Ronaldo | Refused to come on as sub, left OT | Axed from squad for Chelsea & fined 2 weeks wages

[Greck]

Lots of jumbling up of timelines going on here. The longest Ronaldo went without a goal while Ole was in charge was 4 league games (and he was consistently scoring in the Champions League during this time). He was performing consistently, and the alternatives (Cavani and Martial) had fitness problems even then. I'm almost certain Cavani played (at least made an appearance) in every league game he was available for under Ole, anyway.

On topic - I just made the mistake of reading the transcript of Keane's comments from Saturday. Absolute garbage, as one would expect from him. Ten Hag's dealt with this brilliantly and he needs all of Ronaldo's ex-teammates (especially the ones who've spent years hammering the rest of our squad for "downing tools" and / or "throwing managers under the bus") in the media to shut their mouths.

Not really, because my opinion included Rashford. We had options before and even after Ole was sacked. After Martial and Cavani had left we still had Rashford as a plan b or c. The game against Brentford where Ronaldo threw a tantrum, he got subbed for Rashford who went on to score. That was one of Rashford's last great contribution that season and also one of the last times Rangnick would sub off Ronaldo despite the decision paying off. We weren't allowed to try anything else but Ronaldo through the middle for 90 minutes every game. I'm basically saying it's not true that we couldn't rotate Ronaldo during his poor form. That was pure privilege.

 

[prateik]

Hope he picks up a "knock" in training and fecks off to Portugal for his rehab.. then moves the feck on in Jan.

 

[Irwin99]

The media reaction to it all has been the most annoying thing for me. EtH has played this perfectly on his side -Ronaldo did a stupid thing, was punished, and is welcome back in the first team if he shows he wants to be here. That's really all there should be to this. Neville saying get rid of him and Keane/Rio and people like Marcelo 'having his back' is not helping.

 

[Dve]

it actually made a lot of sense. Back then we still had strikers. In fact that very failure to rotate would contribute to disgruntling our other strikers to want to leave. There was no merit in selection, it defeated the purpose of competition. Also being our so called top scorer should never have made him above rotation, he had like 10 games without a goal, we needed production and weren't allowed to try anything else during the frame because King Ronaldo had to play every minute. Talk about being the solution to problems his presence creates. At this point the Ronaldo experience feels like getting scammed. Like unintentionally blocking 2 sitters against Everton so his goal looked like the defacto winner that saved us 3 points or forcing an uberpredictable playstyle that makes him look like the only competent player being let down by poor playmakers.

Well, I for one thought I was a mistake to resign Ronaldo, but I don't remember anyone calling out Ole for not dropping him last season. Martial was totally out of form (and eventually left for Spain), while Cavani was constantly injured.

 

[JPRouve]

Well, I for one thought I was a mistake to resign Ronaldo, but I don't remember anyone calling out Ole for not dropping him last season. Martial was totally out of form (and eventually left for Spain), while Cavani was constantly injured.

Martial barely played, in reality he had almost no chance to find any sort of form. And it's actually one of the biggest issues with Ole, he had the bad habit of leaving players almost completely out and forcing the same 11 to 13 players.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Club just saved £1 million, good stuff.

 

[Dve]

Martial barely played, in reality he had almost no chance to find any sort of form. And it's actually one of the biggest issues with Ole, he had the bad habit of leaving players almost completely out and forcing the same 11 to 13 players.

Martial also struggled to find form at Sevilla and was shite whenever he played for United. Cavani, perhaps, could have played more the few weeks he was fit, but saying that Ronaldo should have played less last season, is a bit weird. I agree that Ole should have rotated more, or given other players opportunities - especially at the back, but it seems a bit revisionary to say that Ronaldo should have played less.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Not really, because my opinion included Rashford. We had options before and even after Ole was sacked. After Martial and Cavani had left we still had Rashford as a plan b or c. The game against Brentford where Ronaldo threw a tantrum, he got subbed for Rashford who went on to score. That was one of Rashford's last great contribution that season and also one of the last times Rangnick would sub off Ronaldo despite the decision paying off. We weren't allowed to try anything else but Ronaldo through the middle for 90 minutes every game. I'm basically saying it's not true that we couldn't rotate Ronaldo during his poor form. That was pure privilege.

Person you quoted was responding specifically to "Ole didn't dare drop Ronaldo", which I don't think is particularly relevant because Ronaldo was playing consistently well while Ole was in charge. Did Ronaldo throw a strop about not starting that Everton match, and was Fergie's "you always play your best players" stuff helpful? Most likely and definitely not, in order, but not really important at the time.

The Rangnick period was different - Ronaldo was actually crap for a long time then, but again, by then there was literally no alternative with Martial/Greenwood out and Cavani barely fit. Not exactly privilege in my book when the alternative is either a completely out-of-form Rashford or playing fecking Pogba and Fernandes up front (and Rashford, despite playing consistently terribly, was needed out wide and ended up playing the majority of games anyway - Greenwood being a waste of space completely ruined us in two positions).

At least Ronaldo was able to pull together a few great games (Spurs, Norwich) while everything went to shite under Rangnick, while the handful of games we played without him - I'm thinking of Villa, Burnley and Leicester, not counting the City and Liverpool ones where we would have been smashed either way - were hardly an improvement that suggested we were a better team without him.

 

[JPRouve]

Martial also struggled to find form at Sevilla and was shite whenever he played for United. Cavani, perhaps, could have played more the few weeks he was fit, but saying that Ronaldo should have played less last season, is a bit weird. I agree that Ole should have rotated more, or given other players opportunities - especially at the back, but it seems a bit revisionary to say that Ronaldo should have played less.

He was injured for about half of his time there and he still somehow got more minutes.

 

[pascell]

Club just saved £1 million, good stuff.

And then you realise the Glazers get £1 million extra in their next dividend.

 

[JPRouve]

Person you quoted was responding specifically to "Ole didn't dare drop Ronaldo", which I don't think is particularly relevant because Ronaldo was playing consistently well while Ole was in charge. Did Ronaldo throw a strop about not starting that Everton match, and was Fergie's "you always play your best players" stuff helpful? Most likely and definitely not, in order, but not really important at the time.

The Rangnick period was different - Ronaldo was actually crap for a long time then, but again, by then there was literally no alternative with Martial/Greenwood out and Cavani barely fit. Not exactly privilege in my book when the alternative is either a completely out-of-form Rashford or playing fecking Pogba and Fernandes up front (and Rashford, despite playing consistently terribly, was needed out wide and ended up playing the majority of games anyway - Greenwood being a waste of space completely ruined us in two positions).

At least Ronaldo was able to pull together a few great games (Spurs, Norwich) while everything went to shite under Rangnick, while the handful of games we played without him - I'm thinking of Villa, Burnley and Leicester, not counting the City and Liverpool ones where we would have been smashed either way - were hardly an improvement that suggested we were a better team without him.

Ronaldo was consistently poor under Ole. The good games were the exception.

 

[Gavinb33]

I think Ronaldo would be more in line with that, he must consider a waste to be on the bench and just come out for the last minutes. Then Manchester United doesn't have a lot of options for the striker position to begin with, so he should also understand that. Anyway it's really bad that a player refuses to come out and it's all on him but something needs to be done on the management side as well to prevent this for happening again.

He doesn't come on for just the last minutes at all, in all comps he has got plenty of good minutes.

Iirc he has played the last few minutes against Liverpool and that's it and in the games he has got decent minutes he hasn't done much of anything at all.

It's not the managers fault he couldn't the bothered to do preseason and wasn't fit at the start.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Roy Keane said that ronaldo scores every 2nd game. What a plonker

 

[Edwards6]

He doesn't come on for just the last minutes at all, in all comps he has got plenty of good minutes.

Iirc he has played the last few minutes against Liverpool and that's it and in the games he has got decent minutes he hasn't done much of anything at all.

It's not the managers fault he couldn't the bothered to do preseason and wasn't fit at the start.
[/QUOTE]
I think Rio usually talks a lot of sense on his channel but he's definitely biased here because of his friendship with Ronaldo. How can he expect Ten Hag to tell him in the summer if he'll be the main striker when he didn't even turn up till the last friendly.
And even if Ten Hag wanted to let him go no one wanted him. Ronaldo has had plenty of chances this season so it's up to him to perform and keep his place.
If it was any other player behaving like this I'm sure Rio would be backing the manager

 

[Sviken]

It's not the managers fault he couldn't the bothered to do preseason and wasn't fit at the start.

This is basicaly it. Ronaldo has no-one to blame but himself. He's fighting uphill battle and it was always going to be like that because he gambled everything on his big move. Now he is going to suffer the consequences and Ten Hag is absolutely justified to freeze his ass off till the rest of the season, if he wants.

 

[IFC 1905]

Cristiano is one of those rare footballers that make the history books. I don't think it would be too hard for ETH not to provoke him by ordering him to warm up for half the game only to ridicule him in the final minute by asking him to come in. Also against City, 4-0 down and not letting him in shows that ETH is not treating him respectfully. That said, Ronaldo is also at fault with his reaction but yes some players are indeed entitled to have demands. 5 Ballon d'or, record top scorer at club and international level, the only Ballon d’or winner from the PL in my lifetime, and countless individual records does create a rightful sense of entitlement. Let alone the fact that it's in this United forward line that he demands some play time and not City.

Cristiano is a big part of our history and as a Utd fan I adore the man. The thing that baffles me about this whole saga is why didn’t they just let Ronaldo leave in the summer when he wanted??

I still think Cristiano can score goals for this team, especially given the current forward line which is struggling bigtime to make an impact. Defenders are snuffing them out too easily. Rashford and Sancho are still far from the mark of what they should be. Martial is always injured. I think the best utilisation for Cristiano would be to say to him we are going to play pressing football by default and you don't have the legs to do that anymore but we need you for a very dangerous plan B where when we are struggling to break a team down we completely switch to a long ball counter attack style of play with you getting on the end of balls against tired defenders. Cristiano would have scored the chances Rashford squandered against Newcastle and Chelsea.

I just don't understand why people can't understand why ETH didn't send Ronaldo in vs City. He was clearly protecting him.

 

[Greck]

Person you quoted was responding specifically to "Ole didn't dare drop Ronaldo", which I don't think is particularly relevant because Ronaldo was playing consistently well while Ole was in charge. Did Ronaldo throw a strop about not starting that Everton match, and was Fergie's "you always play your best players" stuff helpful? Most likely and definitely not, in order, but not really important at the time.

The Rangnick period was different - Ronaldo was actually crap for a long time then, but again, by then there was literally no alternative with Martial/Greenwood out and Cavani barely fit. Not exactly privilege in my book when the alternative is either a completely out-of-form Rashford or playing fecking Pogba and Fernandes up front (and Rashford, despite playing consistently terribly, was needed out wide and ended up playing the majority of games anyway - Greenwood being a waste of space completely ruined us in two positions).

At least Ronaldo was able to pull together a few great games (Spurs, Norwich) while everything went to shite under Rangnick, while the handful of games we played without him - I'm thinking of Villa, Burnley and Leicester, not counting the City and Liverpool ones where we would have been smashed either way - were hardly an improvement that suggested we were a better team without him.

In my personal interpretation the real issue in his post was not specifically what fans think. There will never be a common ground on that. Issue is what the manager wants to do. Managers losing their own agency on how to handle Ronaldo and his playing time. Three consecutive managers have now faced backlash with their attempts to reduce his role. Ten Hag is the one who has stood his ground and surprise surprise he is out of the first team despite people thinking he should start ahead of the other options. The last two managers would have absolutely done the same if they didn't feel compelled to coddle him. Ralf in particular said he shouldn't have accommodated Ronaldo as much as he did (or at least words to similar effect). Ronaldo on his bad day isn't better than the alternatives, on bad days he's a liability to the team because everything goes through him. A player who just plays bad but doesn't sink team performance is a very viable alternative. This is why under Ten Hag Rashford should and will continue to start over Ronaldo at the CF.

 

[sugar_kane]

Rio and Souness, tossers. I hope Ten Hag sticks to his guns and never plays him again.

Souness seems absolutely rattled that we have a good manager now, talking absolute nonsense. Says no one will remember Ten Hag in five years.

Can’t stand to watch all 12 minutes of that shite, but am assuming no-one calls him out on the well documented fact that non club that fit Ronaldo’s criteria even wanted him?

We’re stuck with him because we were the only club stupid enough to bring him in on 500k week in the first place.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Three consecutive managers have now faced backlash with their attempts to reduce his role. Ten Hag is the one who has stood his ground and surprise surprise he is out of the first team despite people thinking he should start ahead of the other options. The last two managers would have absolutely done the same if they didn't feel compelled to coddle him.

I don't think it's that absolute, because I think there is a clear difference between the Ronaldo stumbling around the pitch nowadays and the one we saw last season until the turn of the year. And I think it's revisionism to try and argue otherwise, which is also what I think is happening in the post below:

Ronaldo was consistently poor under Ole. The good games were the exception.

But this has all been done to death over the last year and is not really worth sidetracking this thread over, so we will end with:

This is why under Ten Hag Rashford should and will continue to start over Ronaldo at the CF.

Absolutely. Because Ronaldo is completely gash right now and sadly looks like he will stay that way. And Keane / Ferdinand / Souness are all morons

 

[RedOrange]

Rio doesn't have an argument and he knows it. "The club needs to communicate better," what does that even mean? What needs to be communicated, that if your performance is poor you'll be dropped and if you refuse to be subbed on you'll be fined?

I have no idea what Ten Hag said but I'm certain he didn't promise to start Ronaldo every match, and anyone who thinks Ronaldo wouldn't have pitched the exact same fit if he was told beforehand he'd be the backup, they're lying.

 

[The Firestarter]

I understand a bitter tosser like Souness but the so called United "legends", good grief. Only thing left is SAF coming on TV and saying Ronaldo should always play so EtH could be undermined in the most complete way possible. Fecking unreal .

 

[RedDevil@84]

Rio doesn't have an argument and he knows it. "The club needs to communicate better," what does that even mean? What needs to be communicated, that if your performance is poor you'll be dropped and if you refuse to be subbed on you'll be fined?

No. Rio is claiming that the club or manager has not defined Cristiano's role clearly and have not told him beforehand whether he is a first choice or backup or VDB.

 

[JB7]

No. Rio is claiming that the club or manager has not defined Cristiano's role clearly and have not told him beforehand whether he is a first choice or backup or VDB.

Why would he? Ten Hag seems pretty flexible & if Ronaldo was playing well and scoring goals, he’d keep his place. He isn’t playing well so hasn’t kept his place. We saw the faith he showed in McTominay while he was playing well in what we all knew would become Casemiro’s spot.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Why would he? Ten Hag seems pretty flexible & if Ronaldo was playing well and scoring goals, he’d keep his place. He isn’t playing well so hasn’t kept his place. We saw the faith he showed in McTominay while he was playing well in what we all knew would become Casemiro’s spot.

Rio seems to suggest that Cristiano being a star should be treated differently. Not that I agree.

 

[RedOrange]

No. Rio is claiming that the club or manager has not defined Cristiano's role clearly and have not told him beforehand whether he is a first choice or backup or VDB.

Right... So if he tells Ronaldo he's the starter and then Ronaldo plays terribly he can't replace him? I also don't believe for a second that Ronaldo will accept a backup role without throwing a tantrum.

I understood Henderson's complaint as it sounds like Ole told him he was the starter and then he played in 2/50 matches or something like that. Ronaldo has had plenty of time and been completely awful.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Right... So if he tells Ronaldo he's the starter and then Ronaldo plays terribly he can't replace him? I also don't believe for a second that Ronaldo will accept a backup role without throwing a tantrum.

True that. But Rio and Keano are on some kind of WUM I guess. They are probably arguing of the sake of it.

 

[Foxbatt]

So the narrative from Keane and Rio is that he isnt being communicated to well enough. Basically they are trying to throw Ten Hag under the bus for their old team mate.

Next they are going to say that Ronaldo doesn't understand the accent of ETH.

 

[Grande]

"Not allowing him to leave" may have been the wrong expression but the club was making it more difficult for him to find another club by demanding a transfer fee. It's normally easier to make a deal for a player without the need to negotiate with a club and Ronaldo seemed willing to take a pay cut to leave.

Almost all clubs don't think they should pay a transfer fee for a 37-year-old if it's Ronaldo and he's only demanding 200k a week.

I agree that it is easier for Ronaldo (and any player, really), to find a new club if his current one is willing to tear up the contract without recompense.

If the concern is for the club’s best interest, ie, they would be better off without Ronaldo and the obligation to pay him 500k a week, well quite a few people seem to prefer that. In which case, of course, it could be that the player says, no’ you’ll have to honour the contract.

If the concern is for the player who has a contract and a salary, but wants to play regular football more than cashing cheques and be an important squad member, that will normally be up to the player to solve. He can reduce his wage demands to the point that a club that will let him play can afford the ‘fee+salary’ package. It’s not really fair to expect the club to take the economic fall against its own interest, to help the player get all his wishes. The only times when clubs forego value they are contractually owed either in terms of service or of finances is a) to let a loyal servant with relatively few options, and who’se services are more or less expendable, leave for a final payday to finance his retirement, or b) they are forced because a player they really need goes into strike, and they cut their losses because they can still get a sizeable fee and it’s better to spend it on an ok replacement, than to lack a key player on strike with no recompence.

Ronaldo doesn’t really fit snuggly into either of those categories. He’s not loyal, his retirement is secured a million times over, he’s not indispensable, but he could be useful. I don’t think Man Utd as a club owe him any favors, though. If they think his contract is worth 15m, they’re entitled to it, and if he doesn’t want to play elder statesman at Utd, doesn’t want to play in Saudi Arabia, and doesn’t want to earn less than 150k a week either, I guess it’s a bummer, because those are his options, and if you feel bad for someone having those three options - well, there are billions who could use your sympathy more I guess.

 

[Wilt]

Club just saved £1 million, good stuff.

They should give it to charity

 

[lex talionis]

Rio doesn't have an argument and he knows it. "The club needs to communicate better," what does that even mean? What needs to be communicated, that if your performance is poor you'll be dropped and if you refuse to be subbed on you'll be fined?

I have no idea what Ten Hag said but I'm certain he didn't promise to start Ronaldo every match, and anyone who thinks Ronaldo wouldn't have pitched the exact same fit if he was told beforehand he'd be the backup, they're lying.

Brilliant footballer without question, but Rio has been a bit of a clown since his early United days when he earned himself an eight month suspension. And then he went into boxing in his late 30s only to find out that it was a bad idea and he was refused a boxing licence...quite appropriately so given his advanced. Having a professional repeatedly pound your dome isn't necessarily the brightest thing one who already has a fortune in their bank account should even consider for half a second.

And as a pundit, well, the sooner he moves onto something else the better for everyone. In this case, he talks about both sides of his mouth. As you rightly note, what does "The club needs to communicate better" even mean? ETH handled the situation perfectly, arguably too leniently, but for me perfectly.

 

[syrian_scholes]

I think Ronaldo would be more in line with that, he must consider a waste to be on the bench and just come out for the last minutes. Then Manchester United doesn't have a lot of options for the striker position to begin with, so he should also understand that. Anyway it's really bad that a player refuses to come out and it's all on him but something needs to be done on the management side as well to prevent this for happening again.

So allow Ronaldo to bully EtH into starting him then?

 

[city-puma]

These ex-players/now shitty pundits really care only about their pals. Ole was protected, ETH not, despite doing every single thing so much better. Glad no one cares really what they say

What are you talking about ole? Last season, Ole put him on rest for just one game and received the shit load of storm. After a difficult result, he said it clearly, “something has to give”. Then, he had to start Ronaldo the next game and eventually lost his job.
the top hierarchy created such a shit business to bring Ronaldo back and we are still here discussing how to clean up the messy. Sign…

 

[Escobar]

Roy Keane said that ronaldo scores every 2nd game. What a plonker

He is right, and probably even better - only problem is that was 6 years ago. He needs to get back to 2022

 

[Escobar]

They should give it to charity

Ronaldo? Good idea

 

[Red Dreams]

Not only do the scum who own us create problems like bringing Ronaldo back. But they take dividends for their work.

 

[Escobar]

This is basicaly it. Ronaldo has no-one to blame but himself. He's fighting uphill battle and it was always going to be like that because he gambled everything on his big move. Now he is going to suffer the consequences and Ten Hag is absolutely justified to freeze his ass off till the rest of the season, if he wants.

And on top, I think it is not difficult to get his role. You dont play well enough, you have not the required fitness level (ETH even said so earlier), so you play in the EL and as a sub in the PL. What is the issue with not getting that?

 

[city-puma]

And on top, I think it is not difficult to get his role. You dont play well enough, you have not the required fitness level (ETH even said so earlier), so you play in the EL and as a sub in the PL. What is the issue with not getting that?

This is spot on. Most people here feel extremely irritated by Ronaldo’s behavior in that incidence and the other incidences since coming back. Everyone understands why he did so in some extent, but most condemn it, and rightly so.

 

[youngrell]

You made your bed, you fecking lie in it, mate.

I can’t think of any other player who would decide to skip pre-season with a brand new manager, spend the summer shopping himself around Europe (only to be rejected by anyone with a pulse) and still return expecting to play every match even when he’s not the best option for the team. All this at 37! Completely delusional.

And Rio can feck off trying to undermine the one manager who seems like he may get us back to the top just to please his old mate.

 

[dabronxolivera]

Cristiano is one of those rare footballers that make the history books. I don't think it would be too hard for ETH not to provoke him by ordering him to warm up for half the game only to ridicule him in the final minute by asking him to come in. Also against City, 4-0 down and not letting him in shows that ETH is not treating him respectfully. That said, Ronaldo is also at fault with his reaction but yes some players are indeed entitled to have demands. 5 Ballon d'or, record top scorer at club and international level, the only Ballon d’or winner from the PL in my lifetime, and countless individual records does create a rightful sense of entitlement. Let alone the fact that it's in this United forward line that he demands some play time and not City.

Cristiano is a big part of our history and as a Utd fan I adore the man. The thing that baffles me about this whole saga is why didn’t they just let Ronaldo leave in the summer when he wanted??

I still think Cristiano can score goals for this team, especially given the current forward line which is struggling bigtime to make an impact. Defenders are snuffing them out too easily. Rashford and Sancho are still far from the mark of what they should be. Martial is always injured. I think the best utilisation for Cristiano would be to say to him we are going to play pressing football by default and you don't have the legs to do that anymore but we need you for a very dangerous plan B where when we are struggling to break a team down we completely switch to a long ball counter attack style of play with you getting on the end of balls against tired defenders. Cristiano would have scored the chances Rashford squandered against Newcastle and Chelsea.

Like he scored that double hattrick versus teams from Cyprus and Moldova when the team intentionally fed him thousand of chances ? I must have missed these matches where he played well and scored. Anyway he was allowed to leave but there were no CL clubs that would touch him with a barge pole. The only offer was from a Saudi Arabian team. Even some teams (Marseille, Atleti, Bayern) came out to deny these rumours

 

[Strelok]

Which also means that the only way you can construe this as ‘Ronaldo not allowed to leave’, is if you think that Ronaldo is forced against his will to demand 500k a week, or 400k, or 300k, or 200k. Poor sod. Wish somebody forced me to demand that much (and then gave it to me).

Tbf imo football wise you'd be totally deserved that 500k a week. And even much better that you won't ever be a noisy dick and disrespect the manager, the team, the club and the fans.

All you would need to do is standing there scratching your balls then occasionally run a bit, exchange a few 5 yards meaningless passes you could even feck up those passes and it's still ok. Then make some random runs toward the goalie in which you'd never catch the ball even if someone passes it to you. It'd be still fine. Come on how hard is that? I don't even know your age but as long as you still can move a bit you could definitely do all that I reckon.