First off, after reading my previous post, it might seem
I think Ronaldo did some pressing. The press was just not organised, which is on Ole.
This is a very good point I hadn’t thought of.
" Some " pressing is not enough when you re speaking about the top level of world football, where margins are Lazer thin.
My post sounded too much like a CR7 criticism, which it wasn't meant to be. He s still one of the most productive players in world football but stats don't lie, he runs half as much as other players in his position. No one in Europe except Messi even compares, outrunning the 2 by at least 2 miles per game.
Now that is not much of a problem when your team is dominant enough to minimize the defensive actions needed per game, the amount of pitch length transitions, sustained defensive periods and maximise your time on the ball and your time camped in the opposition half.
We are not that team. The team runs around a lot, and whilst the press might not be the most organized, we did very well against big teams in seasons gone by because we could press them out ( how much better we did With Cavani in for Martial is a case in point, Martial is better in the build up but Cavani s front foot defending eases pressure on our defense. Martial and Lukaku have been hammered for not covering enough grounds defensively, and rightly so, but both outrun Ronaldo by about 4 kilometers a game, nearly twice as much.
Now running stats, in isolation, are useless. But fact is this season we have been the worst in the league and Ronaldo is the primary reason for this. The team has to cover about 4 more kilometers a game due to one player. For context Lingard outruns Martial by about 0.8 kms per 90. That means asking about 5 players to cover 1 more km per game, every game( considering defenders and the goalkeeper should not run around more). That s a 10% increase per player. You ask the likes of Pogba, Greenwood, Rashford, Martial, and, most crucially of all, your 2 central midfielders to just about double their efforts in terms of pressing and covering ground both in defense and in offense, and you are asking for trouble.
This is why McFred is more important than ever in this formation. They cover the most ground out of any of our Cms and they are being asked to cover even more. No wonder we can't get a foothold in the game.
We use runners instead of passers in midfield to compensate, and even then those runners are outstretched and more prone to mistakes.
The team was barely finding an identity in the last 2 years. We are not at a place where we can instantly become prime Barcelona and suffocate premiership teams. City are closer to that in terms of style of play, so are Bayern and PSG in terms of dominance. Juventus aren't and they crumbled.
We aren't and we will too.
That aside I love CR7, I'm glad he came back but he needs better management and more bench time, not more pressing time.
He is a weapon, and should be used as such. But also he needs to realize that there is a sacrifice to be made : If he wishes to win anything of nite, he can't start every game against opposition where the margins are so tight that the aforementioned few kilometers are an absolute handicap
