"Confident" isn't really the right word in this context. It should be more like "terrified".
Do you believe Ronaldo is finished as a top level player?
- Thread starter Fortitude
- Start date
"Confident" isn't really the right word in this context. It should be more like "terrified".
No they can't expect that - and I don't think many do (or possibly even care). But I prefer to remember how brilliant ronaldo was for us in the past - and that he is possibly the greatest of all time. I would love to see him get back to scoring for us again and while he's at the club he gets my full support for what he did... it would be nice if he remembered how to score free kicks though (what the hell has happened there)!
He certainly isn't finished but maybe he is for the elite level football. He can still do a great job at teams like PSG, Ajax, where one team completely dominates the league.
Zlatan is more of a cheerleader.
Age affects your balance.
Your balance affacts everything.
He’s not as effective as he once was, which has led to him not being chosen, which has sped up his decline greatly. He need to lower his wage demands and move on if he wants to continue playing.
Almost sounds like we are happy about it.
I don't really understand him pining for a top club. He won't start.
That free kick awfulness isn't new, though, it's been a problem of his for ages now. I think our memory of his free kicks is also a bit skewed because he scored some absolute screamers from free kicks, but I don't think the rate of free kick scoring was ever really great for him.
He was always a YouTube footballer for free kicks. You don’t want him taking them normally unless it’s 30 yards out.
Messi on the other hand in his later career was deadly accurate and yet most people talk about Ronaldo when it comes to free kicks because of his adopted striking it on the valve of the ball technique.
I’m sure players did it before in games but can’t who invented it, maybe it was Ronaldo I dunno.
How is he not?! Won the champions league with us and 3 leagues in a row! As well as the ballon dor! One of our best ever players. Was here longer than cantona.
I think this about covers it tbh.
He had 2,5 (of 6) great seasons with us. Dozen players won trophies which he won here. Tevez, Brown , O'Shea, Fletcher, Carrick, Ole, Yorke, Cole, Anderson, Neville brothers, etc....so they are all legends?
He cried and moaned about being a fecking slave here just to force a transfer. Twice!!
So no, he is not a legend. Just a great player who spent part of his career here.
He is our biggest diva ever though.
Last edited:
He's never been a legend. And even the nutters who thought he was one, have changed their minds this summer.
Yay, fascinating new ground we're breaking here, the "is Ronaldo a legend?" discussion is truly one of those floating caf farts that refuses to dissipate 
I mean he did look absolutely miserable last night but he probably should have scored anyway, wasn't that bad of a performance all things considered.
For me there is no doubt that Ronaldo is a legend at our club. A few more years with us during his first spell would have been ideal, but the couple of years when he was on top form confirmed it for me. He wasnt only part of consecutive title winning squads, but was our star player. Commanding a world record transfer fee and winning the Balon D'or whilst a United player is something special that we may never see again. An absolute honour to have watched him perform for us in Red, and while he is no longer at that level, I hope he gets a farewell befitting of one of the games G.O.A.Ts.
The all things considered part is what makes it a crap performance. On paper getting an assist is fine but in reality he literally took the selfish option shooting when he should have passed to Rashford. The shot missing so comically wide it became a cross. Struggling to impact the game only for Martial and Rashford to come on and give us a proper scaling of how far beneath us those defenders were. That thing could have run for another 10 hours and he would still be struggling in a game where it looked harder not to score.
Did you even watch Milan in the beginning of their last season? Zlatan was top scorer in serie A then...
This is an unfair criticism. The literal truth is that Ronaldo did provide the assist for what turned out to be the match winning goal.
A lot of goals come off deflections, but are still goals that are properly honored as goals. Other goals are the result of comical defending or keeper mistakes, but still count as perfectly valid goals and are appropriately celebrated by clubs supporters. Most goals scored are, in point of fact, at least partially the result of a defensive mistake. Some even are the result of pure luck. The two goals we scored in stoppage time at the Camp Nou...I don't remember hearing any United supporters bitch and moan about the shambolic defending that allowed those two balls to snake through through all those defenders. The Sheringham goal was defending comedy of the highest order, Ole's goal slightly less so -- but what mattered is that we scored those two goals and lifted the trophy.
Unless a goal was the result of a horror referee decision it's out of order to dismiss a goal because the defender went to sleep on the job or keeper should have saved the shot or the ball that led to the shot was intended to be a shot and not a cross. Or this, or that or whatever.
Ronaldo's performance last night undeniably included shots on goal we have every right to expect him to convert on, but it also undeniably included the assist for the match winner in a match we needed to win to avoid not only humiliation but also to avoid being put into grave risk of not emerging from the group stage in the fukking Europa League.
For what little it may be worth, this is ETH had to say about Ronaldo's performance last night:
"I think they were on target as well," Ten Hag said when reminded of Ronaldo's impotence. "The first two, good saves from the goalie, so he had a couple of chances, he created a couple of chances.
"He was involved with a good run with the first goal for Marcus Rashford, so he had an impact in this game.
"I think we created a lot of chances tonight, we count them only in the first-half already 14, so there was a lot of threat to the opponent's goal."
The Ronaldo run off the ball for Rashford's goal was a small thing, I grant you that (and could even be considered the bare minimum, but how often do we see the bare minimum from this lot?), but small things like runs off the ball do matter and to be honest we see far too little running off the ball going back to the days of Van Gaal and Mourinho. If you watch the first Rashford goal again, you will see that Ronaldo pulled a defender away to clear space for Marcus, who proceeded to change the dynamic of the game with the equalizer and grow in confidence to score the match winner, courtesy of an assist from the washed up geezer from Portugal.
Hes obviously done as a top level player but he can still contribute to us is my view. I think he'll recover his goal scoring touch and will hopefully have a couple good runs of form in the season and be a good option from the bench the rest of the season. Its a bit optimistic I guess.
I don't like him (is it really a CR7 discussion if people don't share this opinion unnecessarily?), but I don't think he's done by definition. He can still be a very useful striker but even Cristiano can decrease in confidence. It has been the case since last season and it shows. Either the rest of the team grows so much in the coming months that he can go back to being somewhere between a finisher and a Tadic-type role, or it's best he leaves and hopes for the best at a team where he doesn't have to grow alongside the rest of the team, but can simply be utilized as a 38-year old Cristiano.
I still think he'd do well under Simeone but I don't want him
I still think he'd do well under Simeone but I don't want him
It's from Duncan Castles, predictably, so not really a surprise.
Of course it could be bollocks - but this is Castles: unless something's changed in the last few weeks, this is most likely an attempt at discrediting ETH by Ronaldo's "camp".
And it's pretty disgraceful.
Not to mention ridiculous. No sane person should take Ronaldo's side here.
And it's pretty disgraceful.
Not to mention ridiculous. No sane person should take Ronaldo's side here.
Good post.
The one playing for United now though is nothing like the dude you are describing.
Seen rumours today that he could link up with ex united player Juan mata at Galatasaray. Dunno if he’ll be tempted by the Turkish league… Don’t think he’ll go psg because they’ve got enough big egos in there team. Ajax would be a good shout for him, dominates there league and competes fairly well in the CL. Another option which is most likely to happen is probably him going to sporting… the place where it started, what a story it would be if he was to return and bring them back the league before he retires.
and makes the highly rated young manager who broke their league duck resign because he openly stated that he doesn’t want him.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/amp/foo...er-united-superstar-cristiano-ronaldo-reports
I think that’s a bit harsh. According to this Ronaldo’s conversion rate for Madrid was 7%, which is better than the likes of De Bruyne, Neymar and many other regular free kick takers. And around that period between 2007-2011 he scored a lot of goals, surely at a higher conversion rate - probably at a similar rate to Maddison and Kolarov, and a better rate than someone like Alexander Arnold (assuming Marca’s numbers are right).
He was always an incredibly frustrating free kick taker because he never had the precision or consistency you see in great free kick takers, but there was a period where he was incredibly prolific from them, more so than genuinely great free kick takers, in part because he could score from more positions than most players around.
Juninho definitely mastered that free kick style before Ronaldo. I’m sure there were others in decades past too.
Well I'll say the post makes some points but don't need a philosophical debate about the value of accident assists, cos I agree. Objectively or subjectively they all count. The issue is his style of me-first decision making his play can no longer justify and how they affect the attack negatively. Rashford was there on that occasion but 9 out of 10 times that ends up a goalkick. It's about taking shots he can no longer get off and turning promising situations into blocked shots. It doesn't show in the stats how many attacks it kills. Counterattacks die because he'd rather let the defender catchup than let someone else get the glory. The pace is gone but he's still charging headfirst into a situation his body can no longer handle.
Like you said it's not some genius run or anything. Diagonally underlapping a cutting forward is one of several runs attackers make all game. Rashford was making the same run on Martial's goal. Many of our goals this season have this element, it's not a bare minimum only Ronaldo fulfils. It happens all game.
Last edited:
"Player who doesn't suit the way the new manager wants to play thinks there's a problem with the way the new manager wants to play."
The man is toxic as feck, and I'm not in the least surprised by those leaks despite Ten Hag's constant attempts of pandering to him.
feck off ronaldo and people think he’s not a problem for a manager and the dressing room. Laughable. Showing his true colours again.
A poster told me that Duncan Castles is a Jorge Mendes collaborator. Assuming this is a genuine story, then Ronaldo has to go. He's blaming everyone but himself for his decline. Joining City would have masked it but too bad, either suck it up or take a wage cut and leave. I've seen enough.
Doesn't even look good enough for the Cypriot league yet thinks he's Halaand. Laughable.
Must be burning him up seeing Messi tearing shit up again at PSG and coming for his records. We should show him some mercy and let him go back to Sporting in January on the cheap.
Better for everyone if he leaves, can’t be undermining the manager.
Too predictable.