Cristiano Ronaldo - performances 2017/18

That's true for people who measure everything by statistics.

Some players however are beyond statistics.

Well you can measure by trophies too but it's a moot point because no matter how I tell you that Ronaldo's ability was never at Cristiano's peak you wont accept it so how can we argue about it.
 
That's fine. I suppose the issue here is that what 'fat Ronaldo' showed, ability wise, before injury curtailed his career was superior to anything that C Ronaldo has shown during his career.

His ability was of a higher level and that matters to a lot of people.
I think people's definition of ability sometimes is simply dribbling. There's far more to the game than that. In addition, if we actually judge CR7 as a striker and not as a winger, maybe people would appreciate his skill set a bit more. Even when primes are evaluated, its not close. I would take Cristiano ahead of any player not named Messi or Pele, and even with Pele, due to him being more of an attraction, and the football around him being far less organized, I can make the case that a comparison should not be made.
 
Well, is there any doubt that he is the GOAT any more? Fantastic player, and the best I've seen in the last decade or so.
The way he seems to get even better each season is equivalent to someone or something breaking rules of physics. It just does not make sense. He truly amazes me.
 
He’s been quite poor in the World Cup and didn’t even play in the euro final and his team didn’t even need him to win. He deserves credit for getting them there but it really showed how good Portugal were even with it him.

He’s a poacher and a good one, but that’s as far as it goes. He really needs elite service as when his midfield suffers he can’t do much by himself

Portugal has done well in international tournaments for their standard with him since I recall (Euro 2004) and their only poor performance was in 2014 but for the rest he has been very good for them, don't know what you're on about.
 
Well you can measure by trophies too but it's a moot point because no matter how I tell you that Ronaldo's ability was never at Cristiano's peak you wont accept it so how can we argue about it.

No matter how much you'd like it to be it's plainly not a moot point given that people keep mentioning it.

And of course you can measure by trophies but this is a team sport and most people see that there are a multitude of variables and factors to be taken into account when it comes to placing players relative to others. Continually citing trophies misses the all-important nuance that this is a team sport.

& I put C Ronaldo above f Ronaldo in the pantheon of players btw.

I think people's definition of ability sometimes is simply dribbling. There's far more to the game than that. In addition, if we actually judge CR7 as a striker and not as a winger, maybe people would appreciate his skill set a bit more.

It's not about being judged as a striker or a winger, C Ronaldo is being judged by the standards of the best players of all time as that's the company that he and many fans see him in. Those standards are the highest that there are and against those standards C Ronaldo falls short in certain fundamentally important aspects; namely that outside of goalscoring he isn't exceptional at anything. That's not to say he isn't good at those other facets of the game, of course he is, but there's a kind of unwritten rule that you have to be or should be exceptional at them and he isn't.

It's not rocket science.
 
Exactly.

He's just incredible. Watch him knock out Juventus.
«HIM» knocking out Juve? You guys act as if he does everything himself and not getting most of his goals after being set up by his teammates in very good positions for a one-touch finish. Yes I know, his off-the-ball movement is sublime yada yada yada. Missed most clear-cut chances in the Liga BTW.
 
«HIM» knocking out Juve? You guys act as if he does everything himself and not getting most of his goals after being set up by his teammates in very good positions for a one-touch finish. Yes I know, his off-the-ball movement is sublime yada yada yada. Missed most clear-cut chances in the Liga BTW.

It's a team effort and his teammates are as dependent on him and last time we eliminated Juventus Ronaldo did had a very good game all around and was looking very agile and sharp and now he's looking like that again. :)
 
«HIM» knocking out Juve? You guys act as if he does everything himself and not getting most of his goals after being set up by his teammates in very good positions for a one-touch finish. Yes I know, his off-the-ball movement is sublime yada yada yada. Missed most clear-cut chances in the Liga BTW.
Do you want him to play like Messi by dribbling 5 players and scoring a goal? Every player has a way of playing and he delivers using his.
BTW only 3 goals behind Messi in the league having played 4 games less
 
In this thread is the first time I'm seeing someone calling a heat map fake :lol:

Because it looks like in such an obvious way.
Average it is not, if it's from a specific game which one is it? In any case it doesn't look like a realistic heat map for a game either, a team would have to be super dominant for 90 minutes and have the striker in the area 90/90.

Here you can see the Heat maps of Real vs Girona, the most recent game where Ronaldo scored 4 goals.
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1222207/Live/Spain-La-Liga-2017-2018-Real-Madrid-Girona
As expected Ronaldo touched the ball more times in the offensive midfield, as is normal.
 
An incredible goalscorer. Anyone who disputes that is crazy.

Not necessarily a joy to watch anymore. I feel as if that Ronaldo who got me off my seat finished a few years ago. But it's still incredibly impressive/admiring to see how he finds the space in the box and his movement to knock those balls in the net.

Genuinely feel that next season he'll become their #9 who drifts out to the wing every now and again.

Even though I'm firmly in the Messi being the greatest camp, and that I'm sometimes disturbed when someone says Ronaldo is the better football player, I'm thrilled to be able to watch this era in which he's playing. Has become such a clutch player for Madrid - might be invisible for majority of the game but comes good in moments when they need him.
 
«HIM» knocking out Juve? You guys act as if he does everything himself and not getting most of his goals after being set up by his teammates in very good positions for a one-touch finish. Yes I know, his off-the-ball movement is sublime yada yada yada. Missed most clear-cut chances in the Liga BTW.

Supports:

FC Barcelona,Argentina
 
«HIM» knocking out Juve? You guys act as if he does everything himself and not getting most of his goals after being set up by his teammates in very good positions for a one-touch finish. Yes I know, his off-the-ball movement is sublime yada yada yada. Missed most clear-cut chances in the Liga BTW.

Don't bother mate, this is a great forum but when it comes to the Ronaldo or he who must not be mentioned threads, the Ronaldo cult will jump you. It's funny how people get so heated on here, a Manchester United forum, yet Ronaldo will go down as a Madrid legend, the club he gave his prime years to.
 
Because it looks like in such an obvious way.
Average it is not, if it's from a specific game which one is it? In any case it doesn't look like a realistic heat map for a game either, a team would have to be super dominant for 90 minutes and have the striker in the area 90/90.

Here you can see the Heat maps of Real vs Girona, the most recent game where Ronaldo scored 4 goals.
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1222207/Live/Spain-La-Liga-2017-2018-Real-Madrid-Girona
As expected Ronaldo touched the ball more times in the offensive midfield, as is normal.

But the heat map shown earlier is a season average. If he spends the vast majority of matches camped out in the box (as he should, he's deadliest there), then one or two matches spent there won't change the average much.
 
Don't see why it's an issue that he stays around the penalty box? One thing is for sure it's extremely effective.
 
Because it looks like in such an obvious way.
Average it is not, if it's from a specific game which one is it? In any case it doesn't look like a realistic heat map for a game either, a team would have to be super dominant for 90 minutes and have the striker in the area 90/90.

Here you can see the Heat maps of Real vs Girona, the most recent game where Ronaldo scored 4 goals.
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1222207/Live/Spain-La-Liga-2017-2018-Real-Madrid-Girona
As expected Ronaldo touched the ball more times in the offensive midfield, as is normal.

That heat map is so laughable it's like if he was living inside the goal or was the other team goalkeeper, lmao.
 
Yes but I think some things were not under Rooney's control. I think Ronaldo naturally has very good genetics upon which he has built a fantastic body. This idea that Rooney isn't/wasn't a hard worker seems a bit odd to me. You can't compare his hard work to Ronaldo but think of other top players like Di Maria or Toure or even Fabregas. Quality aside, Rooney has always given 100% on the pitch especially in his younger days would work really hard.

Although both were at a similar level early on I just think physically Ronaldo always had an edge. I do get your point though. Rooney easily could have been up there as well.

Agree with this - it's the off the pitch mentality that I see as Rooney's greatest flaw. Don't get me wrong I'm a Rooney fan and grew up watching him - I guess we'll never know how it would have affected him had he lived an ultra clean life like Ronaldo but by most accounts he could have done better on that front!
 
But the heat map shown earlier is a season average. If he spends the vast majority of matches camped out in the box (as he should, he's deadliest there), then one or two matches spent there won't change the average much.

It's not, it's literally fake. No player ever in the history of football spends most of their time in the 6 yard box. Look at it :lol:

V2AZCLv.jpg
 
It CAN be the goal map (e.g. from where he scored etc), not a regular heat map.

But a normal heat map it's impossible for a season average.
 
Portugal has done well in international tournaments for their standard with him since I recall (Euro 2004) and their only poor performance was in 2014 but for the rest he has been very good for them, don't know what you're on about.

He's been quite poor in the world cup
 
Ronaldo is similar to Salah both strikers who play on the wing, both great finishers but not a patch on other players who can score at a same rate but also play make(ok only 1 currently who shall not be named).
 
It looks to me like it might be a heat map of where he scores his goals.
 
Ronaldo is similar to Salah both strikers who play on the wing, both great finishers but not a patch on other players who can score at a same rate but also play make(ok only 1 currently who shall not be named).

I've been far more impressed with Salah this season than I have Ronaldo. You look at the fourth goal Salah had against Watford which I think only Messi or Neymar could have pulled off. Ronaldo can't do that anymore, he is sheer brute force at this stage of his career. Salah's finishing has been much better than Ronaldo's. He also takes much tougher shots than Ronaldo.
 
Ronaldo is similar to Salah both strikers who play on the wing, both great finishers but not a patch on other players who can score at a same rate but also play make(ok only 1 currently who shall not be named).

Nobody is scoring at the same rate as Ronaldo
 
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No. And if it was ball touches it would be nowhere near that either.

I'm with you. I'm just reiterating the point that I've never heard the accusation of falsifying heat maps before. Why would anyone want to do that? I don't need a heat map to tell me that Ronaldo's best work is done predominantly within the box.
 
He is incredible, I haven't being following his performances as much week in, week out in La Liga this year but from what many were calling a sub par season, he now has 37 goals in 34 games. He is absolute animal and his mental strength is to my mind second to none.

He has certainly adapted his game with age but he and Madrid are hitting form at the right time of the year for the CL yet again, and he appears to be doing it in the big games over the last few years, something he was criticised for earlier in his career.

He was measurably awful before Christmas in La Liga.

It was really odd, almost Torres esque the way he couldn't seem to score in the league. The chances he's normally put away with his eyes closed weren't going in and he was getting so frustrated by it that he was trying too hard and missing more chances, his passing was awful because he was giving the ball away with nigh on every touch and he looked sluggish and bulky. Doubly strange when you consider he was having a great year in Europe.

Since the new year though he's visibly quicker, sharper and his touch is perfect. He's moving more freely and he's getting there just a half second quicker to everything and it means that he's doing things instinctively again and trusting that it'll come off.

Confidence is a ridiculously fragile thing especially when you know your legs aren't what they used to be, even for the best players in the world. The fact that he's turned it around so remarkably is testament to just how great a player he is and the fact he's probably the most determined man in sports. The guys a modern marvel and people saying he's a tap in merchant are doing a disservice to his talent. We'll miss it when he's not like this anymore and when he retires.
 
Out of curiosity, but how many players and coaches who have no connection with Portugal/United/Madrid have actually said that CR7 is GOAT?



There's a lots of examples when neutrals/rivals like Rooney, John Terry, Roy Keane, Wenger etc. have praised Messi as the best player they've ever seen.
 
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Out of curiosity, but how many players and coaches who have no connection with Portugal/United/Madrid have actually said that CR7 is GOAT?

I think this was the voting for Cristiano's 4th ballon d'Or and in fact most countries (137) had him as the first choice and the countries in red are the ones who voted Messi as first (13 countries).

1481653284_751873_1481654901_sumario_normal.jpg


So yeah, he's pretty rated in a lot of places. In fact my sister (she has no clue about football or sports) was asking me if Ronaldo played for Barcelona as she hears a lot of people in her work who rate a lot Barcelona, lol.
 
I'm with you. I'm just reiterating the point that I've never heard the accusation of falsifying heat maps before. Why would anyone want to do that? I don't need a heat map to tell me that Ronaldo's best work is done predominantly within the box.

Ronaldo pisses off a lot of people is about the gist of it. If it's true or not, it doesn't matter, I'm guessing a Barcelona fan made that, posted it on twitter, thousands started spreading it and I'm hoping @Daysleeper brought it to redcafe without understanding it's obviously inaccurate.

At least that one was obviously fake, it's usually not the case.
 
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I think this was the voting for Cristiano's 4th ballon d'Or and in fact most countries (137) had him as the first choice and the countries in red are the ones who voted Messi as first (13 countries).

1481653284_751873_1481654901_sumario_normal.jpg


So yeah, he's pretty rated in a lot of places. In fact my sister (she has no clue about football or sports) was asking me if Ronaldo played for Barcelona as she hears a lot of people in her work who rate a lot Barcelona, lol.
Iceland is weirdly close to the UK on that map.
 
@Acheron

You haven't answered my question tho...

Again, I want to know on how many of his peers/coaches have said that Cristiano is the best footballer they have seen or played against.

Only thing I managed to find, who doesn't have any connection with Portugal/United/Madrid, was Leonardo Bonucci.

Would be great if anyone could find more.
 
Out of curiosity, but how many players and coaches who have no connection with Portugal/United/Madrid have actually said that CR7 is GOAT?



There's a lots of examples when neutrals/rivals like Rooney, John Terry, Roy Keane, Wenger etc. have praised Messi as the best player they've ever seen.

Drogba, Torres, Bonucci, etc. from a quick search but why would you even know or care about that? :lol:

I think the love for Benzema is starting to make sense. It's the third time I'm asking you but which team do you support?