Ronaldo as a LWF or SC?

I want us to try 433.

With CR as LW(draft into central), Bruno as False 9, and Sancho on the right side.
 
He’s a CF now. We play with pace out wide, he will be expected to dominate the box and nothing more.

Ole loves a striker who is hungry for goals and willing to put his face in front of a boot. He’s got his ultimate striker, he’s not going to waste him by playing him anywhere other than as close to goal as humanly possible.

Yeah this. Ronaldo hasn’t got the legs to be anywhere else now. I do however feel Cavani gives a good deal more over 90 minutes.
 
He’s long since changed to a pure CF. I doubt we’ll ever see him start on the left, unless there’s some kind of injury crisis. In fact I think fans expecting him to reprise his old role of charging down the wing are going to be disappointed. He’s more like Cavani than Rashford these days.

Besides we’re stacked with left sided attackers. Left side we have Rashford, Sancho, Pogba and Martial as options, depending on formation. Up front Cavani is our only pure striker, with Greenwood evolving into more of an inside right attacker.
 
As a winger Ronaldo was already a problem in his prime. Sure he was unstoppable but that came with a price as others had to do the work for him (Park, Rooney and Teveth)

At 36 Ronaldo simply lack the blistering pace to play on the flanks. Also why would anyone play him as LW when we've got the likes of Rashford and Sancho in those roles? Ronaldo will play upfront with Sancho on the Right, Bruno at his back and Rashy on his left.
 
I’m assuming SC means Striker Central?
 
I’m not sure how we will line up.

People are forgetting how good Cavani was for us.
 
The days of cutting in from the wing are probably past, think he’d be more suited as centre forward. Given the service, he’ll put them away.

Essentially, the best position to play Ronaldo is from wherever Ronaldo wants to be played.
 
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Cavani could be given the defensive duties ala Rooney in 2008, with Ronnie staying up front when we are defending. When building up from the back, Ronnie/Cavani have the option of drifting out wide as we build up play.. Of course, this is dependent on Cavani still having the legs to track back. If only both players were 3 years younger..
 
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The interesting thing about this lineup is that it can very naturally switch to a 4-3-1-2 in possession...like Rijkaard's Barca, which also started in a 4-3-3.

Sancho likes to float around and Ronaldo has that goalscoring instinct to always be in and around the box, no matter where he starts from.

----------Fred--------
Bruno------Pogba
--------Sancho------
Mason----Ronaldo

Cavani could also slot into Ronaldo's role (or Greenwood's). He played a very similar position from the left at Napoli, and even did it with PSG from the right.

There is no way we can accommodate 2 luxury players, Cavani and Ronaldo, in the starting 11. Add Pogba who track back 50-50, and Bruno also 50-50, even Kante can't cover for everybody.

CR with Greenwood OK, or CR as #9. Basically it means Cavani and CR play 25 games each.
 
As a winger Ronaldo was already a problem in his prime. Sure he was unstoppable but that came with a price as others had to do the work for him (Park, Rooney and Teveth)

At 36 Ronaldo simply lack the blistering pace to play on the flanks. Also why would anyone play him as LW when we've got the likes of Rashford and Sancho in those roles? Ronaldo will play upfront with Sancho on the Right, Bruno at his back and Rashy on his left.
Did he play much up top at Juve?
 
There is no way we can accommodate 2 luxury players, Cavani and Ronaldo, in the starting 11. Add Pogba who track back 50-50, and Bruno also 50-50, even Kante can't cover for everybody.

CR with Greenwood OK, or CR as #9. Basically it means Cavani and CR play 25 games each.
Cavani used to track back all the time, ala Rooney. He's better than Rashford and Greenwood at it, if he still has the legs for it.
 
I think it would be a fluid front 3 between Ronaldo, Greenwood and Rashford/Martial. Ronaldo would start from the front but I can see him interchanging with the likes of Greenwood during various phases of play.
 
Sancho—-Bruno—-Rashford
—————-Ronaldo—————-

Pogba, Cavani and Greenwood rotating in and out. That’s some depth.
 
The good thing is that we play with a fluid front 4 or 3.
The problem is when we don't have the ball cause Ronnie doesn't press. What I think will happen is that Ronny will play centrally when in possession but the wide players will lead the press. I don't think its much of an issue since we don't press high anyway.
At the moment, I think the players that complement him the most are Greenwood and Sancho. Greenwood spends a lot of time on the right, so there's no question about him dropping into the spaces that Ronaldo occupies. Sancho is such a clever player and more of a playmaker. Also both players are very good at drawing attention of markers so there's more space for Ronaldo.
 
Did he play much up top at Juve?

Pirlo used to change formation nearly every game but yes Ronaldo usually played up front. In my opinion he is best suited as a lone striker with everyone doing the hard work behind him
 
Pogba left, Ronaldo in the middle, Bruno behind him and Sancho on the right. If that doesn't bring in a quarry load of goals nothing will
 
Pogba left, Ronaldo in the middle, Bruno behind him and Sancho on the right. If that doesn't bring in a quarry load of goals nothing will
Yup. And Rashford for Pogba depending on form/opponent. On paper, that is brilliant.
 
I’d probably still keep him centrally. If we keep on playing Pogba on the left and hopefully Sancho can settle soon on the right with Bruno behind. I’m still very worried about the midfield but hopefully we can shift Lingard off and maybe another and atleast fund Neves or someone.
 
Pirlo used to change formation nearly every game but yes Ronaldo usually played up front. In my opinion he is best suited as a lone striker with everyone doing the hard work behind him
Suits us then! :D
 
As opposed to… SW? Striker Wide? Only that’s not a striker, is it?

Makes me remember the times I used to play FIFA with colleagues. Back then FIFA was pretty popular in the recreation room. I was not a regular, just played occasionally to annoy people with a super ultra defensive formation that will try to spend the entire game playing tiki taka and avoid scoring goals at all cost. Problem arose with what to do with the most forward player. I decided to position him as close to midfield as possible from tactical setup and named the position as Defensive Striker. Just wondering if these different type of strikers are really becoming common now! :angel:
 
The past two seasons at Juventus he's usually played alongside another forward up top, see Dybala or Morata. He's played up top by himself quite a few times too but very difficult with a side like Juventus in Serie A.

For United he's going to have to be a #9 for us. He can play LW, for sure, but would need to be managed throughout the season. Keep him in and around the box, on the shoulder of the last man and try to reduce his involvement in the build up as much as possible because it has degraded considerably over the years to the point that one needs to forget about it.

At Juventus, he repeatedly dropped deep to pick up the ball - due to a lack of quality in Juventus' midfield - and his build up play wasn't pretty + unnecessary hardwork for him.

Allegri, Sarri and Pirlo all played very, very, very tumescent football, very suffocating to watch and must have been a pain to play in. That too in a league where the space is so tight.

But in the box, he is still utterly lethal. Will be a wonderful #9 (though don't expect much in terms of hold up play either). But players like Sancho, Fernandes, Pogba, etc must not defer to him every time despite him being in disadvantages positions etc. They must assert themselves, they're of high quality themselves.

Ronaldo will have to step up from his last 2 seasons at Juventus too, particularly in terms of off the ball work/pressing, but I think he will. He will thrive playing in a higher quality team. Juventus were very hard to watch and their midfield lacked quality.

He is still sharp, he is still very, very fit - doesn't miss matches often - and his movement is superb as well as his aerial ability + finishing.


--------------------Ronaldo-----------------
Pogba---------Fernandes--------Sancho
----------Fred-----------McTominay-------

*as it stands.

Have that vs teams with deep blocks/more resistant to opening up. Have Rashford on the LW and Pogba moved back to CM vs teams which are much more open. Plenty of time for Greenwood to come on.

Pogba, Fernandes and Sancho is something of a quality far, far, far, far higher than what he was used to at Juventus. Far higher.

If Ronaldo is utilised correctly, he could absolutely feed on the service incoming. Absolutely gorge himself on goals.
 
He's got to be a striker hasn't he? I think he probably won't do the hard yards required for a winger any more.

Cavani aside(who's been great), we've been playing Martial up front in the last few years so we are well used to playing with a striker who don't do hard yards, except Ronaldo can actually sense an opportunity and stick it in.
 
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Going to play CF, no question.

Hopefully, what it does mean, is that Lingard, James and Martial(finally) is shipped out
 
There is no way we can accommodate 2 luxury players, Cavani and Ronaldo, in the starting 11. Add Pogba who track back 50-50, and Bruno also 50-50, even Kante can't cover for everybody.

CR with Greenwood OK, or CR as #9. Basically it means Cavani and CR play 25 games each.
Cavani is not a luxury in any way shape or form. He’s the most hard working player on the pitch.
 
I'm sure he'll mostly play as a #9.

We've got plenty of players battling for the wide positions, all of whom are good in those roles - what we were low on was prolific #9's who live for goals and whose first thought is to get in the danger areas in the box.

The versatility and mobility of our front line means it wouldn't be a shock if, at points in some games, he drifts out for a spell to the left side of attack, but his primary role will be that of the prolific #9 looking to get on the end of the opportunities we create.