7
Yeah, Mbappe would also be useful. Maybe Neymar as well!
That sums what I've been trying to say in this thread for a while. Good Post and absolutely correct.
No one is blaming Ronaldo personally so engage with the points being made against his inclusion in the starting 11 instead of blindly defending something that is not under attack. On average, he has done enough to justify his own presence in the team if you get me...but that is to say that he deserves to play in this very poor team...he has not improved us and to say that this capitulation was coming is bullshit...we were consistently shit for years and ground out results and lost and drew quite predictably during that time. The capitulation is a combination of many things but one of those is certainly Ronaldo playing as a lone striker or a wide forward...unless he plays in a front 2 the oppositions back line settle very quickly and make it almost impossible to dominate the game...
Someone posted there has been an "absolute deterioration" since he came into the team which does suggest a strong correlation between his arrival and our current dire situation which seems wrong to me, hence why i defended his performances. We scavenged an undeserved win against Wolves and a point at Southampton before he even entered the side so it's not as if we looking great before he came (look at the form at the end of last season too)
Oh yeah they just dissapeared and now every team we play are controlling the match and we are now the team that have to play low block to defend against it.Yeah I noticed the Everton match too.Agree.
The other thing is not even that complicated. Martial plays much more centrally as a striker so he ultimately keeps the opposition central defenders busy. Even if the guy isn't pressing, his ability to receive the ball to feet and try link up play ultimately gets the CB'S concentrating on him, leaving space for the inverted forwards. This was the same with Cavani upfront but he had extra pressing ability. The position of these 2 are central strikers.
Ronaldo was never a central striker, he was a winger and this shows with how he plays the central striker position. First his positioning. I'm sure you noticed how many times he came and played as a LW yesterday even in the first half. Rashford and Sancho were then all over the place. He wants to receive the ball at this angle to score goals like he always did at his prime. But what exactly does this do to the opposition? Ronaldo is not someone who positions himself centrally, but he doesn't even press the CB'S. He is sometimes seen so deep and away from the CB'S.
Now what does a striker who isn't central, who isn't pressing do to the opposition? It gives them all the time and space for them to keep rotating the ball from their LB to their CB'S to their RB until they get the perfect opportunity to pass in to the midfield. Why is this so easy? Because Bruno realises Ronaldo is not pressing, is not even deep - goes to press to speed up the opposition making a decision with the ball and all it does is leave us playing a 424 - our front 3 that isn't central, that doesn't press has no got Bruno up trying to do it.
Then an easy pass takes on trying to overcome Matic and Mctominay - aka just 2 midfielders and they are suddenly directly vs our defensive line.
This is why Watford absolutely bossed us yesterday. Absolutely controlled the game. This is happening more than it ever did last season because every teams centre backs line have all the time in the world to do whatever they want and pick their passes because our striker is not even central blocking the lanes, nor does he even approach them for a press.
Every game. Liverpool, City, Watford, Atalanta, Leicester etc teams control the match vs us because we have players that allow them to do that. To stop it & accept it we have to create a low block team with not one of our players pressing. Then ultimately Ronaldo has turned this team to a low block team vs Watford.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that we played better when Martial was centre. It's like that game vs Everton when Cavani was our striker. Was Everton the team that controlled that game? Nope. We were controlling that game to ease and Everton went in to a low block like nearly every average team did to control our attack. Ronaldo got subbed on and Everton controlled the game after that and we were dead.
One simple question- what happened to the low block teams we struggled to create against all of last season
I got other videos and articles if your interested mate. If this Ronaldo had a different name with no history of United - he wouldn't be protected so much. No pressing, no positioning, no passing, no hold up play or interplay, 1 in 7 goals in the pl with a 17% conversion rate which is extremely low for a striker that has changed the way our team plays. Absolutely nothing except his goals and his goals are so reliant on his team mates who are on the back foot most of the game because the opposition are the team controlling the game with us this season with all the freedom and time at the back..due to Ronaldo. Glad you saw the difference Martial made. I'm sure you might have seen it with Cavani too.
I have this theory that maybe he realized yesterday he had to stop scoring for a new manager to come.
Maybe Maguire did it in purpose as well. Maybe they all downed tools.
Agree.
The other thing is not even that complicated. Martial plays much more centrally as a striker so he ultimately keeps the opposition central defenders busy. Even if the guy isn't pressing, his ability to receive the ball to feet and try link up play ultimately gets the CB'S concentrating on him, leaving space for the inverted forwards. This was the same with Cavani upfront but he had extra pressing ability. The position of these 2 are central strikers.
Ronaldo was never a central striker, he was a winger and this shows with how he plays the central striker position. First his positioning. I'm sure you noticed how many times he came and played as a LW yesterday even in the first half. Rashford and Sancho were then all over the place. He wants to receive the ball at this angle to score goals like he always did at his prime. But what exactly does this do to the opposition? Ronaldo is not someone who positions himself centrally, but he doesn't even press the CB'S. He is sometimes seen so deep and away from the CB'S.
Now what does a striker who isn't central, who isn't pressing do to the opposition? It gives them all the time and space for them to keep rotating the ball from their LB to their CB'S to their RB until they get the perfect opportunity to pass in to the midfield. Why is this so easy? Because Bruno realises Ronaldo is not pressing, is not even deep - goes to press to speed up the opposition making a decision with the ball and all it does is leave us playing a 424 - our front 3 that isn't central, that doesn't press has no got Bruno up trying to do it.
Then an easy pass takes on trying to overcome Matic and Mctominay - aka just 2 midfielders and they are suddenly directly vs our defensive line.
This is why Watford absolutely bossed us yesterday. Absolutely controlled the game. This is happening more than it ever did last season because every teams centre backs line have all the time in the world to do whatever they want and pick their passes because our striker is not even central blocking the lanes, nor does he even approach them for a press.
Every game. Liverpool, City, Watford, Atalanta, Leicester etc teams control the match vs us because we have players that allow them to do that. To stop it & accept it we have to create a low block team with not one of our players pressing. Then ultimately Ronaldo has turned this team to a low block team vs Watford.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that we played better when Martial was centre. It's like that game vs Everton when Cavani was our striker. Was Everton the team that controlled that game? Nope. We were controlling that game to ease and Everton went in to a low block like nearly every average team did to control our attack. Ronaldo got subbed on and Everton controlled the game after that and we were dead.
One simple question- what happened to the low block teams we struggled to create against all of last season
I got other videos and articles if your interested mate. If this Ronaldo had a different name with no history of United - he wouldn't be protected so much. No pressing, no positioning, no passing, no hold up play or interplay, 1 in 7 goals in the pl with a 17% conversion rate which is extremely low for a striker that has changed the way our team plays. Absolutely nothing except his goals and his goals are so reliant on his team mates who are on the back foot most of the game because the opposition are the team controlling the game with us this season with all the freedom and time at the back..due to Ronaldo. Glad you saw the difference Martial made. I'm sure you might have seen it with Cavani too.
