Way to early to say. He didnt have a pre season. That old body need games to be ready
Do you believe Ronaldo is finished as a top level player?
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This.
He's gonna score a good amount this season and will get some important goals for us, I'm certain. Somehow people have forgot how lethal Ronaldo can be.
Yes he has hit what Rooney hit around 29. Good for him that it took him until he was approaching 40 to do it.
He has been the worst player on the pitch nearly every minute he has played this season.
He has been the worst player on the pitch nearly every minute he has played this season.
He has looked incredibly poor and out of sync with the team. I find it hard to see it changing, but this is Ronaldo we're speaking about.
Indeed. He was constantly dropping too deep or going to the wings to receive the ball, which just doesn't make sense to me. He was barely in or around the box. Look at this:
And these are Haaland's and Lewandowski's the previous night:
They also occasionally drop deep, but mostly stay in and on the fringes of the box. I'd understand Ronaldo doing what he did if we were playing against a team playing a high defensive line, but Sheriff didn't. It just makes no sense to me what he was doing.
Especially now that his dribbling and pace are severely lacking, he's coming deep just for the sole purpose of touching the ball. He doesn't progress the ball or link up with others in any way that serves the team.
He drops deep, leaving no one in and around the box, receives the ball, then loses it a lot of the times. He has given away possession as much as Bruno.
I thought at Leicester he was ok when he came on.
Every other appearance this season he's been desperately poor.
Every other appearance this season he's been desperately poor.
He has himself to blame for that.
Despite his goals last season, his overall play had declined hugely. Understandable of course, but he looks like he’s aged 5 years since last season.
The problem with him is that he hinders our style of play.
Playing to his strength means abolishing the system. He might not be done as a player but he is done at United.
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I don't think that's as true now as it was last season. Yesterday on the break Antony passed it across to Sancho (the off the line clearance) in a situation where last season Bruno would always be trying to find Ronnie. I don't get the feeling that they always have to find him anymore. Which I guess is down to ETH.
He should get that bag in Saudi Arabia.
Yeah to be fair it's not as evident this season and that has to be ETH's influence, it's just incredibly frustrating when it still happens. There was a couple of instances last night where Bruno/Antony were trying to find Ronny with a cute pass and lost possession when there was a much better option available.
No. As much as I don't like the guy, you can still see him making brilliant movements in and around the box which aren't always picked up by his teammates. Eventually they will as the team becomes more cohesive and functional and he will score.
Of course, he's not what he was but I do expect him to score 15-20 goals this season, if he stays the full season. His passing and burst of pace are deserting him but his movement is still top class.
Of course, he's not what he was but I do expect him to score 15-20 goals this season, if he stays the full season. His passing and burst of pace are deserting him but his movement is still top class.
Yes, everything just seems gone. Should hang up his boots end of the season, but knowing him he will still want to continue.
But in fairness, iirc it has been a couple of seasons now that he is slow to start and only gets firing after Christmas. But this time around I think it’s just his body giving up on him.
But in fairness, iirc it has been a couple of seasons now that he is slow to start and only gets firing after Christmas. But this time around I think it’s just his body giving up on him.
He offers something different to what we have with our starting 11. If we're chasing a game and our forwards are not up to it, Ronaldo is a great option off the bench. And if he can get himself into form, he can start a lot of games with all the upcoming fixture congestion.
There's no way we'll be able to have a settled starting 11 this season with all these games, and we don't have enough players for that striker position.
That’s my point. Ole would’ve had to be offered him to turn him down in the first place.
Watch the 2nd and 3rd goals v Arsenal. Without his pressing input we don't score those goals.
He can definitely be an impact sub but we can’t rely on him to be a starter.
What's weird is that his general play improved a lot towards the end of the season. I mean his performances away at Arsenal made it seems he could be evolving into a great target man, but this season's showing has him being worse than Lukaku in that regard. It's like watching a former star player playing a charity match 10 years after being retired.
I think that a motivated Ronaldo, with proper game time and tactics that suits him can be useful. Unfortunately I can't see that happening with United. At 500k a week we should aim for a WC star not a 37 Yr old in decline
At one point yesterday he went out wide to Antony, stood 5 yards away from him, exchanged 3-5 passes and then jogged away making no difference. He needs to cut this out and stay in the box, and just try to get at the end of every chance he can.
I've also noticed that he has lost some of his ability in the air, not exactly that, but he doesn't run across and in front of the defender anymore.
I've also noticed that he has lost some of his ability in the air, not exactly that, but he doesn't run across and in front of the defender anymore.
Yep. Incredibly ironic but ho-hum. If nothing else, you have to applaud Ronaldo for how emotionally invested fans of his are.
Good to see a rational look at it, people very emotional about it all. If he scores a good return and moves on, good. If he doesn't it's a shame, we move on. Some fans on here this morning almost want him to fail, weird. Again it's mid September, let's see where we are before wc break before judging the greatest of all time.
When will the "lack of preseason" narrative stop to be pushed as a justification for what we're seeing? We are a month and a half into the season already.
For sure.
Can he still get goals? Absolutely. But he'll be able to score goals in his 50s.
He's a liability overall for the game of the team he plays for. It puts too much work on the other players.
Can he still get goals? Absolutely. But he'll be able to score goals in his 50s.
He's a liability overall for the game of the team he plays for. It puts too much work on the other players.
I think he's trying but he's clearly past it. Was different before, he was playing in a way that suited him but he simply can't anymore under Ten Hag. If he has any sense he'd move Stateside.
If he could just hold up the ball and lay it off occasionally and then stay around the box I would be happy, but he seems to have little link up at all at this point so far, hopefully he improves.
Hard to tell. He is definitely not the player he was, and if he understands that, and looks after himself, he might still be able to contribute at the top level. Is he someone who's going to be happy not playing the leading role? I don't think so.
His legs have gone and he was getting outpaced by Moldovan league players. His decision making has declined and now he takes too long to decide what to do, which, combined with his lack of pace now, leads to him getting tackled and/or blocked way too easily.
Even when he tried something simple with the passing in midfield he messed it up twice by hitting it way too hard and caused it to move too fast for the distance, and nearly cost us possession. He's a liability and every single time a pass went his way I knew it'd go bad.
Even when he tried something simple with the passing in midfield he messed it up twice by hitting it way too hard and caused it to move too fast for the distance, and nearly cost us possession. He's a liability and every single time a pass went his way I knew it'd go bad.
I think he does this because he hasn't got the legs or the physicality to tussle with CBs anymore. He needs a lot of room to operate in - be it a pass, a dribble, or a shot. He can't deal with those tighter spaces higher up the field and as a result he keeps moving short to get touches of the ball.Indeed. He was constantly dropping too deep or going to the wings to receive the ball, which just doesn't make sense to me. He was barely in or around the box. Look at this:
And these are Haaland's and Lewandowski's the previous night:
They also occasionally drop deep, but mostly stay in and on the fringes of the box. I'd understand Ronaldo doing what he did if we were playing against a team playing a high defensive line, but Sheriff didn't. It just makes no sense to me what he was doing.
He's clearly finished as a player who actually deserves to be the top earner in the league and/or merits having teams accommodate him, build around him, etc.
So, yes, he's finished as a top, top player. That's what matters, surely. Whether he's still capable of the odd good (or even great) performance, still capable of scoring a decent amount of goals if the conditions are right (but very likely to the overall detriment of the team if we're talking about United)...and so forth, I personally don't find that discussion particularly interesting.
If he settles in as a squad player/bench option, then we can talk about it: because I still think it's possible to use Ronaldo in a way that makes sense for the team (given what we have available here and now).
So, yes, he's finished as a top, top player. That's what matters, surely. Whether he's still capable of the odd good (or even great) performance, still capable of scoring a decent amount of goals if the conditions are right (but very likely to the overall detriment of the team if we're talking about United)...and so forth, I personally don't find that discussion particularly interesting.
If he settles in as a squad player/bench option, then we can talk about it: because I still think it's possible to use Ronaldo in a way that makes sense for the team (given what we have available here and now).
Later it'll be 'he's exhausted from the WC'.
Agree with all of this - would be a dream for most strikers to have Bruno, Eriksen, and Sancho consistently trying to feed them the ball. Any half decent goal obsessed player like Ronaldo would almost certainly end up top scorer, that doesn't mean he doesn't seriously hamper our ability to win games on the whole.
- We end up giving teams space to build comfortably from the back
- We don't often win back balls from the opposition close to their own goal
- They have little fear of Ronaldo outpacing them so they feel comfortable to push high up and out our defence under pressure
- Our own players are compelled to make poor decisions by forcing the ball to him when better options exist, causing our attack to break down more often than not (in the instances he scores, he'll get hailed as our saviour)
All of the above was the case for most of last season, and is carrying on into this season when he plays
I don't think he's completely finished in terms of rotating in, scoring a few goals. I'm still fairly confident he'll contribute.
But the fact is he generally hasn't had bad periods of form or looked quite this bad. So this is something different with quite how poor he looks. The older you get the more likely it probably is to fall irredeemably off a cliff.
Obviously he's done as a footballer at the top level, in terms of winning major trophies etc. Hence why he couldn't get another major club to become interested. The twilight of his career would probably be in the Portuguese league, or the US, or Saudi which lack the same physical edge.
But the fact is he generally hasn't had bad periods of form or looked quite this bad. So this is something different with quite how poor he looks. The older you get the more likely it probably is to fall irredeemably off a cliff.
Obviously he's done as a footballer at the top level, in terms of winning major trophies etc. Hence why he couldn't get another major club to become interested. The twilight of his career would probably be in the Portuguese league, or the US, or Saudi which lack the same physical edge.
No other teams want him at all for the reasons you mentioned
As a top level player then yes he is well and truly finished.
He is basically at MLS level now.
He is basically at MLS level now.
It was indeed. So, the idea that it's "knee-jerk" to question him is ridiculous.
You can make a case for it being apparent well before he came back to United too - but let's not go there, it serves no purpose at this point.
That was the debate with Ronaldo lasr season, this year so far it's not that nuanced. He looks shot.
Yesterday was the first time they looked comfortable ignoring him, a turning point but it hasn't been the norm. Was a notable difference between yesterday and our last game. For once our chance compilation wasn't a Ronaldo highlight montage so we can now win games he doesn't play well, hallelujah.