Ronaldo leaving was the catalyst

Catalyst of change started last year with Arnold and Murtough starting to clean house.

Pogba, out. Lingard, out. EtH in. Henderson, out. Bailly, out. Then Ronaldo, out.

The new players like Malacia, Lisandro, Eriksen, Casemiro, Antony.
 
Even though we are clearly better now than when we were Vibes FC with Ole, as soon as he came into the team he took away the vibes and destroyed everything we had built.

In the long term we might be grateful as we got a better manager in return, but it was clear that something was wrong with him around here.
 
Stobzilla said:
It was so tragically obvious that he was the biggest problem. Night and day since he came and went.
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And there were folks on here deriding anyone who had to gall to suggest it. He was a massive issue, and what's more, he had the same effect on his last club
 
Ronaldo was less catalyst and more like one of the last things we needed to jettison to go all in on ETH's way.
-No more charity minutes. We looked worse and dropped points in many league games he started. This winning streak would have been interrupted with a draw or a loss somewhere.
- We can actually make attacking changes to the frontline and game changing substitutions. Ronaldo was the only player who was expected to have zero versatility and it forced zero tactical flexibility on us.. He started and ended games as a striker no matter how badly he was playing.
- The football we played with Ronaldo was hoofing it to Ronaldo. We can actually now work on drilling our play every game instead of every other game.

And people need to stop saying this is taking credit from ETH. ETH was the major catalyst behind hoofing him out of the club. Stop pretending they are mutually exclusive. If anything it's giving him even more credit for handling such a cancerous situation like a pro.
 
That interview was the best thing that could've happened to us.

ten Hag wouldn't have been able to ship Rolando out, even with his awful performances, without a huge part of the fan base taking Ronaldo's side. Even squad members.

That interview allowed the club to ship him out without "moral payout" and ultimately gave ten Hag freedom to manage the dressing room accordingly. Ronaldo was a toxic influence and he was only hurting the squad.
 
Yet more evidence in favour of what we can do when all the players fight for each other and not to appease a Portuguese has-been.

There is a freedom our attackers are playing with that we had not witnessed earlier in the season. Barca’s defenders were terrified. I also guarantee that Rashford would not be in this rich vein of form if CR61 was still at the club.

Thank you Piers Morgan!!
 
imagine if we nicked the title from Arsenal with Piers Morgan pulling off the most important move for us :lol:

either way, still incredible that one of the best footballers to ever play the game leaving can be so liberating for a team. "Good riddance" doesn't even begin to cover it.
 
SAFMUTD said:
That interview was the best thing that could've happened to us.

ten Hag wouldn't have been able to ship Rolando out, even with his awful performances, without a huge part of the fan base taking Ronaldo's side. Even squad members.

That interview allowed the club to ship him out without "moral payout" and ultimately gave ten Hag freedom to manage the dressing room accordingly. Ronaldo was a toxic influence and he was only hurting the squad.
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all parties got what they wanted. we're better and he's richer
 
I think Ronnie knew his time was up at the club. He knew deep down he was holding us back. Especially Bruno.

Funny how things come full circle. 20 years ago it was RVN who had to make way for him to flourish. 20 years on and it’s his turn to play the “villain”.
 
The problem with Ronaldo was that at his later age, he could be an asset, used correctly, that's why the last season at juventus under pirlo, then here under ole, then rangnick who were all essentially amateur coaches at best. He required proper time management, not playing every week, and playing to his strengths. He was clearly still talented enough to offer something last season. Both home and away against spurs and arsenal he was good. He scored a number of last minute winners/equalisers in the champions league.

But he posed some tactical limitations as well, not least that he was never a number 9 and thats where ole played him, and it doesn't really suit him. If we'd had ten hag last season when we signed him before he was run into the ground playing 3 games a week at 37 years old in the most physically demanding league in the world it would have gone much better.

I don't buy all this ruining the vibes stuff until this year, you could see last season elanga and a lot of the other younger players idolised him, and he's been described as having a great work ethic and the like at every other club. This season obviously it did become toxic
 
Wonder what he's thinking right now. Maybe Messi is hanging up the boots at the end of the year, and Ronaldo knows it. He was content to go to Qatar knowing his CL goals record is intact.

The interview is just bizarre now. To go from that, to complete irrelevance where he's playing now. He could have gotten what he wanted without a giant moan to Pierce Morgan of all people.
 
Ali Dia said:
Signing him was the biggest mistake the club have made in a very long time.
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It was a blunder in retrospect, but funny enough I think it accelerated the changes we needed to make. It sped up sacking Ole and bringing in a proper manager (ignoring the odd Rangnick intermission), and it fully exposed the toxic elements at the club which we were able to weed out.
 
Ronaldo leaving was not the actual catalyst. It’s the manner the club handled it. Perfect actions.
 
Someone who couldn't swallow his pride and accept a team role, exactly what a Ten Hag team does not need.

He thought he could get offers, didn't and thought a pay day in Saudi is better than playing in a team that is doing well.
 
Eli Zee said:
all parties got what they wanted. we're better and he's richer
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Ronaldo wanted to be picked up by a CL team to pump his numbers up (he probably mistakenly felt he could singlehandedly drive any team to success, too). Find it hard to believe playing in Saudi Arabia was his first choice, regardless of the money on offer.
 
Nah, him punishing the squad for being lazy and accepting the punishment himself was the key moment if you were to point to one moment.

Others were:

How he handled the City loss was important too, saying that the team were defeated before entering the pitch and it's the belief and bravery that was missing.

Being ruthless with cutting players who don't perform as well.

Having the world cup to plan and work with some of the squad helped as well.

Ronaldo was practically irrelevant and was just impotently crying in the corner and didn't affect this season one way or the other.
 
Raoul said:
It’s been mostly ETH and Casemiro and the rebirth of Rashford imo
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Rashford was brilliant before Ronaldo (in 20/21) and after Ronaldo. Just not brilliant with Ronaldo. So Ronaldo leaving was the catalyst for that too.

Yes, Ronaldo aside, he had an off year last season with terrible confidence and decision making. He probably wouldn't have done brilliantly regardless. But having to cater for Ronaldo at #9 has proven to suck the output from other players both at this team and at Juve. He was a just a very selfish and self-serving player and when his speed and his ability to create magic waned with age, he just dragged teams down with him.
 
The biggest positive from the Ronaldo debacle is the respect and credit ETH has got for handling the whole situation. Players have bought into everything he’s decided this season.
 
I never thought Ole was good enough but he finished second, got to a Europa League final and started last season reasonably well so between buying Ronaldo and kicking him out we were a disaster but I kinda feel like we’re now only carrying on where we left off.
 
Judge Red said:
I never thought Ole was good enough but he finished second, got to a Europa League final and started last season reasonably well so between buying Ronaldo and kicking him out we were a disaster but I kinda feel like we’re now only carrying on where we left off.
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We are miles and miles better technically and mentally than at any stage under Ole. He was riding his luck for the majority of his tenure. ETH isn't carrying on he's completely transformed us.
 
Judge Red said:
I never thought Ole was good enough but he finished second, got to a Europa League final and started last season reasonably well so between buying Ronaldo and kicking him out we were a disaster but I kinda feel like we’re now only carrying on where we left off.
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I can't tell if this is a wind up of if you just didn't watch us under Ole
 
I just wonder where all those pundits are at the start of the season who, not just dismissed the idea, but made it sound like it's the craziest thing in the world. "How can the top goalscorer be the problem" "Ronaldo is United's last problem" bla bla. The logic of the British pundits of if he's a good shotstopper, he must be good for the team or if he scores, it automatically must be a plus for the team never ceases to amaze with how limited and short sighted it is.
 
He was a catalyst for sure. But also several other things.

ETH
The new acceptable standard
Casemiro
Eriksen
The system

Bruno talked about it recently where players were waiting to see what ETH would do with big name players who stepped out of line.
Ronaldo and his behavior was the perfect gift for ETH to be able to stamp his authority on the team and the club and set the bar.
 
Samid said:
Since Bruno signed 3 years ago I'd love to see the stats with the virus at the club vs without. Things instantly turned to shit when he came and instantly turned good again the moment he was kicked out of the club.
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Full record since Bruno joined
Played: 172
Won: 98 (57%)
Drawn: 37 (21.5%)
Lost: 37 (21.5%)

Record during Ronaldo's second spell
Played: 67
Won: 32 (47.8%)
Drawn: 14 (20.9%)
Lost: 21 (31.3%)

Record without Ronaldo at the club
Played: 105
Won: 66 (62.9%)
Drawn: 23 (21.9%)
Lost: 16 (15.2%)
 
GMoore23 said:
Actually. Ronaldo arriving was the catalyst as Ole would probably still be in charge otherwise.
The world works in mysterious ways.
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Indeed. I was a big Ole fan but we simply couldn't be where we're now with him still in charge. We should thank Ronaldo for that I think.

And I'm also very thankful for him always being true to himself a delusional narcissistic ahole so we could get rid of him. I don't think him leaving or not would have a really big difference. If he didn't he'd rot on the bench anyway. Still thank God he left.
 
in hindsight its probably good that he rocked up and accelerated the sacking of Ole

things were kinda trending up under ole until Ronaldo arrived, albeit very slowly.. we could've had another couple of years of that mediocrity

if we got the timing wrong again ETH could have potentially ended up at the scousers or Chelsea
 
Drainy said:
Ronaldo was practically irrelevant and was just impotently crying in the corner and didn't affect this season one way or the other.
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Nonsense. I agree with a lot of the observations you make (e.g. ETH using WC break) but I would go as far as saying we would be top of the league had he left in the Summer...

Except for another important aspect which is how the interview stuff was handled. I reckon that helped us no end to make it clear we are no longer a circus where players can do whatever the feck they want.

Pivotal. Good riddance. Now get the gooners down and make it an epic troll.
 
Good riddance, without question. But I still wonder whether had Ronaldo not allowed his arrogance to engulf him in mediocrity and instead accepted the role that ETH laid out for him as an impact sub -- and let's be honest, we're pretty short on strikers -- whether we might still be thriving as we are right now.

Probably not, even if his head was level.
 
antohan said:
Nonsense. I agree with a lot of the observations you make (e.g. ETH using WC break) but I would go as far as saying we would be top of the league had he left in the Summer...

Except for another important aspect which is how the interview stuff was handled. I reckon that helped us no end to make it clear we are no longer a circus where players can do whatever the feck they want.

Pivotal. Good riddance. Now get the gooners down and make it an epic troll.
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I think if we had let him leave and bought a better striker then yes we'd likely be top

What I mean is that Ronaldo had no influence in the dressing room, the media noise wasn't changing any dressing room dynamics, and the team were focused on Ten Hag and his instructions and impressing him.

Ronaldo was impotent both on and off the pitch, selling him didn't improve the cohesion of the squad because they were already on their way there
 
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