Technically impossible
Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr
- Thread starter Bastian
- Start date
Oh he didn't play badly at all, I agree. I just don't think a player of his age should be the starting striker for a team hoping to win a major competition. Portugal would be set up better and be more dynamic without him. He should be a bench option now.
Yeh I know that, I was just exaggerating
If you were to pick a year where it was on the same level, it was be 2016. Portugal were rotten throughout it. Never won a game in the groups and only beat one team in 90 minutes. Super easy run in and Ronaldo getting injured probably knocked the game plan in their favour.
Copa America top 4 in current shape (Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Brazil) would walk any team at the Euros bar England, France and Spain, I still believe the American teams would win against these.
Absolutely, with the talent Portugal have he should be an impact sub imho, but I just find the over the top slaughtering of him crazy after we just watched Leao look like a headless chicken, Bernardo forget he was playing a football match and Bruno tap out after 30 minutes in an attacking sense. In particular Bernardo and Leao should carry a lot of the can for Portugals showing today (Martinez too)
Yeh true. Alot of it is down to Martinez, he's a terrible coach, and much like with Southgate, will probably cost them a possible tournament win.
I did not hear much about Leao tonight
And he is supposed to be a £140M player
And he is supposed to be a £140M player
You’re just saying that because of his age. He’s better than any other option they have in that position unless you’re implying they should tweak and play without a striker.
He played as good as he could’ve all things considered. Certainly played much better than the likes of Kane against Serbia and Mbappe vs Austria.
https://x.com/statmusefc/status/1803169152947167310?s=46&t=I7L2X1jXcIgzcvdIlQLXIw
They’d be better off just starting Jota instead of having everyone trying to force chances onto Ronaldo for his legacy and his ego.
If he’s all this, what does that make of Harry “best striker in the world” Kane’s performance for England the other day? He was about 10x worse than Ronaldo tonight who wasn’t even bad.
If England played as good as Portugal did tonight, Kane would have probably put about 5 past the Czechs. Kane had to go looking for the ball on Sunday.
Portugal did not play well today. The likes of Bruno & Bernardo (the fulcrum of the midfield) were totally off. They monopolised possession due to the Czech parking the bus but they did nothing of substance with it and were completely wasteful. What makes you think they played well?
They created loads of chances. A good striker would have cleaned up today.
Like City with Haaland only much, much worse.
As others have said, substitute for the last 20-30 minutes should be his role now, playing full 90 minutes is not good for the team.
Played very well tonight and directly blame at him is pure madness/delusion tbh
What chances? I just saw a load of hopeless crosses to nobody. Ronaldo himself had the most big chances created according to the stats.
England didn't create much after scoring an early goal. Kane had that header but was denied by goalkeeper Rajković, otherwise he'd score.
On Ronaldo: didn't watch the game but looking at comments it seems like he was actually decent. At 2022 WC he looked really poor and it probably was due to no preseason that summer. He's so dedicated I can see him playing at 2026 World Cup (if he's allowed in US) which would be impressive as he'll be 41 by then. Scored almost 900 goals in his career so far so probably won't stop playing until it's 1000+, which is doable as he's playing in Saudi league.
He did fine today. He showed more creativity, in tight spaces with a compact defense, than Bernardo and Bruno all game just with the backheel assist to Vitinha which proceeded to do a bunch of nothing with it. We were lacking creativity, pace, like out usual old selves. Also, can anyone on this team shoot on target? Apparently not - Ronaldo was the only dangerous man all game in front of goal until Francisco pulled out the miracle.
He was more dynamic and moved more while off the ball than *most* our attackers. He made runs onside on Czechia's upper own half, our players had no balls to try a lobbed through pass. I get it, it's a risky pass - but if we're creating nothing, why not give it a go? Nothing to lose. And generally if he makes a move for a run, you already know he thinks he's caught the defenders distracted and has an advantage. He sniffs out the opportunities very well.
I'll always die on the hill he should not be standing around as a 9 in the box waiting for crosses. Not good for team dynamics, and a waste of what Ronaldo is good at.
Was he fantastic? Nah, absolutely not.
Do I think he's a starter? Yeah, he's our only consistent threat in front of goal, and honestly, I've gotta also do a relative comparison, I don't think there's many of our players who did better than him today on the pitch.
He was more dynamic and moved more while off the ball than *most* our attackers. He made runs onside on Czechia's upper own half, our players had no balls to try a lobbed through pass. I get it, it's a risky pass - but if we're creating nothing, why not give it a go? Nothing to lose. And generally if he makes a move for a run, you already know he thinks he's caught the defenders distracted and has an advantage. He sniffs out the opportunities very well.
I'll always die on the hill he should not be standing around as a 9 in the box waiting for crosses. Not good for team dynamics, and a waste of what Ronaldo is good at.
Was he fantastic? Nah, absolutely not.
Do I think he's a starter? Yeah, he's our only consistent threat in front of goal, and honestly, I've gotta also do a relative comparison, I don't think there's many of our players who did better than him today on the pitch.
My opinion as well. He would probably have better numbers in terms of goals and assists at this stage if he accepted the impact sub role. Going up against a more tired opposition would definitely benefit him. His ego doesn't allow him to accept that though.
That's exactly what I think as well, he'd get way more goals as an impact sub against tired legs. If Martinez was any kind of decent coach with some balls he'd see that too.
They absolutely should tweak the way they play yeh, they have the players to do it. He just shouldn't be starting games at this level anymore, simple as that.
And bringing up Kane and especially Mbappe is pointless, we know they are capable of playing waaaay better than they have in the first game for their teams and have justified their starting place, Ronaldo simply hasn't.
Because Ronaldo can’t run anymore and was never in the right position when the ball was played in.
He’s still got this obsession that he needs to be constantly involved yet he hasn’t got the legs to get into the box.
well yeh course its what you think as well. He was literally replying to your post saying he agreed with your original comment. However, I do agree too!
Ronaldo was topscorer in the qualifiers and looked good most of the time he played since Martinez became coach so not sure what you’re taking about.
We watched the same match? I saw him make countless runs that were ignored by his teammates. He’s much more mobile than Kane believe it or not.
I was referring to the other parts of his post that I hadn't brought up, but ok
Oh I see, you’re one of them.
In a piss easy group with mostly cannon fodder teams. Anyway it's pointless arguing with the likes of you because of your weird love for the guy. Like talking to a Trump supporter.
Interesting. Got any link to that?
In addition to what you said, don't forget when the portuguese player had the ball inside the area on the right, looking for a low cross, and Ronaldo does like, the obvious move which he always does, which is instead of moving alongside the defender and the movement of the ball, he takes one step back, ditching the defender in the process. And the portuguese player instead proceeds to cross the ball sideways, instead of back to Cristiano which is completely free, straight into a defender.
He was at the right place at the right time, unlike what the person you replied to pointed out.
My view is even I know the moves Cristiano makes, apparently his teammates somehow don't. There's some serious wrong stuff with our team.
If they play Ronaldo then he becomes a pretty static focal point that most of the approach play is focused on creating chances for. This isn’t a referendum on whether he was a great player, because he’s obviously one of the top five in history, but he’s 39 years old. He’s not even close to being the same player he was. He can still finish and is brilliant in the air but he’s also slow and immobile. It clearly has an effect on how Portugal play.
Portugal have so many technically brilliant players, you look at them and think that their best opportunity to win is to suffocate teams with their relentless moving and passing. For directness they have Jota, Bruno, Neto and Ramos. Ronaldo, luckily for all his cult followers, still has a contribution to make, but I’d venture it is off the bench as an impact sub, because as the game gets stretched and he finds even a little space in the box, he can still be deadly. But if they start with him, the opposition just needs to man mark him out of the game (a lot easier than it used to be), and Portugal look bereft of ideas.
I love the look of their potential front six with Vitinha, Neves, Fernandes, Silva, Jota and one of Ramos or Felix. Good luck getting the ball off that lot. A back four of Dalot, Dias, Inacio and Mendes is as good as any in this tournament, and that’s leaving out Silva - who is top class. I can’t understand how a 41 year old Pepe plays when they have Dias, Silva, and Inacio.
Palhinha isn’t even in this conversation yet, but is a player that can bring balance as a technical fulcrum. And there is plenty of running with the ball ability to switch things up in Matheus Nunes and Pedro Neto. Neto will be lethal against tired legs.
No idea what to do with Leao. I get that he is a direct, intermittently skillful, and powerful athlete, but I much prefer the technical ability of the other options I mentioned. Leao just seems enormously frustrating whenever I watch him. Much like Cancelo, who is clearly technically superb, but how he starts is beyond me. He’s useless defensively, and if he’s playing in midfield while Joao Neves, Nunes, And Neto are sitting on the bench….I am befuddled. Completely.
No idea what Martinez did in that first game.
Ronaldo has been amazing for Portugal but he’s just holding them back at this point.
Portugal have so many technically brilliant players, you look at them and think that their best opportunity to win is to suffocate teams with their relentless moving and passing. For directness they have Jota, Bruno, Neto and Ramos. Ronaldo, luckily for all his cult followers, still has a contribution to make, but I’d venture it is off the bench as an impact sub, because as the game gets stretched and he finds even a little space in the box, he can still be deadly. But if they start with him, the opposition just needs to man mark him out of the game (a lot easier than it used to be), and Portugal look bereft of ideas.
I love the look of their potential front six with Vitinha, Neves, Fernandes, Silva, Jota and one of Ramos or Felix. Good luck getting the ball off that lot. A back four of Dalot, Dias, Inacio and Mendes is as good as any in this tournament, and that’s leaving out Silva - who is top class. I can’t understand how a 41 year old Pepe plays when they have Dias, Silva, and Inacio.
Palhinha isn’t even in this conversation yet, but is a player that can bring balance as a technical fulcrum. And there is plenty of running with the ball ability to switch things up in Matheus Nunes and Pedro Neto. Neto will be lethal against tired legs.
No idea what to do with Leao. I get that he is a direct, intermittently skillful, and powerful athlete, but I much prefer the technical ability of the other options I mentioned. Leao just seems enormously frustrating whenever I watch him. Much like Cancelo, who is clearly technically superb, but how he starts is beyond me. He’s useless defensively, and if he’s playing in midfield while Joao Neves, Nunes, And Neto are sitting on the bench….I am befuddled. Completely.
No idea what Martinez did in that first game.
Ronaldo has been amazing for Portugal but he’s just holding them back at this point.
But your point was that he didn’t prove anything for portugal which was false? Talking about how easy his group was is an entirely different discussion. I’m all for criticising him when it’s justified but you genuinely did not have a point. He’s proven to be better than the other player that plays in his position.
But the Euros is not the same level as the World Cup either.
There's not really much new to say with Ronaldo, he's held back any team he's played for at elite level for the past 4-5 years at this point. He'll score a few goals but mysteriously everyone else around him will be poor.
I think both him and Bruno had joint most created with 2 from what I saw
https://x.com/statmusefc/status/1803169152947167310?s=46&t=I7L2X1jXcIgzcvdIlQLXIw
https://x.com/thenassrzone/status/1803178260815372557?s=46&t=I7L2X1jXcIgzcvdIlQLXIw
Yeah exactly. Even the chance where Bernardo tried to square it to the middle, if he looked up, he could’ve spotted Ronaldo pull back away from the defender and would’ve been free. People talk about them trying to feed him all the time but in reality, they only seem to play it to him as a last resort most times. His runs are ignored quite often.
4-5 years would include his time at Juve which makes this utterly laughable to say the least.
Okay and the rest of my point? I see you’re not ready for an intellectual discussion.Yeh, sure
Will be fun to see him blubbering when they go out in the quarters.