Don't rule out the psychological driver of proving Ronaldo wrong, a collective middle finger to him.
It could well be a very surprising season if we get a few new faces.
Ronaldo: Stay or go?
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Don't rule out the psychological driver of proving Ronaldo wrong, a collective middle finger to him.
It could well be a very surprising season if we get a few new faces.
This is a fair point. He had a long barren spell and didn't contribute much else during that period either in terms of creativity or work rate.
Why?
It didn't help that we had to overplay him in that period as Cavani was an utter dead loss, Rashford was working out if he still wants to be a footballer, and the massive shock Greenwood scenario.
Once we were back to reasonable margins between games, funnily enough he looked quality again.
Plus finished 3rd top scorer in the league even with all this going on!
Last season they managed 14 goals between them (Rashford 4, Bruno 10)
ETH is good but he’s not a miracle worker.
Last season was the exception rather than the norm. Your argument would stand if those 2 where the only ones who capitulated compared to the previous seasons. In reality the whole team was wank.
If we were to go by the previous seasons both Rashford and Bruno has show that they can contribute to 40 goals a season between them.
Totally agree with this.
While I don't necessarily think Ronaldo would have been a great fit in the Ten Hag system, thinking that our current players can somehow do better is pure fantasy land.
Since the Ronaldo news, Rashford seemingly has became a great player again in some peoples eyes and Bruno could be a main CF.
Where are we getting this utter nonsense from?
I‘m as optimistic as the next man, but there’s not a cat in hell’s chance those two will return 40 goals next season.
I think it's simple brave facing stuff, like we saw with Moyes coming in.
I'll never forget previously sane United fans trying to convince themselves bringing a middle of the road builder of war horse teams, who'd never won anything, coming in to follow the greatest ever manager in this country was clever.
Shivers.
The real detriment was we weren't allowed to rotate or even sub him during his down stretch. He got removed and there Ralf was having to justify his decision to a player that wasn't even playing well.
We need his goals, so i'd like to keep him for another season, in the vain hope that we can plan ahead of time and search for a replacement by the time his contract finishes.
Ive always been a Ronaldo fan but there is zero gain to keeping him if he wants to leave.
Even if we get nothing for him, an unhappy Ronaldo only keeps a large salary, ongoing media drama and dissent in the dressing room.
Im 100% sure Ten Hag will have already said get rid now.
Even if we get nothing for him, an unhappy Ronaldo only keeps a large salary, ongoing media drama and dissent in the dressing room.
Im 100% sure Ten Hag will have already said get rid now.
I love how y'all forget we literally had nobody either fit nor in form to play instead of him a large stretch, over playing a player his age. then we even lost greenwood to make it worst
Nah, that's not why we wouldn't sub him. If I'm not mistaking that one game we subbed Ronaldo his replacement scored. The one time we subbed him it paid off but he threw a strop and basically made it the last. Having to start every game on bad form was bad enough but having to finish every game was too much.
I guess he has asked for a transfer, and the club rightly said no. Maybe he will do a u turn and give us a good season.
Let's be real, stranger things have happened in football.
I'm not saying 100% they will score 40 goals between them. But if someone told me that Chelsea would have won the title after their relegation battle in the season prior after Conte got hired, I would have definitely laughed it off.
So never say never
Actually this is not even a wild prediction. Together they scored 29 goals in 2020-21 season. There is no reason why they can’t add 6 each in a more cohesive team.
I don't feel Ronaldo is actively seeking to move. He's testing the waters whilst putting ALOT of pressure on the board to show ambition and back Ten Hag.
If they don't CR7 walks.
If they don't CR7 walks.
I don't think this is true at all. He wants to play in the CL. He's played in it in every single season of his career and is obsessed by it.
If we had finished 4th but still been miles off the top two he'd stay. The CL is all he cares about and extending his goals record.
Not even close.
He's finished in any team where the maager wants to press from the front.
He’s pushed it too far now. He will be shocked that nobody wants him.
He'll go as his ego has taken a huge hit in missing out on playing in Europe's leading cup competition.
While we will miss his goals he isn't a player who will naturally slot into a side that plays a high pressing game and I assume that this is the plan. So probably best he moves on and frees up his huge salary.
And he is 37 so he hasn't got long left. Seems natural that he would want one more chance at the CL.
And he is 37 so he hasn't got long left. Seems natural that he would want one more chance at the CL.
He’s undoubtedly been our best player last season, I think he did better then anticipated. I think Bruno suffered because of it but at the same time he was like the rest of the team having to many bad games. Ronaldo demands a high level from he’s team mates and rightly so as he’s putting in 100% so so should everyone else, but we have a bunch of sulks who want an easy life and high wages. We need Ronaldo to be happy at the club because just like he has a positive effect if he’s unhappy he’ll have a negative effect and our players will jump on that bandwagon regardless of who the manger is. Due to CL I can see him leaving and I wouldn’t have any problem with that.
My guess is that ETH has already told Ronaldo he won't stand in hIs way, if indeed Ronaldo has asked to go and is serious. I'd be happy with that.
Another big issue was his tendency to throw strops when he was brought off. None of that can be good for anyone.
Poster at the top nailed it, a couple of hat tricks and a couple of other goals at the end of the season have completely skewed people’s perception of his season overall, which wasn’t particularly good. And for the life of me I just can’t get my head around so many people wilfully ignoring the previous season where the team functioned far better as a unit before he re-signed and it became the Ronaldo show. But the strops, the hissy fits and the way he would gesture to other younger players can’t have been good for those players or the side overall.
Despite comments on here, I actually think both Rashford and Bruno are capable of 20 goals each next season, we just need to get FDJ over the line and those other quality midfielders/defenders we're linked with brought in and maybe Antony or Gnabry...
Here are the last ten champions league winners
21/22 - real Madrid
20-21 - Chelsea
19-20 - bayern Munich
15/16-16/17-17/18 - real Madrid
14-15 - barca
13-14 - real Madrid
12/13 - bayern Munich
11/12 - Chelsea
With the two Chelsea sides as exceptions every other side has had a player score more than 20 goals. And with the exception of them and bayern 2013 every other title winning side has had a player score more than 40 goals.
So no, the days of a player scoring lots of goals in a winning side is far from over
I'm glad you repressed the events of 2019
If CR is going to be around for the next 5 seasons, then of course keep him at any cost, but is he? If we were 2nd or 3rd last season, then continuity of momentum is important, but do we have any momentum, or rather a season to forget?
The question of replacement is going to surface EVERY summer, what is the difference if we let him go now? I only ask for quick decision then go for a decent replacement, the last thing we want is someone going on strike in late Aug, week before closing window.
The question of replacement is going to surface EVERY summer, what is the difference if we let him go now? I only ask for quick decision then go for a decent replacement, the last thing we want is someone going on strike in late Aug, week before closing window.
Yep didn't happen same with the 2019/20 PL season
Obviously he scored goals, and indeed was basically the only player that did. I could be wrong but I feel that his arrival did disturb the admittedly fragile equilibrium in the team: I really don’t think his presence here was an unambiguous blessing. His departure will doubtless cause some short term difficulties, but I think that in the longer term it is a good thing. I’d still like the team to be built on younger, hungrier players who grow into a team together over the next couple of seasons. With ETH here, this is a real possibility at last.
In short term (next season) we can’t afford to let him go, as we simply can’t get any good goalscorer with our remaining budget this summer.
In longer term though (1-2 years from now), we will need to find another striker anyway who would suit ETH system more, it’s something we will have to do eventually. Ideally it would be someone who is more fluid in attack and would press more. I am thing of Nkunku, who won’t be available until next summer.
But if he really had to go now, we may have to lower our expectations next season, and get someone to rotate with Rashford/Martial for no.9 role. Moving Bruno to false 9 could be one option, as he has been more of end products type of player, rather than someone who would contribute in build up play.
In longer term though (1-2 years from now), we will need to find another striker anyway who would suit ETH system more, it’s something we will have to do eventually. Ideally it would be someone who is more fluid in attack and would press more. I am thing of Nkunku, who won’t be available until next summer.
But if he really had to go now, we may have to lower our expectations next season, and get someone to rotate with Rashford/Martial for no.9 role. Moving Bruno to false 9 could be one option, as he has been more of end products type of player, rather than someone who would contribute in build up play.
Juventus didn’t really have any success in doing so. We are in deeper mess than them.
If he lower his wage demand, a lot of clubs would be in for him.
But of course, with his wage demand, I doubt he would have many interested suitors for him.
I reckon it's a bit of both. The fact that we aren't in the Champions League isn't ideal for him (and knowing his ego he probably feels Europa is beneath him), but judging from the timing of this if it's the only reason he would have made some noise as soon as it became clear that we weren't finishing fourth. Given the utter shambles last season he also wanted to see if we're showing ambition in the transfer market and I doubt any of these would come out if we had signed two or three players by now.
I doubt so, not because of their recent poor form, but because they are not ETH type of players in any stretch. In 20-21 season, they are playing under football style which suit them most, counter attack football. it’s not hard to imagine why because Bruno can easily pick up the likes of Rashford during counter attack, while Rashford can have more space to attack with his pace.
ETH only plays possession football, something which is totally different, and doesn’t really suit their strength at all. They always struggle in the past to break down defence which sits deep, which is mostly what we would be facing under ETH.
Definitely.
Though the reason he went to only playing one game a week was because that’s all the games we had, having only got the league left.
Next season we’re going to start off with a much busier schedule. If Ronnie’s going to sulk and throw tantrums if his game time is (rightly) managed then we’re probably better off without him.
Our attack is much easier to read with Ronaldo because everyone tries to set him up.
It’s why our counter attacking play under Ole got its worst with Ronaldo in the team because the counter attack didn’t involve 4 possible forwards but mostly just 1.
It’s why our counter attacking play under Ole got its worst with Ronaldo in the team because the counter attack didn’t involve 4 possible forwards but mostly just 1.
Saying no has never stopped him.
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