It’s not irrelevant since it speaks to the general sentiment and logic of his return. The Glazers opinions that it would be like bringing Tom Brady to Tampa notwithstanding, a significant portion of the fan base wanted him back. Likewise there are still some in the fan base with “jilted lover syndrome” who relish the chance of rejecting him became he left us for Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo (I stay)
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
- Start date
- Status
It’s not irrelevant since it speaks to the general sentiment and logic of his return. The Glazers opinions that it would be like bringing Tom Brady to Tampa notwithstanding, a significant portion of the fan base wanted him back. Likewise there are still some in the fan base with “jilted lover syndrome” who relish the chance of rejecting him became he left us for Madrid.
It is irrelevant unless you think the opinion of fans a year ago on Ronaldo’s suitability for the team a year in the future is infallible? Things change….
They do, especially with new managers, but not necessarily for the worse. Nor do players of his caliber suddenly become less effective (age dependent of course)
Yes, but so what?
Are we discussing why he was brought back? If so, then yes - of course - it's not irrelevant that a lot of fans wanted it to happen. Our owners are football idiots. They very likely considered Ronaldo's Instagram status when they sanctioned the move.
I'm not too interested in that, though - it happened, it shouldn't have, but it did. Water under the bridge.
The question is what we should do with him now.
Er...yes, that's kinda the point?
I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall here. We're talking about two different players, aren't we?
I mean, that's the crux of it: a wildly different assessment of what he actually offers as a United player at this time, here and now.
You’re not banging your head against a wall. I just find this entire strand of logic particularly unconvincing, especially given that we don’t have any chance of replacing the loss of production. If we signed the likes of Kane or Lewandowski then I would have a different position.
Last edited:
Do you think Ronaldo is on the same level as Kane and Lewandowski?
At his age perhaps touch below but not far off. Certainly light years ahead of any attacking player we currently have, which is why at a minimum, any talk of parting ways with him should be balanced with a healthy dose of who will replace his output.
Do you think that the only thing that will change if we replace Ronaldo with a worse goal scorer is the number of goals our CF scores?
I’m not sure that’s correct - from my reading it’s around £400k post tax.
In any case, there’s only a few select clubs that can afford to pay a player that much. And none of them are lining up for a 37/38 year old Ronaldo.
Of course they do. Less effective and tactically more of a liability. Which is exactly what we're seeing with Ronaldo. He's capable of scoring goals but nowhere near what he used to and your team would have to he setup to serve him and make up for his obvious weaknesses.
They do when they do, but he hasn't yet. 60 goals in the past two years reinforce this. If he were to contribute 12 goals then I would agree that he's no longer playing at a high level.
Obviously he has and everybody knows that. And even the lesser goals he does score come at a cost now. ETH clearly said he dropped him for the obvious tactical reasons. The bloke can't run and press anymore. And we need our system to thrive much more than we need to serve his ego (and that of his raging fanboys).
If he clutch 12 points for us this season, we will be in top 4.
There's Ronaldo derangement syndrome from both sides of the fence - from his fanboys and his haters, both of which have been fairly consistent over the past two decades. My position is fairly centrist and rational in that you don't get rid of a good player who can contribute the biggest commodity in the game (goals) and not replace that with someone who has similar output. Had we signed a proper striker, it would be a no brainer that we let him go. In the absence of that, it would be professional negligence to let him go without making up for what we are losing by letting him leave.
Your position is definitely on one obvious extreme and not "centrist" on this
There's nobody who would not like us to replace Ronaldo with a great striker who can run (unlike him). However, we are in a unique position where we've got this gifted goalscorer who is difficult to accommodate unless you break the system (or make poor one for him), and cannot accept being a bench player and is paid a fortune. Which is precisely why sensible people are willing to let him go - except those on the extreme (his fans).
Your position is definitely on one obvious extreme and not "centrist" on this
There's nobody who would not like us to replace Ronaldo with a great striker who can run (unlike him). However, we are in a unique position where we've got this gifted goalscorer who is difficult to accommodate unless you break the system (or make poor one for him), and cannot accept being a bench player and is paid a fortune. Which is precisely why sensible people are willing to let him go - except those on the extreme (his fans).
I'm confident my position my position isn't in any way extreme because no one was whinging when he was knocking in the goals last year despite being on a terrible, languid team with a space cadet of a manager. Its very rational to not get rid of something without replacing it, in fact some might argue it is incredibly negligent and incompetent to do so. Therefore we have to leave open the possibility that he may stay, and if he does, we should get behind him instead of squealing like tortured animals each time he doesn't press.
What is Ronaldo's net worth? Like $500 million? He really doesn't need the money, and if he really wants to go to another team and wages are an issue--- surely he can take a pay cut to go where he's happy. Us regular folks have taken pay cuts before to leave a sucky job, and we aren't worth $500 million either.
The rational people were.
No, it's irrational to refuse to acknowledge the unique circumstances of the situation.
Ronaldo who is willing to sit on the bench / be a rotational player who plays in certain games which fit and not in others? Sure. We can develop the system we want and also get him to provide goals in the right situations.
Ronaldo who is unwilling to be anything other than a starter (and actually wants to leave) and hence we have to bend over backwards to screw having a plan and a system in place that will serve us for years? feck that in particular. Top class replacement or not. It's not in our interest which makes it irrational.
BTW fans will get behind him IF he gets behind the interests of the club I.e is willing to take a role that matches his current level.
I don't think the situation is that unique. We don't have a proper forward who can score goals so allowing the only one who can do so to leave is pretty irrational. If United truly don't want him then they would cut him loose right now.
Last edited:
And if he was as good as you think he is he have played him against Liverpool.
Like I said nobody cares if Ronaldo stays whilst accepting a lesser capacity. But I'm interested in the role you'd want for him this year keeping in mind - this is clearly a player who wants to start every week and wants a move to a team in the CL and is useless in carrying out a good press / can score goals in a system built entirely to serve him.
Agree with everything. We won't replace his goals but we will replace the goals we lose by overly catering to his high maintenance. It's already hppening in fact. Sancho, Rashford and Martial registered a combined 2 goals and 1 assist on both goals against Liverpool. This is how we will replace and even surpass the one man output of a Ronaldo led attack. We don't need a like for like replacement
I actually disagree with this notion of 'he scores goals' .
At this age and time he is a poacher. He is in the Top 3 -5 GOAT discussion, a freaking legend for Real and Portugal, and an absolute idol. Not taking anything away from him.
But saying 'he can' score goals, reminds me of one-dimensional basketball players who can only rebound, or only shoot the ball. They never get a good contract. At best they call them 3 & D guys.
Ronaldo, would probably fit like a glove in a team that can accommodate that. I'm not saying he should pack it and go right now (i think it would be beneficial if he did), but the team will hopefully have 3 wide forwards that have a knack for scoring, and Martial. Ronaldo cannot create for himself and rarely does for others. He needs to be fed the ball and be carried through a gameplan. He can barely outsprint anyone at this stage and if he puts in the shift he'd be gassed for 30 minutes.
IF we wanted to play within a system that utilises a poacher he'd be our best bet. It seems like the intention is to shift to a pressing / counter pressing team that has a CF that allows for the wide players to produce (Firminho like?).
Martial has been tested there before and he wasnt bad.
IF Ronaldo was 3 years younger it wouldnt matter how we play, he'd probably be good enough to accommodate whatever he needs. He isnt that anymore the guy is 38 and lost 1 (or more) step.
Play like a team, goals will come. Sancho, Antony (hopefully), Rashford, Martial can all bang them in. Is he willing to play 20-30 minutes a game? Brilliant. IF not then it's beneficial for both parties for him to go.
Not quite what i'm saying
He requires a team built around him, with players that complement him. Otherwise, you get juventus - a team that is markedly worse in attack, where Cristiano has to keep them afloat instead of improving them
Of course it's not 100% on him. But they didn't know how to adjust because it's actually not easy to adjust to a deeply idiosyncratic player when you don't have the right pieces around him
Real Madrid already had him. We built around him. When he started to decline, we readjusted around him. We already had good complementary pieces. On top of that, the team was absolutely stacked. We still had to make certain sacrifices for him. It's telling that our most successful season with him was statistically his worst for us, and with the 3rd fewest games played. (The other 2? In one we went out of the cups early and he missed a good number of games to injury, in the other we were out of the title race by December so the focus was all on the CL for half the season). Those were also his age 30 to age 33 seasons. Not his age 37/38 one...
They were clearly better before him. They weren't scintillating, but they were scored over 2 goals per game on average, were seconds away from extra time against real madrid in CL, and made the final the season before. Weak league or not, they were a great side. Then they signed him, and started getting worse. He didn't make them worse probably(well, i think he contributed, but obviously it was much more than just him), but he also didn't help make them better
Too sensible, mate. The overall goals scored doesn't matter. All a coincidence that the teams' goals dried up and has absolutely nothingbto do with building your entire attack against someone who's not willing to do anything except wait in the box for chances. Teams apparently buy players so that they can score less goals as a collective and that's a sucess!
The argument that he's still such a great player because he's carried United and Juve the last couple of seasons as everyone else floundered is proving the point that the "Get rid" group are saying. Everyone else suffers a mark drop off in form because of him.
The season prior to Ronaldo's arrival:
Cavani - 17 goals
Martial - 7
Rashford - 21
Greenwood - 12
Fernandes - 28
Even McTominay (7), Pogba (6) and James (5).
Last season:
Cavani - 2 (-15)
Martial - 1 (-6)
Rashford - 5 (-16)
Greenwood - 6 (-6)
Fernandes - 10 (-16)
Even McTominay (2), Pogba (1) and James (0)
Are people so blinded by their worship of Ronaldo they are willing to discount that and pretend it's total coincidence every single other players form fell off a cliff the second he arrived?? 76 fewer goals scored amongst that group of 8 players? Really??! I get that Martial, James and Greenwood's seasons for United ended half way through but only Greenwood was on to match his previous tally, the other two had 1 goal between them at that point.
Look at Juve, compared to the previous season with Ronaldo, Dybala dropped from 26 goals to 10, Cuadrado from 5 to 1, Costa 6 to 1, Bernadeschi 5 to 3, Khedria 9 to 2, Pjanic 7 to 4, Matuidi 4 to 3; only Mandzukic stayed the same at 10 goals both seasons.
This is not a coincidence. Everyone suffers so he can score goals, it's a demonstratable fact. Benzema had only exceeded 30 goals once in 9 seasons playing with Ronaldo, done it in 3 of 4 since he left. His goals per game ratio with Ronaldo - 1 in 2.15 games. Since Ronaldo left - 1 in 1.47 games.
He needs to go. Simple fact. The team will absolutely improve without him here.
The season prior to Ronaldo's arrival:
Cavani - 17 goals
Martial - 7
Rashford - 21
Greenwood - 12
Fernandes - 28
Even McTominay (7), Pogba (6) and James (5).
Last season:
Cavani - 2 (-15)
Martial - 1 (-6)
Rashford - 5 (-16)
Greenwood - 6 (-6)
Fernandes - 10 (-16)
Even McTominay (2), Pogba (1) and James (0)
Are people so blinded by their worship of Ronaldo they are willing to discount that and pretend it's total coincidence every single other players form fell off a cliff the second he arrived?? 76 fewer goals scored amongst that group of 8 players? Really??! I get that Martial, James and Greenwood's seasons for United ended half way through but only Greenwood was on to match his previous tally, the other two had 1 goal between them at that point.
Look at Juve, compared to the previous season with Ronaldo, Dybala dropped from 26 goals to 10, Cuadrado from 5 to 1, Costa 6 to 1, Bernadeschi 5 to 3, Khedria 9 to 2, Pjanic 7 to 4, Matuidi 4 to 3; only Mandzukic stayed the same at 10 goals both seasons.
This is not a coincidence. Everyone suffers so he can score goals, it's a demonstratable fact. Benzema had only exceeded 30 goals once in 9 seasons playing with Ronaldo, done it in 3 of 4 since he left. His goals per game ratio with Ronaldo - 1 in 2.15 games. Since Ronaldo left - 1 in 1.47 games.
He needs to go. Simple fact. The team will absolutely improve without him here.
Snubbed by Marseille also. 
Poor Crissy , nobody wants him.
He’s not on half a million any more, and was many reports over the summer that his wage demands have dropped even from his current wages to go to the Champions League clubs. Still, crickets.
Why, because nobody wants your boy? It’s almost admirable how devoted you are, you should definitely pick your hills better mind
Fecking hell!
I am leaning towards ripping up his contract. Last roll of the dice.
I am leaning towards ripping up his contract. Last roll of the dice.
Either he's done some legendary trolling-/wummingworks in this thread the last 24 hours or.....yeah!Your position is definitely on one obvious extreme and not "centrist" on this
There's nobody who would not like us to replace Ronaldo with a great striker who can run (unlike him). However, we are in a unique position where we've got this gifted goalscorer who is difficult to accommodate unless you break the system (or make poor one for him), and cannot accept being a bench player and is paid a fortune. Which is precisely why sensible people are willing to let him go - except those on the extreme (his fans).
Statistical analysis of team parameters with and without him, common sense, the obvious circus following him etc. won't bite on the hardcore Ronaldo fans. Their minds are set on it being everyone else's fault. It's like they truly believe we would have finished outside top 6 last season if Ronaldo hadn't arrived to save the day. It's mindblowing!
It was a mistake to get him back here and it will be a mistake to let him stay, even without a replacement. At least from a sports perspective.
The real drama starts next June. I think we won't extent. So where does he go?
Genuinely thought he'd feck off, but it would seem absolutely no one wants to take him. Just our luck.
Surely he needs to leave now, otherwise it's gonna look absolutely horrible for him. Yeah he could spin it into saying he never wanted to leave but after so many reliable journos have reported Mendes whoring him out around Europe, no one is going to believe that.
Plus if he stays now, it's confirmation of the fact that no one wants him. It would be untenable for his ego. I think Mendes will call in some favours and get him a move somewhere.
Plus if he stays now, it's confirmation of the fact that no one wants him. It would be untenable for his ego. I think Mendes will call in some favours and get him a move somewhere.
Surely to Lisbon? He should have done that this season - given them his last couple of decent years and become the image of the prodigal son returning home.
I think he's all out of options. Chelsea are getting closer with Aubameyang, Atletico can't sell any of their attackers and the rest of Europe don't want him. We'd get an interview from him about the lies the media spreads and his commitment to us. He's staying
We went from finishing 2nd with 116 goals total to finishing 6th with 70 goals total the season he arrived. With him not even surpassing our top goalscorer from the season before.
But of course we must worship the great Ronaldo for being our top poacher that season, surely we would have finished at 40 points otherwise because you ”can’t take away his goals”.
We scored -46 goals with him in the team, looked much worse overall and lost the entire cohesion and team spirit from the season before.
Last edited:
He was on 500k a week last season. He's had a 25% wage cut. It's pretty simple maths.
Sporting clube de Wolverhampton might be interested!
No. Lying to yourself that he isn’t still a good player. We all acknowledge he has limited options.
- Status