Nonsense. He is not meant to help team creativity, Pogba, Bruno and Sancho are supposed to be ones, who are the main playmaker of this team. Ronaldo was bought for the goals, anyone who scored 5 goals in 6 games (most of them are crucial goals), and won PL player of the month, wouldn’t be regarded as a passenger by any stretch.
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You sound like a fanboy. Yes, Ronaldo is partly to blame for the team not creating as much as it should.
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Few questions.
How old are you? How many games has Ronaldo played? And from where do we get the idea that he's a "passenger" in the team? And how have we played without Ronaldo thus far?
Pretty old? How old are you?
You can Google how many games he played.
I get the idea that he's a passenger in the buildup because I watch the games. I wonder whether you do.
Who else indeed. Liverpool fans are up in arms that Salah didn’t win it so expect a vigil and/or petition soon
You're too old to use a term fanboy, that's for sure.
Oh grow up.
Oh, the guy we didn't need, and only bought because of rampant, misty-eyed nostalgia and selling shirts? That must be a surprise to quite a few pundits.
The "Ronaldo has to start" thing is beginning to seriously bug me though. What, a 36-year old should start every PL and CL game through the season? Even SAF, what's he on about? He didn't start his best players in every game. Athletic mentioned f.e., that in his last season RVP started on the bench more than ten times in the PL - and CR was rested in quite a few PL games too, in the last season of his previous spell.
Ronaldo 'needs more playing time' says Portugal manager with Man Utd forward set to feature in international friendly (thesun.co.uk)
And it says a lot about the world of football punditry, commentary and discussion that these two notions can have prevalence at the same time.
I'm far to lazy to look it up but Fergie tended to rest the best players when we had a cushion in the league, not at the start of it or so I reckon.
Correct.
I must be the only one who thought it wasn't a bad idea to drop him vs Everton. Playing Weds night then 12.30 on a Sat for a 36-year old is no joke.
If so, that is a good point.
Still - he is 36, and with the Everton game coming less than 3 days on the heels of the Villarreal game in which he played the full 90+ minutes, I didn't think it was a surprise when the lineup was announced.
Too much is made about his start from the bench. That wasnt a problem in that game, the problem was we were shit. The best part is it looked ok in the 1st half. Saying all that saying Ronaldo is hindering us is a bit mad imo.
It was a good idea, and it proved correct when we were winning 1-0 before he came on. If anything, should have given him the whole morning off.
Ronaldo started 3 PL games, in those game weeks only Liverpool have created more chances than us (Yeah very small sample size and quality of opponents is not considered). In the 3 games he started, he accumulated more xG than any player in the league. So looks like team is finding it easy to create chances for Ronaldo.
I get your point too, that Ronaldo doesn't work hard when we are not in possession and he isn't like Benzema when it comes to bringing others into play. That's something at least I won't argue against, I share same concerns too. But you are also overlooking very points that are in Ronaldo's favor. For example, Ronaldo's movement makes it easier for his teammates to pick him and create chances compared to players like Martial who doesn't make off the ball runs. Ronaldo times his runs very well. He isn't as electric as he was but as a 9 he is involved in the game, in general 9s are isolated and averages least touches in the game. Most of their work is off the ball.
Interesting points. Team-wise, our xG in the 3 games he started was 6.39, compared to 6.10 in the four games he didn't. (pr game, 2.13 and 1.53 respectively). So that holds up also on the team level.
xGA, we've had 3,86 in the 3 games he started and 4,28 in the 4 he didn't. (pr game 1.29 and 1.07 respectively). So on the other hand our xGA went up slightly, but not as much as our xG.
As you say though, very small sample.
Yeah, sample size is very small and quality of opponents are not considered.
We need players with good movement to create chances too, something that Ronaldo is best at.
Ronaldo's performance individually is clearly fine, and is a plus. The question is more if what is hindering us is the challenge of adapting to an attack where he is the focal point, and also to having to solve defensive issues differently because you cannot expect him to press and put in defensive work the way you can with Cavani or Martial. This was what I was worrying about when we signed him, so maybe I am too focused on it now, but it seems to me that re-orientering around him brings a lot of knock-on effects in different areas, and some of them are hard to resolve. The question, as it was at Juventus, is does he make us a better team? I hope so, but so far I'm not sure.
But this is for OGS and the coaches to figure out and manage. He should have a good answer, having enthusiastically brought him back to the club.
Defensive issues are too expressed imo. Our pressing is both lacking and inconsistent and it seems it's not trained and if trained not properly. It's not like our attacking players were putting defensive work so much that now Ronaldo is there it's suddenly gone cause of one player. That goes certainly for Martial who puts in a shift when he likes it.
As for attack as you say its on Ole to solve it. He's playing in attack but also not staying up the whole time, he tends to contribute to build up and come back for the ball. Maybe right now all the players are looking for him with the ball but even if its happening during the year it will be less and less like that. Hopefully. Also for example Greenwood tried to solve the game on his own against Villa I think so he wasnt exactly playing with or passing to Ronaldo.
The problem is so many times Bruno always pass the ball to Ronaldo in poor angles even with Greenwood open. We have to get the balance right otherwise this will be a big proxy. Also a few times I have seen Ronaldo not bother to chase a ball so as to preserve energy and play every game. That’s not good for the team. At some point we have to get more work-rate and better positional discipline (no constant drifting to the left into Rashford/Pogba’s territory). I love Ronnie but we have to get the balance correct otherwise we will affect one of Greenwood/ Sancho/Rashford’s game and they’re the future.
Cavani’s press is very intense and intelligent he presses and cuts off passing lanes to unmarked players
I don’t know which match you are watching, but it seems to me it’s the other way round, Greenwood could have pass to Bruno or Ronaldo in so many occasions, but he go for shot himself at poor angles.
While Rashford hasn’t play a game for us yet, you really have no reason to bring him up too.
And Sancho poor form has nothing to do with the ball not passing to him actually. I supposed you didn’t watch any of our games this season.
The only thing you got right, is that Ronaldo isn’t pressing enough. But he never pressed much even in his prime, didn’t stop him and his teams becoming hugely successful over the years, we should have all known it before buying him, and it’s up to us to find the right balance in the team.
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5 in 6
redcafe: he’s a passenger
redcafe: he’s a passenger
Like Scholes and Pirlo when they got older they were unable to make attacking runs but due to their brains and ability they were able to sit in and ping balls around.
Ronaldo is the same he can’t run at defenders or dribble as much any more but due too his ability and footballing brain he is just a out and out goalscorer.
The problem for us is we seem to lack the MF too create chances for him.
This Ronaldo will still score 30+ goals if the service is there
Agree he does rely heavily on service these days to score goals. But interesting to note he still dribbles better than Lewandowski, Haaland or Kane etc or most other top no.9 in the game.
For example, this is his avg dribbling stats per game last season, as compared to others:
Ronaldo: 1.8
Lewandowski: 1.1
Haaland: 1.1
Kane: 1.5
So point is, no matter which top no.9 we want to have in future, we still have to fix our midfield supply issue, which is our main problem at the moment.
That’s good to see. It’s still nothing compared to what he could do in his prime but that is what makes him so good. He hides his weaknesses and plays too his strengths.
But I feel he are limiting his full potential unless we fix our MF. If he had went to say city for example I feel 40+ goals this season would happen.
SIIIIIIIIIIUUUU
SIIIIIIUUUU
That's why you should always let Ronaldo take penalties. Three in three in 5 minutes. The retake one is actually not easy.
Bruno getting cucked on these penalties.
All respect to Bruno, he is a world class starting 11 player through and through. But Ronaldo is Ronaldo. He is one of the 2 GOAT's. You don't take penalties over that calibre of player.
And rightly so.
Almost a bicycle kick goal. Keeper should have let that in and Siuu with Ronaldo instead of stopping that beauty.
Hattrick
SIIIIIIIUUU
115
115
He'll be nice and determined from the bench on Saturday 
Benching him for Cavani is putting yourself at a disadvantage for no reason. I don’t get why that’s even a debate.
I don’t mean any disrespect to Cavani when I say that.
I don’t mean any disrespect to Cavani when I say that.
He'll be nice and determined from the bench on Saturday
You guys reckon another Ole tactical masterclass?
He clearly wants to play every minute so I have no idea why he’s starting on the bench..
The only games he should be resting is league cup and FÃ Cup or coming off early in an easy CL game or before a big CL game after a result is settled.You guys reckon another Ole tactical masterclass?
He is not the typical 37 year old.
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