and soon to be Rashford, have their opportunities (again, balance) will be important.
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If a defender is anywhere near him outside the box he loses the ball. We also all know Ronnie has a warranted and we'll earned shoot on sight policy. Add him to Bruno the team play will take a nose dive.

It would be much better if he was here in a team that's elite on the ball with an elite ball playing side but that's not the case.
 
RooneyLegend said:
Which is another reason why we have to be great on the break as we won't be controlling many matches with that lot in midfield.
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But, this is Caf in a nutshell.

Star players who are doing their own jobs need to fix issues of other players and positions.
 
The United said:
But, this is Caf in a nutshell.

Star players who are doing their own jobs need to fix issues of other players and positions.
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We're mid season early in the campaign. Where are supposed to get the midfielders and requisite coaching to sort out the team?
 
RooneyLegend said:
If a defender is anywhere near him outside the box he loses the ball. We also all know Ronnie has a warranted and we'll earned shoot on sight policy. Add him to Bruno the team play will take a nose dive.

It would be much better if he was here in a team that's elite on the ball with an elite ball playing side but that's not the case.
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Are you talking about Pogba re: if a defender is anywhere near him outside the box, he loses the ball?

Part of the reason United signing Ronaldo was so that City wouldn't get him. Because that's exactly the type of team he was headed to, if not for United taking it seriously and engaging with Mendes.

If Ronaldo and Cavani are to score, both players are more dependent on actual service from teammates than creating something from nothing. Not to say they can't fashion a scoring chance from a half yard they create in the box, but I think you understand what I'm saying about service. Cavani has shown more contribution towards build up than Ronaldo, however Ronaldo's only been with the team for 5 games?

The fact of the matter is, Ronaldo is in the squad. There is still a legitimate learning curve for him and the team. Villa was an odd game because it was very open and direct, yet Ronaldo only had half the shot attempts (4) compared to Greenwood (8), while Bruno and Pogba had 6 attempts each. If Pogba and Greenwood fashioned 4 of their shots to supply Ronaldo or Bruno, who are at minimum better goal scorers than Pogba, that would be a better balance.
 
RooneyLegend said:
People underestimate how important having a cohesive unit is to scoring alot of goals as a team. He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that.
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Yeah, without Ronaldo we were playing as a team with brilliant cohesion and telepathic understanding between all our players.
 
steffyr2 said:
If better players don't help against the better teams, why do teams pay so much money for them?
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So you gonna tell me the likes of Bruno and Lukaku have proven to be valuable big game players because of how much money is/was pad for them?
 
RooneyLegend said:
So you gonna tell me the likes of Bruno and Lukaku have proven to be valuable big game players because of how much money is/was pad for them?
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You posted,
He's hurting the team in balanced game which won't bode well for us. Our biggest problem last season was how we handled the better sides, he won't be helping that." and being that this is the Cristiano Ronaldo thread, I'm assuming 'he' is Cristiano Ronaldo.
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It's odd that you think he won't help against the better teams.
 
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