The comprehensive Ronaldo thread

Was never a great dribbler possible exception of 06/07. Pace, power, incredible heading ability, intelligent off the ball movement and an insatiable drive have always been his biggest strengths. The knee injury may have been there but was never serious enough to derail his career, its an excuse used by fanboys for his failure at Brazil 2014 and him gradually becoming a poacher since 2015/16. For comparison, the likes of Messi, Neymar have had more serious injuries but never became poachers.

Yeah I'm not sure there was any stark difference between his dribbling from pre 2014 to afterwards.

In 2013-14, he had 92 successful dribbles Vs Messi's 169.
The next season, he had 79 dribbles Vs Messi's 266.

It isn't as if he was am out of the world dribbler. He was in single digits year-in and year-out.
 
On the other hand, I do think Ronaldo geniunely loves Ferguson because of their relationship and Fergie treating him well.
Agree. Always spoke about him with respect, even to Morgan. Also at Euro 2016 if I am not wrong Ferguson was there and both Ronaldo or Nani treated him with respect.
 
Yeah I'm not sure there was any stark difference between his dribbling from pre 2014 to afterwards.

In 2013-14, he had 92 successful dribbles Vs Messi's 169.
The next season, he had 79 dribbles Vs Messi's 266.

It isn't as if he was am out of the world dribbler. He was in single digits year-in and year-out.
He was a kick and run merchant which really shows now that he can't use his crazy acceleration and pace anymore.
 

All those clips show is speed. Look at how someone who didn't have amazing speed dribbled to someone that did. He couldn't even beat Cremonese and Lecce defenders 1v1 that's how reliant he was on pace when dribbling.
 
All those clips show is speed. Look at how someone who didn't have amazing speed dribbled to someone that did. He couldn't even beat Cremonese and Lecce defenders 1v1 that's how reliant he was on pace when dribbling.
Speed and dribbling. I saw him playing live for Sporting and Portugal Youth NT's. Sure he did it using speed, but he had nothing to do with the player from 2015/16 who even showed some loss of agility and loss of good relation with the ball more turned into a finisher.
 
Speed and dribbling. I saw him playing live for Sporting and Portugal Youth NT's. Sure he did it using speed, but he had nothing to do with the player from 2015/16 who even showed some loss of agility and loss of good relation with the ball more turned into a finisher.
He used to showboat a lot as a youngster and used all sorts of skills but as older as he got the less he used those skills because he realized he could simply outpace defenders.
 
Have a strong feeling that binning this twat will improve us a hell of a lot.
I'm stoked to see how Rashford and Martial do in the next few weeks without him. We've kept bringing players in to "'help them grow" or to add goals up front. I think we should see where it takes us until the summer
 
He used to showboat a lot as a youngster and used all sorts of skills but as older as he got the less he used those skills because he realized he could simply outpace defenders.

Yeah by 2017, he was completing a shockingly low 40 dribbles in a season. He just didn't have that in his repertoire anymore.
 
He was a kick and run merchant which really shows now that he can't use his crazy acceleration and pace anymore.
Not really. His dribbling was largely predicated on great agility/turning speed, balance and leg speed/reactions. His pace and acceleration didn't go away in his 30s, the rest did and he stopped being dangerous as a dribbler. The last season Cristiano was even remotely a dribbler was 13/14

Btw, lateral quickness, explosiveness, balance and reactions are common to every great dribbler ever. Messi also was heavily reliant on those, and still is when dribbles. He's just more naturally gifted physically for it, thanks to his height, so even as those declined, they still remained at a high enough level to still be an effective dribbler
 
So is he finally off to the Middle East after every CL team turned him down?
Keano and Rio need to advise them all based on their superior understanding of football and conversational man-management, as all these CL clubs are clearly just as clueless as EtH
 
Have a strong feeling that binning this twat will improve us a hell of a lot.
SCP? Harsh, he might stink the place up every now and then but we don't play any better without him. Besides, we're only the world famous Redcafe because of him popularising us.
 
Not really. His dribbling was largely predicated on great agility/turning speed, balance and leg speed/reactions. His pace and acceleration didn't go away in his 30s, the rest did and he stopped being dangerous as a dribbler. The last season Cristiano was even remotely a dribbler was 13/14

Btw, lateral quickness, explosiveness, balance and reactions are common to every great dribbler ever. Messi also was heavily reliant on those, and still is when dribbles. He's just more naturally gifted physically for it, thanks to his height, so even as those declined, they still remained at a high enough level to still be an effective dribbler

That's true, the thing that Ronaldo lost relatively early is agility and also his first touch went from spotless to a bit more "normal". But he compensated with great movement and far better positioning than your average top player.
 
That's true, the thing that Ronaldo lost relatively early is agility and also his first touch went from spotless to a bit more "normal". But he compensated with great movement and far better positioning than your average top player.
As an athlete he deserves so much credit for how he reinvented himself as an off ball box monster once his on ball abilities went away, mantaining a still very high level of impact
 
As an athlete he deserves so much credit for how he reinvented himself as an off ball box monster once his on ball abilities went away, mantaining a still very high level of impact

He really does. It's genuinely amazing because he had to work very hard on it during what is generally players' prime. It's the kind of topic that should be talked about during his interviews, how and why he decided to change that much, what was the process.
 
As an athlete he deserves so much credit for how he reinvented himself as an off ball box monster once his on ball abilities went away, mantaining a still very high level of impact
As a person and ambassador for football he deserves so much stick for how he's conducted himself lately. Absolute horrorshow!
 
The red line for me that Ronaldo crossed wasn’t even the fact of the Piers Morgan interview itself to force the contract termination, but the slander of Erik ten Hag. If Ronaldo were factually correct in his criticism of Ronaldo all we’d have as criticism is that this sort of thing should be kept within the club. But in fact, and I’m calling it a fact, is that ETH was very accommodating to Ronaldo in response to the death of Ronaldo’s child and his performances once he returned to the squad. There was no “disrespect” whatsoever. It could be argued that ETH showed Ronaldo too much respect.
 
As an athlete he deserves so much credit for how he reinvented himself as an off ball box monster once his on ball abilities went away, mantaining a still very high level of impact
It’s not talked about enough, a chronic knee injury causes him to completely change his style of play and yet he maintains his incredible G/A output.
 
I recall his dribbling declining at United. There was a moment in a United game against Everton - I think the 4-2 away game where Eagles scored, C.Ronaldo went 1v1 with the keeper.. didn’t even try to take it round him, he just stopped and fake shimmied away
 
I've had the feeling for a while now that most of his fans are attracted to his personality and drive more than his footballing skills. He is an inspiration to a lot of people in terms of his dedication and single mindedness. I'd even say his recent association with the likes of Piers Morgan and Jordan Petersen add to that. He represents a mindset or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. Because you rarely hear people marvel at a piece of his skill or move he made, it's usually about his mentality and drive and the sheer force of will that made him force his way through the conversation with the greats. That's obviously not to say he has no talent, you can't be where he is without it but my perception at least is that relatively speaking, he has been celebrated for efficiency rather than aesthetics much more than most Balon d'Or winners.
 
I've had the feeling for a while now that most of his fans are attracted to his personality and drive more than his footballing skills. He is an inspiration to a lot of people in terms of his dedication and single mindedness. I'd even say his recent association with the likes of Piers Morgan and Jordan Petersen add to that. He represents a mindset or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. Because you rarely hear people marvel at a piece of his skill or move he made, it's usually about his mentality and drive and the sheer force of will that made him force his way through the conversation with the greats. That's obviously not to say he has no talent, you can't be where he is without it but my perception at least is that relatively speaking, he has been celebrated for efficiency rather than aesthetics much more than most Balon d'Or winners.

Spot on.
 
He had to change his game from 2014 due to chronic knee issues which was made worse by choosing to play at the World Cup. It’s become a myth among United fans that he peaked in 08/09 when he has surpassed the output in that season multiple times at Madrid before 2014. His 2013-2014 season was insane, he was the complete forward capable of scoring any type of goal.

By his standards, it was. But it's been bettered several times. His output in 2014 was 65 goal contributions. And had 14 MOTM awards.

For comparison's sake, Messi's output was the following for the seasons below:

2010-2011: 76 goal contribution (29 MOTM)
2011-2012: 103 goal contributions (32 MOTM)
2012-13: 75 goal contributions (24 MOTM)
2014-15: 85 goal contributions (34 MOTM)
2016-17: 70 goal contributions (18 MOTM)
2018-19: 70 goal contributions (24 MOTM)

And Messi has 65 goal contributions in 2022 as a 35 year old, including leading Argentina to the World Cup and winning the golden ball in the process.

Luis Saurez's 2015-16 output was obviously much higher as well as he got 59 goals and 24 assists for a total 83 goal contributions.
 
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He was a kick and run merchant which really shows now that he can't use his crazy acceleration and pace anymore.
That's not the correct description for young Ronaldo. More like description on Bale.

Ronaldo always has quick feet and full bags of tricks during his younger years. He was an electrifying/pacy trickster who likes to dribble alot during his youngster years. Its just that over the years he has slowly trimming those dribbling and tricks and turn into more of an all action attacker/goalscorer, while building up more muscle mass for better athleticism/strength, at the expense of less agility in dribbling.

He still does tricks and dribble at Real Madrid, but in a more direct/efficient sense, such as doing a "Ronaldo Chop" at the edge of the box which often open up spaces for him to shoot on goal.

His dribbling tricks:


Ronaldo Chop:
 
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I recall his dribbling declining at United. There was a moment in a United game against Everton - I think the 4-2 away game where Eagles scored, C.Ronaldo went 1v1 with the keeper.. didn’t even try to take it round him, he just stopped and fake shimmied away
Yeah declined visibly over the 9 weeks after he ran through Fulham and scored a last minute goal for a win.
 
This guy was never on messi's level, more on the Lewadonski level

Everything ronaldo could do Messi could do and more

 
I've had the feeling for a while now that most of his fans are attracted to his personality and drive more than his footballing skills. He is an inspiration to a lot of people in terms of his dedication and single mindedness. I'd even say his recent association with the likes of Piers Morgan and Jordan Petersen add to that. He represents a mindset or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. Because you rarely hear people marvel at a piece of his skill or move he made, it's usually about his mentality and drive and the sheer force of will that made him force his way through the conversation with the greats. That's obviously not to say he has no talent, you can't be where he is without it but my perception at least is that relatively speaking, he has been celebrated for efficiency rather than aesthetics much more than most Balon d'Or winners.
For me it is exactly that.
 
I've had the feeling for a while now that most of his fans are attracted to his personality and drive more than his footballing skills. He is an inspiration to a lot of people in terms of his dedication and single mindedness. I'd even say his recent association with the likes of Piers Morgan and Jordan Petersen add to that. He represents a mindset or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. Because you rarely hear people marvel at a piece of his skill or move he made, it's usually about his mentality and drive and the sheer force of will that made him force his way through the conversation with the greats. That's obviously not to say he has no talent, you can't be where he is without it but my perception at least is that relatively speaking, he has been celebrated for efficiency rather than aesthetics much more than most Balon d'Or winners.

I think for many it was always more about the story than about the football. Cristiano had this Rocky Balboa narrative that many loved. Messi's career was too straight forward for a long time and now gained a nice little climax at the end. I read an article a while ago that compared the Argentinian worship of Maradona to the Brazilian worship of Pelé which is less emotional and intense. The article blamed it on Pelé having basically no rough edges, being so professional and ideal that few could relate with him while Maradona was a man of the people with lots of flaws. People can relate with the latter far more. Messi in that sense with his quiet personality, linear career and discreet private life was more like Pelé and while Cristiano is pretty much the antithesis of Maradona in many points, he had this American dream narrative going for him as the "less talented" individual. I think what changed the minds of many people now is actually not that Messi proved to be the superior footballer but that he now has a relatable narrative going for him as well with his failures with Argentina, going through hard times and overcoming the obstacles to succeed at the very end.

Think this shows perfectly well how irrational we really are in our judgments.
 
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I think for many it was always more about the story than about the football. Cristiano had this Rocky Balboa narrative that many loved. Messi's career was too straight forward for a long time and now gained a nice little climax at the end. I read an article a while ago that compared the Argentinian worship of Maradona to the Brazilian worship of Pelé which is less emotional and intense. The article blamed it on Pelé having basically no rough edges, being so professional and ideal that few could relate with him while Maradona was a man of the people with lots of flaws. People can relate with the latter far more. Messi in that sense with his quiet personality, linear career and discreet private life was more like Pelé and while Cristiano is pretty much the antithesis of Maradona in many points, he had this American dream narrative going for him as the "less talented" individual. I think what changed the minds of many people now is actually not that Messi proved to be the superior footballer but that he now has a relatable narrative going for him as well with his failures with Argentina, going through hard times and overcoming the obstacles to succeed at the very end.

Think this shows perfectly well how irrational we really are in our judgments.
Very true. It is also the reason that Tiger Woods became more beloved after his affairs and injury problems than when he was just winning everything with a seemingly flawless family life.

Maradona has another element to his character though. It isn't just a case of being revered for his faults- it is a case of "if he was that good with his faults, imagine how incredible he'd be if he didn't have those faults". It's similar to Ronaldo Fenomeno, Gazza, and George Best. We all like the idea of working relentlessly like Cristiano, but we also admire the idea of fecking around and still being brilliant because that's also kinda inspiring in its own way!
 
I've had the feeling for a while now that most of his fans are attracted to his personality and drive more than his footballing skills. He is an inspiration to a lot of people in terms of his dedication and single mindedness. I'd even say his recent association with the likes of Piers Morgan and Jordan Petersen add to that. He represents a mindset or lifestyle or whatever you want to call it. Because you rarely hear people marvel at a piece of his skill or move he made, it's usually about his mentality and drive and the sheer force of will that made him force his way through the conversation with the greats. That's obviously not to say he has no talent, you can't be where he is without it but my perception at least is that relatively speaking, he has been celebrated for efficiency rather than aesthetics much more than most Balon d'Or winners.

Aesthetic matters, but let's not fool ourselves...aesthetics should be combined with efficiency or consistency(like Messi), which is why Ronaldinho or R9 aren't considered GOATs.

For example, between both talented players like Platini and Zidane, I'd chose Platini cause he was more efficient and more consistent than Zidane, Zidane might have been more aesthetic, but that itself doesn't make him a better player than Platini IMO.

There are many ways to become a great player, being aesthetically great to watch isn't the only one.
Just like there are many ways to attract women, being handsome isn't the only one, if it was (with all due respect) most people on this forum wouldn't have born, including me, as i doubt everyone has/had a very handsome father, plus many female models aren't dating precisely the most attractive men out there.

I love aesthetics in football, but let's not underrate efficiency and consistency, if Messi had the inconsistency of Maradona he would have been way less successful at club level.
 
He really does. It's genuinely amazing because he had to work very hard on it during what is generally players' prime. It's the kind of topic that should be talked about during his interviews, how and why he decided to change that much, what was the process.
He actually did talk about that in an interview but it was so much bs. Claimed he hadn't lost ability but rather made a conscious decision to focus entirely on goals to the exclusion of the rest because those were the most important thing. Which is true enough, but also, he scored more goals back when he was still an on ball wizard as well, so yeah :lol:
As a person and ambassador for football he deserves so much stick for how he's conducted himself lately. Absolute horrorshow!
As a person, I believe Kathryn Mayorga
It’s not talked about enough, a chronic knee injury causes him to completely change his style of play and yet he maintains his incredible G/A output.
Eh, age more than the chronic knee issue