Cristiano Ronaldo - Much Ado About Al Nassr

Personally i felt once he left Real Madrid, its pretty much the decline of his top level career, any club he goes after Real Madrid will be considered a "downgrade". Will there be a better outcome if he goes straight back to United after he left Real Madrid ?
 
Swordsman said:
Personally i felt once he left Real Madrid, its pretty much the decline of his top level career, any club he goes after Real Madrid will be considered a "downgrade". Will there be a better outcome if he goes straight back to United after he left Real Madrid ?
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Sure but he left Madrid at 33, anyone could see that he would be entering declining phase of his career. From 33-36, he actually managed to score 137 goals in 171 games in all competitions (avg 45 goals per 57 games a season for clubs + country) , that’s wasn’t really poor decline there (it’s far more than Harry Kane has managed last season for example). The worst one is when he decided to move back to PL at 36-37 years of age.
 
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RedRonaldo said:
Sure but he left Madrid at 33, anyone could see that he would be entering declining phase of his career. From 33-36, he actually managed to score 137 goals in 171 games in all competitions (avg 45 goals per 57 games a season for clubs + country) , that’s wasn’t really poor decline there. The worst one is when he decided to move back to PL at 36-37 years of age.
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Still scored over 20 at United that first year with some awesome game about still going to England was naive at that age.
 
SportingCP96 said:
Still scored over 20 at United that first year with some awesome game about still going to England was naive at that age.
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I woudn't say it was naive to want to play at EPL at that age. Expecting to be first choice and playing 1-2 games a week was.
 
SportingCP96 said:
Still scored over 20 at United that first year with some awesome game about still going to England was naive at that age.
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His first season during his 2nd stint here wasn’t bad at all. But I do think playing in the most physically demanding league week in week out (and 2 times a week) at that age without enough rest/recovery time in between would add more weight to his legs, hence speed up his decline. I always wonder should he stay in Italy instead, he could have extended a few more years at very top level.
 
RedRonaldo said:
His first season during his 2nd stint here wasn’t bad at all. But I do think playing in the most physically demanding league week in week out (and 2 times a week) at that age without enough rest/recovery time in between would add more weight to his legs, hence speed up his decline. I always wonder should he stay in Italy instead, he could have extended a few more years at very top level.
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Staying at Juve would have been better, he was scoring 35 a season for fun
 
RedRonaldo said:
His first season during his 2nd stint here wasn’t bad at all. But I do think playing in the most physically demanding league week in week out (and 2 times a week) at that age without enough rest/recovery time in between would add more weight to his legs, hence speed up his decline. I always wonder should he stay in Italy instead, he could have extended a few more years at very top level.
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The problems that first season were being seen elsewhere, or off the pitch. As the Italians say, “Ronaldo creates a problem that only he can solve”. And it was true with us. He scored goals but everyone else scored a lot less. It made our attack predictable and one dimensional. We became a Ronaldo feeding machine.

But the real problems were happening behind closed doors, off the pitch, on the training field. He was at the Center, the cause in fact, and huge toxicity at the club, and it derailed everything that had been built the previous two seasons. Admittedly a flawed project anyway, but his presence, persona, and effect set us back enormously. As I have previously posted on here at length, I have a rock solid, irrefutable source of what happened being the scenes since he signed, and it was just an awful, toxic environment he created.

Ten Hag, to his enormous credit, handled Ronaldo with exceptional finesse, an iron fist in a velvet glove. The most important step in our rebuild was moving on from the Portuguese.it enabled us to start building a proper team, one that functions in the modern age, and to start rebuilding the culture and moral.

It’s perplexing to me how Ronaldo has managed the latter stages of his career. There’s clearly a profound narcissism that prevents him from accepting his decline. Which is a huge shame. If he had come back to the club to close out his career here as an elder statesman. One to guide the younger players and to chip in with vital goals off the bench or part of a rotation, it could’ve been a match made in heaven. In fact it should’ve been. But all the qualities that drive him to become on of the best players ever. Are the same qualities that made him such a toxic, unmanageable mess in his twilight years.

What I always admired about him was his in redoble work ethic. First player on the training field, last one to leave. Such a relentless dedication to being the best. At one time that was so inspirational. He clearly wasn’t born with a level of talent that was the same as some of the other lavishly gifted GOATs. He didn’t have the same X factor as say a Ronaldinho or a Messi. He obviously had a special gift, but what he did was even better in many ways. He took the incredible talent he had, and he worked harder than anyone else and surpassed all but maybe 2, 3 or 4 other players in history (depending on your POV). That was amazing. Talent and incredible hard work. Usually we see players not making the most of it, rather than multiplying it.

Just makes it all the more of a shame that he became such a toxic, detestable character as the years wore on. His failure to adapt to his change in ability and status made him an anchor around the neck of any team that signed him towards the end. Despite the goals he was banging in for Juve, when he left he was at a point where he was making them a worse team. And then he came to us and instantly made us much, much worse. Then he destroyed the dressing room for good measure.
 
simonhch said:
The problems that first season were being seen elsewhere, or off the pitch. As the Italians say, “Ronaldo creates a problem that only he can solve”. And it was true with us. He scored goals but everyone else scored a lot less. It made our attack predictable and one dimensional. We became a Ronaldo feeding machine.

But the real problems were happening behind closed doors, off the pitch, on the training field. He was at the Center, the cause in fact, and huge toxicity at the club, and it derailed everything that had been built the previous two seasons. Admittedly a flawed project anyway, but his presence, persona, and effect set us back enormously. As I have previously posted on here at length, I have a rock solid, irrefutable source of what happened being the scenes since he signed, and it was just an awful, toxic environment he created.

Ten Hag, to his enormous credit, handled Ronaldo with exceptional finesse, an iron fist in a velvet glove. The most important step in our rebuild was moving on from the Portuguese.it enabled us to start building a proper team, one that functions in the modern age, and to start rebuilding the culture and moral.

It’s perplexing to me how Ronaldo has managed the latter stages of his career. There’s clearly a profound narcissism that prevents him from accepting his decline. Which is a huge shame. If he had come back to the club to close out his career here as an elder statesman. One to guide the younger players and to chip in with vital goals off the bench or part of a rotation, it could’ve been a match made in heaven. In fact it should’ve been. But all the qualities that drive him to become on of the best players ever. Are the same qualities that made him such a toxic, unmanageable mess in his twilight years.

What I always admired about him was his in redoble work ethic. First player on the training field, last one to leave. Such a relentless dedication to being the best. At one time that was so inspirational. He clearly wasn’t born with a level of talent that was the same as some of the other lavishly gifted GOATs. He didn’t have the same X factor as say a Ronaldinho or a Messi. He obviously had a special gift, but what he did was even better in many ways. He took the incredible talent he had, and he worked harder than anyone else and surpassed all but maybe 2, 3 or 4 other players in history (depending on your POV). That was amazing. Talent and incredible hard work. Usually we see players not making the most of it, rather than multiplying it.

Just makes it all the more of a shame that he became such a toxic, detestable character as the years wore on. His failure to adapt to his change in ability and status made him an anchor around the neck of any team that signed him towards the end. Despite the goals he was banging in for Juve, when he left he was at a point where he was making them a worse team. And then he came to us and instantly made us much, much worse. Then he destroyed the dressing room for good measure.
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Well said.

His interview with Piers Morgan exemplifies his narcissism to a tee.

He's sullied his image with numerous United fans, because he couldn't accept he's no longer as good as he was.
 
tenpoless said:
Tell me how is that a crazy header? looks like a normal header to me.
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You know how people on YouTube love to make crazy titles for clicks.

Albeit a nice finish though.
 
simonhch said:
The problems that first season were being seen elsewhere, or off the pitch. As the Italians say, “Ronaldo creates a problem that only he can solve”. And it was true with us. He scored goals but everyone else scored a lot less. It made our attack predictable and one dimensional. We became a Ronaldo feeding machine.

But the real problems were happening behind closed doors, off the pitch, on the training field. He was at the Center, the cause in fact, and huge toxicity at the club, and it derailed everything that had been built the previous two seasons. Admittedly a flawed project anyway, but his presence, persona, and effect set us back enormously. As I have previously posted on here at length, I have a rock solid, irrefutable source of what happened being the scenes since he signed, and it was just an awful, toxic environment he created.

Ten Hag, to his enormous credit, handled Ronaldo with exceptional finesse, an iron fist in a velvet glove. The most important step in our rebuild was moving on from the Portuguese.it enabled us to start building a proper team, one that functions in the modern age, and to start rebuilding the culture and moral.

It’s perplexing to me how Ronaldo has managed the latter stages of his career. There’s clearly a profound narcissism that prevents him from accepting his decline. Which is a huge shame. If he had come back to the club to close out his career here as an elder statesman. One to guide the younger players and to chip in with vital goals off the bench or part of a rotation, it could’ve been a match made in heaven. In fact it should’ve been. But all the qualities that drive him to become on of the best players ever. Are the same qualities that made him such a toxic, unmanageable mess in his twilight years.

What I always admired about him was his in redoble work ethic. First player on the training field, last one to leave. Such a relentless dedication to being the best. At one time that was so inspirational. He clearly wasn’t born with a level of talent that was the same as some of the other lavishly gifted GOATs. He didn’t have the same X factor as say a Ronaldinho or a Messi. He obviously had a special gift, but what he did was even better in many ways. He took the incredible talent he had, and he worked harder than anyone else and surpassed all but maybe 2, 3 or 4 other players in history (depending on your POV). That was amazing. Talent and incredible hard work. Usually we see players not making the most of it, rather than multiplying it.

Just makes it all the more of a shame that he became such a toxic, detestable character as the years wore on. His failure to adapt to his change in ability and status made him an anchor around the neck of any team that signed him towards the end. Despite the goals he was banging in for Juve, when he left he was at a point where he was making them a worse team. And then he came to us and instantly made us much, much worse. Then he destroyed the dressing room for good measure.
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I think during his 1st season here, our problem lies much deeper than that (Ole, Ragnick, Pogba, McFred, Maguire and back 4, sudden drop of form of Rashford/Bruno/De Gea etc.). But individually he was alright on his role (goalscoring). As for him making the team play worse, that’s not the case for Real Madrid or Juventus at all (both teams score significantly less and play worse after he left). But you may argue he didn’t help the team play much during his 2nd stint at Man Utd (especially his lack of pressing up front), which creates some kinds of problems.
 
His ability at 38 to still leap in the air like that is insane. Testament to his longevity That he is still that athletic !
 
Insane stat of the day:

With this headed goal Ronaldo has now scored 300 goals….without his dominant foot!

He has scored as many goals with his left foot and head as most elite strikers have in their whole careers :lol:

To put this into perspective. His 300 goals with his most dominant foot is only 66 less then Henry career total goals and 86 less then Agueros Total career tally!

Absolute alien of a man.
 
SportingCP96 said:
Insane stat of the day:

With this headed goal Ronaldo has now scored 300 goals….without his dominant foot!

He has scored as many goals with his left foot and head as most elite strikers have in their whole careers :lol:

To put this into perspective. His 300 goals with his mom dominant foot is only 66 less then Henry career total goals and 86 less then Agueros Total career tally!

Absolute alien of a man.
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All that only to be second to Messi whole career :lol:
 
Insane stat of all time:
Ronaldo is 38 playing in Saudi Arabia. Scholes and Giggs at 38 and 39 won the Premier League.
 
Witchking said:
Hardly anyone cares that he scored in a league no one outside South Africa cares about.
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Why can’t we all just enjoy that Ronaldo and Messi are still putting up numbers regardless of which league they are in. We will never see two players like them in our lifetimes, neither will our kids most likely so let’s just enjoy them and say we got to see two freaks of the game. I’ve enjoyed watching Messi in Miami more then at PSG.
 
simonhch said:
The problems that first season were being seen elsewhere, or off the pitch. As the Italians say, “Ronaldo creates a problem that only he can solve”. And it was true with us. He scored goals but everyone else scored a lot less. It made our attack predictable and one dimensional. We became a Ronaldo feeding machine.

But the real problems were happening behind closed doors, off the pitch, on the training field. He was at the Center, the cause in fact, and huge toxicity at the club, and it derailed everything that had been built the previous two seasons. Admittedly a flawed project anyway, but his presence, persona, and effect set us back enormously. As I have previously posted on here at length, I have a rock solid, irrefutable source of what happened being the scenes since he signed, and it was just an awful, toxic environment he created.

Ten Hag, to his enormous credit, handled Ronaldo with exceptional finesse, an iron fist in a velvet glove. The most important step in our rebuild was moving on from the Portuguese.it enabled us to start building a proper team, one that functions in the modern age, and to start rebuilding the culture and moral.

It’s perplexing to me how Ronaldo has managed the latter stages of his career. There’s clearly a profound narcissism that prevents him from accepting his decline. Which is a huge shame. If he had come back to the club to close out his career here as an elder statesman. One to guide the younger players and to chip in with vital goals off the bench or part of a rotation, it could’ve been a match made in heaven. In fact it should’ve been. But all the qualities that drive him to become on of the best players ever. Are the same qualities that made him such a toxic, unmanageable mess in his twilight years.

What I always admired about him was his in redoble work ethic. First player on the training field, last one to leave. Such a relentless dedication to being the best. At one time that was so inspirational. He clearly wasn’t born with a level of talent that was the same as some of the other lavishly gifted GOATs. He didn’t have the same X factor as say a Ronaldinho or a Messi. He obviously had a special gift, but what he did was even better in many ways. He took the incredible talent he had, and he worked harder than anyone else and surpassed all but maybe 2, 3 or 4 other players in history (depending on your POV). That was amazing. Talent and incredible hard work. Usually we see players not making the most of it, rather than multiplying it.

Just makes it all the more of a shame that he became such a toxic, detestable character as the years wore on. His failure to adapt to his change in ability and status made him an anchor around the neck of any team that signed him towards the end. Despite the goals he was banging in for Juve, when he left he was at a point where he was making them a worse team. And then he came to us and instantly made us much, much worse. Then he destroyed the dressing room for good measure.
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For me he is one of the greatest ever, I'd say just outside the trinity of Messi, Pele and Maradona.

He is also amongst the greatest ever goalscorers along with Messi, Pele.

But

1. His top level wasn't as good as quite a few players in history. From those I've seen, chronologically, I'd say Maradona, R9, Ronaldinho, and Messi definitely had a higher top level. I can argue for other players but it would be controversial and his fanboys will be on my neck.

2. His failure in the world cup is a black mark against his career. While right now it may have no influence on his all time standing, in years to come it may result in him being pushed down the packing order significantly.

3. He is an arsehole of the highest order.
 
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Think he could be the first ever player to reach 900 goals, 2 more seasons to retirement perhaps? 60 more goals to go.
 
He has had good career. Unfortunately he will forever be in Messi's shadow although certain, deluded people will keep arguing otherwise.

Given his lack of a World Cup win my guess is that in a few years' time people will think of the real deal - Ronaldo de Lima - when they hear the name "Ronaldo".

hehe
 
mshnsh said:
For me he is one of the greatest ever, I'd say just outside the trinity of Messi, Pele and Maradona.

He is also amongst the greatest ever goalscorers along with Messi, Pele.

But

1. His top level wasn't as good as quite a few players in history. From those I've seen, chronologically, I'd say Maradona, R9, Ronaldinho, and Messi definitely had a higher top level. I can argue for other players but it would be controversial and his fanboys will be on my neck.

2. His failure in the world cup is a black mark against his career. While right now it may have no influence on his all time standing, in years to come it may result in him being pushed down the packing order significantly.

3. He is an arsehole of the highest order.
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Ronaldo and Messi arguably have both reached the highest individual peak ever in the sport.

You talk about the World Cup without any context. Portugal have only made it past the R16 3x in their whole history. Two of them….with Ronaldo…go figure.

It’s very different expecting a country that won nothing before Ronaldo to then become a World Cup favorite playing a majority of your career with the likes of Hugo Almeida and Postiga. Argentina won many trophies before messi and they will win many after, they are a county which huge history in these tournaments and always a favorite.

That would be like criticizing Haaland for not performing at the Euros or World Cup with Norway and sayinf Mbappe is better because he has a World Cup with France. It’s not even remotely a fair comparison.
 
RedRonaldo said:
Think he could be the first ever player to reach 900 goals, 2 more seasons to retirement perhaps? 60 more goals to go.
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If he can score 30 this year it’s possible. Would be an insane milestone, how many does he have now? I genuinely lost count
 
Rockets Redglare said:
An extra 60 goals or whatever in that league adds nothing to his legacy, he should’ve retired at the top level.
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If he still loves to play the game then why retire? Especially if he still feels can help. If I’m not mistaken he’s second top scorer in euro qualifiers right now so he obviously still has something to offer.
 
SportingCP96 said:
Ronaldo and Messi arguably have both reached the highest individual peak ever in the sport.

You talk about the World Cup without any context. Portugal have only made it past the R16 3x in their whole history. Two of them….with Ronaldo…go figure.

It’s very different expecting a country that won nothing before Ronaldo to then become a World Cup favorite playing a majority of your career with the likes of Hugo Almeida and Postiga. Argentina won many trophies before messi and they will win many after, they are a county which huge history in these tournaments and always a favorite.

That would be like criticizing Haaland for not performing at the Euros or World Cup with Norway and sayinf Mbappe is better because he has a World Cup with France. It’s not even remotely a fair comparison.
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Comparing Portugal's football pedigree with Norway is quite the reach for a portuguese poster.
 
antk said:
Comparing Portugal's football pedigree with Norway is quite the reach for a portuguese poster.
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I am not. Your mis reading.

I said…saying Ronaldo failed at winning a World Cup for Portugal while Messi played for Argentina is like or comparable to using Mbappe World Cup win as a metric to separate him from Haaland who plays for Norway and won’t ever have a chance to compete for a major international trophy.

Argentina have 10+ major international trophies.
Portugal have …1.

That’s the difference in gulf and class between these two counties. The 1 Portugal win was with Ronaldo. 2/3 WC appearances past the R16 was with Ronaldo.

Argentina won the World Cup…just like they did 2x before and just like they will after….

So no I am not comparing Norway to Portugal I am Comparing the metrics of which people are using World Cup or international trophy as a metric of who was or is a better player.

If Ronaldo was Brazilian and failed to win a World Cup. NOW you DO have a justifiable comparison or judgment.
 
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