As an outsider I don't think your discussion has ever been about "who was the better player".
The comprehensive Ronaldo thread
- Thread starter Red the Bear
- Start date
Good point.
I think he knows, he just equates scoring more goals/ being a better player/ winning more trophies to having more memorable moments for a club. I doubt he would change his position on the definition anyway.
Legend of the game
Peak Ronaldo was a better player than Cantona but we had to put up with 3/4 years of pointless stepovers, theatrical diving, running down blind alleys, and bleached spaghetti hairstyles before he started to be a player who could actually contribute the way the man he replaced (Becks) did. Cantona strolled in to OT and was incredible straight off the bat. That makes a difference to the perception.
The other thing is that, contrary to what his fanbois seem to believe, Ronaldo is a charisma vacuum. Cantona was possibly the most charismatic player I've ever seen. Eric was cool, Ronaldo is cringeworthy. Again, that makes a huge difference in how they are perceived.
Ultimately, Cantona gave his best years to our club and retired on top when he felt that he could no longer maintain his standards. Ronaldo claimed he was a slave to engineer a move away from our club and then rejoined us just in time for him to do the footballing equivalent of shitting his pants publicly and then blamed his manager and teammates for it. One is the among the most legendary of our legends, the other is just one contributor of many to a successful period under our greatest manager.
You don't have a message. You've just been posting based on what's seemingly poor reading comprehension:
- You thought saying Ronaldo was the catalyst to our most dominant period in the modern era <- direct quote - meant "acting like we never won before or after him"
- You seemingly thought a 26 year old Cantona having an immediate effect was worthy of a victory lap over a 17/18 year old having to develop as a player
- You believed that being a catalyst as immediate impact as a prerequisite. You also seemingly equate catalyst to "pretending it was all Ronaldo" - newsflash, it was never "all Cantona" - thus me not answering your Evra, Vidic & VdS asinine gotcha attempts - unless you think Cantona was out there playing by himself. Odd.
- Why are you telling me about 98 to 2001?
Again, random and odd- You operate under the assumption that stats happen in a vacuum, no legitimate effort to contextualise information and thought a direct comparison in output between a teenager, and non-starter, to a 22 year old Eden Hazard was a linear and smart thing to do.
I didn't attack you. I simply said I don't wish to engage with you further because I'm not getting anything out of this. This last post was at least amusing with unprovoked and random references to 98-01 United's trophy haul.
Expected him to walk down the tunnel while Portugal was still battering the Swiss.
Yeah we're done here. You keep moving the goalposts so there's really no point in continuing. It's pretty clear from the majority of responses here from actual United fans who they think the more iconic player was, and that's what your initial argument was before you serpentined into whatever this is. Like Ronaldo you can't stand to be wrong so you do you buddy.
Funny how people just hate, of course as for United Cantona could be considered the bigger legend. But saying "just one contributor" is ridiculous. Really I think at this point United fans are becoming a joke.
Without him United did not win that 2008 UCL and would have one less ballon d'or winner in their list. Ronaldo was the cherry on top that really elevate the club to the next level. Even in the marketing side it was Ronaldo that made United famous world wide and people started to follow United.
Criticize, no problem but stop being delusional about his achievements for the club
You might want to at least pretend to be respectful considering where you are. It's also just a stupid post, no less stupid than if I were to sign up on a Dortmund forum and say similar about their fans because I don't agree with their posts.
You know ball. You're putting up a clinic.
Expecting another interview with Piers Morgan soon.
Regarding trophy haul, we lost a league and fa cup down to Eric's absence
Erm...
Think he's got it backwards...bigly
Yes, no one knew who United were before CR7. In fact, they weren’t even well known in England.
Seriously these fanboys are something else
Seriously these fanboys are something else
Said something similar to this in the match thread for todays WC. To me it looks like a combination of both, he just looks like he's mentally not coping with it all coming to a head at once.
There is just no space for him in football anymore. Everyone is better off without him and I suspect he is fully aware of this... And is acting out accordingly.
I think I'd be giving such credit to Ferguson not Ronaldo.
Carried them where in the World Cup though? They hadn't been in the quarters since 2006, the three times he was main man they disappointed each time - group stage, last 16 twice. No knockout stage goals.
Not far off.
After the final whistle, the whole Portugal team went over to the Portuguese fans to celebrate while Ronaldo walked off to the dressing room on his own.
Once again trying to make it about himself after a great victory which doesn’t require him. He really needs to get over himself. So delighted he isn’t our problem anymore.
Can’t stand Ronaldo now but why did you rush to narrow the goalposts like this?
You do know who we signed Ronaldo to replace, right?
Strewth, I didn't even see that bit! United are one of the most commercial/marketed sports entities in the world (for better or for worse) and have been for the best part of 3 decades... breathtaking ignorance on display hereThey won a Euro for goodness sake and yes he may have got injured in the final but he got them there. They were also nowhere near as stacked as they are now...
I've been critical of Ronaldo since last season when there were only a few of us wanting Ronaldo dropped and trust me there were only few of us, we had the minority opinion on this forum at the time. However, like I said you can't fault his previous achievements and his previous level just because of his current level and because he's being a bit of a cnut.
This forum is weird, last season it was extreme backing of Ronaldo and fanboying now it's extreme hating and refusing to acknowledge the good he's done before and what kind of player he was before. It's like 2 complete extremes in here with no level headed thinking. Yes, he's not the same player anymore, yes he's going out sad, yes he's been a bit of a prat but he did carry Portugal to their only major trophy they've ever had and consistently got a team that weren't used to even qualifying for the world cup to the knockout stages of international tournaments. I'm not Portuguese but ask any Portuguese fan the change Ronaldo brought about to their national team.
It's easy to look decent when you're on top, but the moment age caught up with him all that professionalism went out of the window. He's always been a narcissist, but I thought he'd be smart enough to end his career with grace, but his ego is getting in the way.
Not going to even bother responding to the bolded for obvious reasons.
You also seem to forget that we replaced Ronaldo with Antonio Valencia and still won Premierships and even reached a CL final two years after he left....so yes, he was one contributor. He never "carried" us as we had an excellent team then.
He sure as hell didn’t carry them to the final of Euro 2016 though. So it’s not really relevant considering the original comment mentioned him “carrying Portugal”
Yeah because Ronaldo was born before 1878. The same thing applies to Barca, Messi was born before 1899 and once he played for Barca people started following Barca. Hence the quote Messi un da club.
The type of post only a clueless prat could write?
"Ronaldo made United famous world wide and people started to follow United" might be the absolutely dumbest and most inaccurate thing I've read on here, Jesus Christ you have to be a special kind of dumb to believe that.
Also depending on who they have in place of Ronaldo, United could've still won the CL in 08, Chelsea had a caretaker manager ffs, Barcelona were a year away from becoming an all time great team, City weren't a powerhouse and United still had players like VDS, Rio, Vidic, Evra, Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney and Tevez on the side, again special kind of dumb.
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He can't see it. He's spent his career proving people wrong. He thinks he'll do it again.
He should retire now before he becomes the sad old boxer or fat Elvis
I'd be really disappointed in him if I were one of those players. He did a controversial interview just before the WC that put all the focus on him, every press conference was about him, about how his teammates think of him, about his United future, and it shouldn't have been that way. It also added a lot of unnecessary pressure on him to do great, and I'm sure he's miserable at the moment and that doesn't help anyone. They deserve the focus to be on what they're doing on the pitch, instead it's all Ronaldo this and that. There was no need for him whatsoever to do that interview at that moment, he could've easily waited another month, but it was always about himself and that's it.
Amusing when Ronaldo has been the one to become a joke more than anyone this past month.
The issue is "carrying" though, played a role in them, I take issue with carrying it suggests a level of performance that simply didn't happen. Antoine Griezmann won player of the tournament in 2016, Ronaldo wasn't even in serious contention for it really. Carrying for me suggests Maradona in 1986 ie, taking a team on his back and being undoubtedly player of the tournament. You wouldn't say Griezmann carried France to the final, you wouldn't say Pepe carried Portugal to the Euros (maybe their best player in the tournament).
The second point, Portugal have had a stream of talent since the 1990s that was major tournament level, and they have it in abundance now after Ronaldo. Some of the best football I've seen in my lifetime from a Portugal team was Euro 2000 with Figo at his peak. Today they were brilliant. Portugal are just a good footballing nation.
That poster calling United fans a joke considering he's brought the house down in this thread with a laughable post like that... the ironing is delicious
