The comprehensive Ronaldo thread

Mr Pigeon said:
It's great that Ronaldo scored 42 goals in a season and it's great you keep mentioning it but it's not relevant to this discussion because;

1) a goal doesn't equal a memorable or standout/important moment.
2) Ronaldo was the main attacking outlet for the team during that season, Cantona was a second striker. Goals weren't the only thing he did, as shown by him being top assister in the league twice. Comparison of goals scored is useless. Which is good because this was about player impact for the entire team.

You're right that Ronaldo scored a shit load of goals during our League and CL season, the CL being the one thing Ronaldo has over Cantona from a team perspective (since I as a United fan am looking for United moments and not how many Balloon Doors a player has to their name). Being a better player also doesn't mean they provided better moments. They're two completely different identifiers. Pure moments are subjective and depend on how much you actually saw both play. But since you're focused on numbers let's start with those...

Worth pointing out that Ronaldo has three league titles, Cantona four, and Ronaldo has one FA Cup, Cantona two.

Cantona also scored more match winners than Ronaldo. 16 match winning goals for United compared to 13 for Ronnie. Even taking anecdotal opinions and memories from people who actually saw both of them perform and sticking to the raw numbers doesn't do much for Ronaldo at United.

But the CL, the club honour Ronaldo has that Cantona doesn't. I remember it well. I remember his great header in the first half, and a couple of crosses before he became invisible for the rest of the game - barely got into the box and jogged around. Then he bottled his penalty. If Terry hadn't slipped we would have lost that game. Van Der Sat won Man of the Match.

To say Ronaldo was more talismanic than Cantona is just bizarre.
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Nail on the head with the last line
 
I've been watching the game on austrian public TV. Portugal score left and right as the comentator resumes: "They (Portugal) let Ronaldo starve up front. But he won't care today."

Not even our sport commentators are fit for a world cup :rolleyes:
 
Bobski said:
The thing is, had he accepted the reality of time and his decline, adapted to a different role, shown some grace and humility, people would have loved him even more for it.
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His fanbois can't see that. He never had the technique and ball control of someone like Ibra to play as a target man. Again, he relied a lot on his pace.
 
You can just see him scoring the winning pen in the final and the mental gymnastics as he calculates where he should position himself in the line of takers to achieve that feat! I’d say he’d want to assess and give his answer after each kick!
 
SportingCP96 said:
If he plays zero minuted and Portugal in the World Cup I’m sure he would be the happiest man in the world, people who honestly think he wants Portugal to lose have not got a clue
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Would he fuck!
 
Let’s buy this Ramos guy, he seems to be a good replacement for Ronaldo !
 
Mr Pigeon said:
It's great that Ronaldo scored 42 goals in a season and it's great you keep mentioning it but it's not relevant to this discussion because;

1) a goal alone doesn't equal a memorable or standout/important moment.
2) Ronaldo was the main attacking outlet for the team during that season, Cantona was a second striker. Goals weren't the only thing he did, as shown by him being top assister in the league twice. Comparison of goals scored is useless. Which is good because this was about player impact for the entire team.

You're right that Ronaldo scored a shit load of goals during our League and CL season, the CL being the one thing Ronaldo has over Cantona from a team perspective (since I as a United fan am looking for United moments and not how many Balloon Doors a player has to their name). Being a better player also doesn't mean they provided better moments. They're two completely different identifiers. Pure moments are subjective and depend on how much you actually saw both play. But since you're focused on numbers let's start with those...

Worth pointing out that Ronaldo has three league titles, Cantona four, and Ronaldo has one FA Cup, Cantona two.

Cantona also scored more match winners than Ronaldo. 16 match winning goals for United compared to 13 for Ronnie. A reminder again that Cantona was a second striker and played less seasons than Ronaldo.

Even ignoring anecdotal opinions and memories from people who actually saw both of them perform and sticking to the raw numbers doesn't do much for Ronaldo at United.

But the CL, the club honour Ronaldo has that Cantona doesn't. I remember it well. I remember his great header in the first half, and a couple of crosses before he became invisible for the rest of the game - barely got into the box and jogged around. Then he bottled his penalty. If Terry hadn't slipped we would have lost that game. Van Der Sar won Man of the Match.

To say Ronaldo was more talismanic than Cantona is just bizarre.
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As a slight aside, even my bitterest of blue mates had a begrudging soft spot for Cantona. The man was an icon in every single way.
 
He just can't handle not being the man anymore, in a way you have to feel sorry for him while acknowledging he has always been a bit of a cnut.
 
RedRonaldo said:
Objectively speaking, anyone who won 5 Ballon D’ors (+ another 6 times as runners up) will be in conversation.
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That's fair and true. 5 Ballon D'or can't be ignored and it'd be ridiculous for me sitting here and pretending otherwise. I stand corrected.
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
He obviously went back to dressing room to prepare his motivational speech for team, he is the captain. He has not time to celebrate
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I heard that he was rushing back to light the candles on the cake he had baked them all as a thank you for all their hard work.

It's a double sphered cake. One sphere is a football, the other is his head. They're both clearly making contact.
 
I’d put Cantonas input when he first joined in 92/93 but especially the 93/94 and95/96 seasons above pretty much any player including Ronaldo

I also see Cantona as the final and most important piece of the jigsaw (not including Ferguson) that sky rocketed Utd to become one of the biggest clubs in the world over the last 30 years.
 
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Reditus said:
I’d put Cantonas input when he first joined in 92/93 but especially the 93/94 and95/96 seasons above pretty much any player including Ronaldo

I also see Cantona as the final and most important piece of the jigsaw (not including Ferguson) that sky rocketed Utd to become one of the biggest clubs in the world over the last 30 years.
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Exactly. His transfer made United what it is. To claim Ronaldo gave us more memorable moments than Cantona is a blasphemy.
 
Aside from all the bitterness and the fact that he is a total prat, I wonder if his mental health is going to be ok with this kind of end to his career. He's been the star of every club he's been at since around 2006 and I don't think he's the kind of guy that copes well with being ignored or criticized.
 
It's really sad how the interviewers are just asking about Ronaldo. Ramos was asked if he talked with Ronaldo after replacing him and he just said: "Of course I talked with the whole team and also with him, he is the captain."
Santos was also asked about Ronaldo beeing dropped and basically left the interview after saying they played great. Both looked clearly annoyed. Give the guys on the pitch and the manager some credit ffs. How often do you score a hattrick at a World Cup, especially at the KO stages.

I don't see how anyone can enjoy playing with Ronaldo and I am fecking happy that he isn't our problem anymore. We could probably win the CL or the PL and people wouldn't shut up about Ronaldo sitting on the bench and making sad faces.
 
Pronewbie said:
Wasn't it his compatriots chanting for him? I clearly heard ho-nal-du.
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I might be wrong, but I think that's how his name is pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese; doesn't the Portuguese from Portugal use a harder, more traditional 'R' sound? Any insights resident Portuguese posters?
 
Irwin99 said:
Aside from all the bitterness and the fact that he is a total prat, I wonder if his mental health is going to be ok with this kind of end to his career. He's been the star of every club he's been at since around 2006 and I don't think he's the kind of guy that copes well with being ignored or criticized.
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I think that interview with Piers Morgan gives us some insight into his coping skills. I think it will only get worse and more embarrassing for him.
 
What a complete car crash of a career end.

It's actually embarrassing for him at this point. He Can't handle not been top man anymore.
 
Pyroblazer said:
Santos was also asked about Ronaldo beeing dropped and basically left the interview after saying they played great. Both looked clearly annoyed. Give the guys on the pitch and the manager some credit ffs. How often do you score a hattrick at a World Cup, especially at the KO stages.

I don't see how anyone can enjoy playing with Ronaldo and I am fecking happy that he isn't our problem anymore. We could probably win the CL or the PL and people wouldn't shut up about Ronaldo sitting on the bench and making sad faces.
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This whole thing has been/is a complete nuisance to them and both Santos and EtH at United have really tried to not let it get to them but it's impossible.
 
Pyroblazer said:
It's really sad how the interviewers are just asking about Ronaldo. Ramos was asked if he talked with Ronaldo after replacing him and he just said: "Of course I talked with the whole team and also with him, he is the captain."
Santos was also asked about Ronaldo beeing dropped and basically left the interview after saying they played great. Both looked clearly annoyed. Give the guys on the pitch and the manager some credit ffs. How often do you score a hattrick at a World Cup, especially at the KO stages.

I don't see how anyone can enjoy playing with Ronaldo and I am fecking happy that he isn't our problem anymore. We could probably win the CL or the PL and people wouldn't shut up about Ronaldo sitting on the bench and making sad faces.
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Great point you made there. Obviously, Ronaldo is only part of problem, the other is idiotic piece of his fanbase that somehow makes it all about him.

Portugal won EURO 2016 and somehow it was more about Ronaldo cheering the team on from bench than about Eder and the rest of the guys on the pitch.
 
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