I still went and put him in my FPL team but it’s become abundantly clear we are a far worse team with Ronaldo. We finally clicked and got in teams faces and made near post runs and pressed with Cavani and now they are back to sauntering around looking at each other to pull something out of the bag to save the day. The whole not that arsed/ it’s not my fault body language. It stinks. I fecking hate watching us getting out worked and out fought by worse teams than us. Ronaldos wages are probably more than the whole front 3 of Leicester combined. I know who is getting the value there.
Unpopular opinion: Ronaldo will be a huge miss
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I still went and put him in my FPL team but it’s become abundantly clear we are a far worse team with Ronaldo. We finally clicked and got in teams faces and made near post runs and pressed with Cavani and now they are back to sauntering around looking at each other to pull something out of the bag to save the day. The whole not that arsed/ it’s not my fault body language. It stinks. I fecking hate watching us getting out worked and out fought by worse teams than us. Ronaldos wages are probably more than the whole front 3 of Leicester combined. I know who is getting the value there.
If bringing in Ronaldo hastens Ole's sacking then it can't really ever be a miss.
Nah. He won't be the next managers problem. He will be angling for a move away come summer transfer window. He can't stand not winning
That‘s assuming Ole remains our manager until next summer.
Ronaldo at his age is still a force, but has to used properly. That's a problem, because we a Ole. With Ronaldo you will not be able to press, running is not your friend. Pin your opponent down, move the ball quickly and bring the ball into box. CR7 will do the rest. But he will not give you defence or any work rate to press all the time.
Ole has no idea how to use this team, so he has not idea, how to use Ronaldo.
Ole has no idea how to use this team, so he has not idea, how to use Ronaldo.
At City he would be thriving due to the team behind him. He is not a starter anymore, but he would be an asset for a team that plays on the front foot against inferior opposition.
To be fair, there were plenty of people who were warning about this sort of thing happening. I know Jonathan Wilson is the current villain of these forums, but this is exactly what he was talking about. In a well-functioning team, having a supreme goal scorer like Ronaldo in it is going to be a huge asset. But we're not that at the moment, and he can be a little bit of a hindrance at times. Obviously, I'm not trying to make out that he's the main problem here, but he's not currently looking like a solution either.
Ronaldo has his flaws and he wasn't good today.
But people are peddling this myth that we were a swash-buckling side before we signed him. We literally finished last season with a string of awful performances + results.
These performances with Ronaldo aren't an anomaly. We've had these performances without him too.
But people are peddling this myth that we were a swash-buckling side before we signed him. We literally finished last season with a string of awful performances + results.
These performances with Ronaldo aren't an anomaly. We've had these performances without him too.
You aren't pinning any opponent down without pressing. Not in the Prem anyways.
Given that he won a grand total of one La Liga and one Spanish Cup during his first four years at Real, I am not so sure about that.
Yeah I wasn’t nearly as optimistic as most about the signing. It was obvious it would only further expose our midfield issues and of course hinder our pressing game. But at this point it’s worrisome when you consider that Bruno and Greenwood have only scored one screamer each since his arrival. He just isn’t good enough to be the focal point of a top team at this point in his career. And yet we basically retooled our entire approach to accommodate him this season which has fecked our attack and really hindered Sancho in particular.
Still laughing?
Our poor form in the league last season towards the end was in part due to easing off with the title gone but Top 4 well secured.
We had a lot of games in reaching the EL final so honestly that league form vmcan be largely ignored, just see the team we put out v Leicester late last season v the team we had today.
CR7 is a legend who is on extraordinary wages putting in very ordinary performances.
I'm not blaming him for our overall underwhelming performances, he isn't helping but not solely to blame.
We had a lot of games in reaching the EL final so honestly that league form vmcan be largely ignored, just see the team we put out v Leicester late last season v the team we had today.
CR7 is a legend who is on extraordinary wages putting in very ordinary performances.
I'm not blaming him for our overall underwhelming performances, he isn't helping but not solely to blame.
I agree with the OP. He offers nothing off the ball and the opposition are pushing up because he isnt going to get in behind. That leaves no space for Pogba and Bruno to do anything in midfield. While he finds good spaces in the box and finishes, he hinders our ability to get forward i think. It’s no good to our overall play.
He can still be hugely influential for us, but needs to be used in a more intelligent way. His minutes need limiting, he has to be used in specific situations and he can still produce good performances and numbers.
Against 'lesser teams' he's going to be excellent. He's not the right option against teams where we're going to be outplayed.
Issue at the moment being his excellent statistical start for us gives Ole coverage to keep playing him all game, every game.
Against 'lesser teams' he's going to be excellent. He's not the right option against teams where we're going to be outplayed.
Issue at the moment being his excellent statistical start for us gives Ole coverage to keep playing him all game, every game.
I’m starting to feel that City did us over on this one by panicking us into buying a player that hadn’t really been on our radar screen until City were linked. He doesn’t fit the profile of a player City would buy and his arrival looks like it has caused imbalance in a side that was starting to shape up.
He looked fatigued after international duty. I understand why he wants to keep his Portugal career going, but obviously it is going to take a toll on his club career.
I thought he still looked a threat. He was half a yard off Bruno’s chip towards the end in on goal and showed good movement but the quality of final ball wasn’t there for him. Not hugely involved I know but Vardy wasn’t really either.
I think that's re-writing history a little bit. By elite team standards, we were still very poor last season. We got the minimum requirement of a top 4 finish, and we didn't get out of our CL group, why the fans got so excited about the progress we were making is bizarre, it's almost like they don't watch the games.. The performance metrics show we were absolutely miles off being a team that could challenge for the title.
xPTS of 66
xG of 63
xGA of 42
I mean, these numbers are barely top 4 finish numbers, we were bad in attack and defence (again, judging by genuine top team standards). The only thing we did well was our finishing as we overperformed given how bad the general play was.
We certainly weren't some great pressing team, I'm not sure where that idea comes from. It's just we've gone from a team that is shit at pressing to a team that is even more shit at pressing.
You think Pep would allow such a lazy player? Klopp certainly wouldn't.
Correct. It was bizarre to me that so many fans couldn't see how bad the performances were last season, results were actually better than performances and even the results weren't very good..
Performance metrics in the league last season.
xPTS of 66
xG of 63
xGA of 42
These are the numbers of a team struggling for top 4, we're fortunate our players can finish and got results that the performances didn't deserve.
In matches against the bottom 14 teams he would take the chances that Jesus/or makeshift striker does not. He would not allow him on against the Top 6.
Pep and Klopp don't pick their teams, or play their football like that.
Pep wanted Ronaldo, I am sure he knew what he is like.
Based on anything but a rumour?
I remember Pep saying Ronaldo will decide where to play and not Man City. That is as close to a confirmation you can get.
I'm really confused; is our striker the reason for letting 4 in?
We are essentially playing with 10 men when without the ball as Ronaldo offers nothing in that situation.
He said “will decide where he wants to play” , no bids from City were made.
"In my personal view there are few players, Ronaldo and Lionel Messi included, that they decide where they are going to play.
First it was Lukaku's fault, then Rashford got played as a #9 and it was his fault, then it became Martial's fault & now it's Ronaldo's fault. People can't grasp that all of our strikers look crap because we're crap and the striker is the end-piece that takes all the blame when a team can't score goals. Although it does look like we're finally seeing more & more people wake up to the fact the it's the manager, not the players.
"Ronaldo will decide where he wants to play. Not Manchester City, not myself. Right now it looks far, far, away," Guardiola said on Friday, around an hour before Sky Sports News reported City have ended talks and United are now in discussions with their former player.
We beat City to his signature, I don't understand when this became disputed.
How much did they bid?
Only when beating City/Pep to Ronaldo isn't a badge going in Ole's favour.
You’re wasting your time. Don’t bother.
It is not, I was just pointing out that Pep had a plan for him, hence his pursuit.
Around the time Cavani started scoring after Xmas we did press a lot more with him Bruno Fred and James when he played. I figured it tapered off at the end of the season due to Rasford injury, Bruno fatigue etc. I could be wrong but I saw Ronaldo as a step in the wrong direction either way. I didn’t particularly want Cavani because I thought he’d be physically shot and I’m sick of us being so short term in essential positions but he’s an animal and was almost exactly what the forward line was missing. We were 17th in the league for successful crosses last year and we bring in one of the best headers of the ball in world on huge money. It just smacks of ill planning and opportunism.
We literally had to have Ferguson and a load of ex players speak to him on the phone to convince him not to go to City (confirmed by said ex-players themselves). You're being deliberately obtuse.
I won’t judge him before he plays under a competent manager.
Its not just him though. We have loads of players that are pretty irrelevant when we dont have the ball. Too many. He's one more headache to fit into a not particularly functional team. You absolutely need to pick between Ronaldo, Rashford, Pogba, Greenwood and Bruno and drop 2 or 3 of them. You can fit Ronaldo in if your not giving the ball away cheaply every 20 seconds, if you take your time and be patient and wait for the opening that a player like him will find.
If your going to stick with the chaotic play it forward, first time, every time and hopefully win it back as quickly when that fails then yeah, you need to drop him or put loads of players like lingard around him to do the running for him.
Ole just needs to make a choice. He cant fit all the shiny toys into the team but if he just makes a decision as to what kind of football he's looking for he has the options to implement it.
You want to keep the ball then Matic, Van De Beek, Sancho play every week. Lingard and Mata have to be taken seriously as options at that point, or at least players like them, Rashford and Greenwood being excessively focused on getting shots away is a problem. Whichever of Bruno or Pogba is playing needs to be told to resist going for the throat every time and just work the ball quickly, patiently and accurately. Wan Bissaka and De Gea aren't ideal but you dont need to be Barcelona to have a functional possession based team.
You want to throw the ball forward at every opportunity then Fred and McTominay need to play, you need midfielders who are going to do a lot of running and defending. Rashford has to be the first name on the team sheet because hes way, way more dangerous on the break than the rest of them. Cavani or Greenwood make much more sense than Ronaldo up front, everyone needs to be hard working and defend from the front so Pogba joins Ronaldo on the bench. Greenwood and Rashford needs to be dropped for Lingard when their workrate drops (it'd be counterproductive in Rashfords case but necessary). If Pogba is playing at walking pace then Rashford is always going to say 'we'll why should i run when he wont bother'. You just wouldn't be able to tolerate it from anyone, theres too many stars and egos to get Ronaldo to do the running for Pogba and so on.
I don't know why people are blaming Ronaldo. There is not a single goal we've scored this season and very few in the past 3 seasons that didn't come from a piece of individual brilliance. Today it was Greenwood and Rashford. We do not play as a team and the striker suffers. Sure, Ronaldo will bail us out from half chances, to be sure, but it won't happen every time. If Ronaldo played in Guardiola's City, he'd already be in the double digits as far as scoring goes. We're fecking shambles. Strikers do not get fed, there is no actual team play up top, let alone the middle, yet people expect him to pull goals out of his ass. I don't get it. You can put prime Messi or Ronaldo up top in this team and they'd struggle. And I'm no Ronaldo fanboy by any means, i've always been very much reserved towards him after his slavery comments. But Ronaldo, at the moment, is the least of our problems.
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