I've been of the opinion for several years that Ronaldo is not nearly as good as he is made up to be and that he has gained exaggerated stats and benefited from :
1. Having the entire Real Madrid team work for him
2. Tirelessly trying to score more even when his side 4:0, 5:0 up etc
3. Generally, being more concerned with scoring then with the team's results. Just remember the final moments of the previous CL final or the extra-time of the first CL final vs Atletico.
4. The gap between the biggest of clubs and the rest increasing, allowing their top players (if egotistical like Ronaldo) to set unprecedented numbers.
5. A moment of brilliance that gets hyped up to ridiculous levels (ie the bicycle kick against Juventus - a move that most professional players can produce. But when Mexes does it, no one cares).
I am not surprised to see Real continue to score for fun without him and him struggle at Juventus. Of course, many will say that it is early in the season... And I agree, time will tell. However, I am certain that his departure will not really be felt and will be shocked if he manages to score more than 20 league goals for Juventus, I reckon he will score 10-15. I repeat, only time will tell who is right.
Pretty much everyone agrees that Ronaldo's goals over time has evolved in such a way that he offers goals and not much else. But is he as good at it as lauded, or has he benefited from the service?
There was an interesting thread over here a few years ago, was titled something like "How many goals would you score for United?".
Instead of considering replacing Ronaldo with yourself, let's narrow the gap in skill and imagine replacing Ronaldo with an average striker, ie, a prime Grant Holt (apologize to those of you who feel that they are more skilled at football than the Norwich legend).
Here is a video of all of Ronaldo's goals from last season:
I will consider his goals for Real Madrid only, so no Portugal.
I feel it would be unreasonable to expect prime Holt to score the following goals (using the numeration from the video):
1, 8, 14, 16, 17, 20, 26, 30, 31, 33, 36, 44, 45 - a total of 13 goals
And this is while trying to be harsh.
Since Ronaldo scored 43 goals for Madrid last season, I henceforth claim that a prime Holt would have scored, give or take, around 30 last season under the same conditions.
My point?
This is the way football is heading. Ronaldo and Messi are not the freaks that they are made up to be. They are the best players of today, sure, but are not more dominant than top players of yesteryear. What changed is that the machinery supporting them is much better than ever before, as will become evident once they retire and others come to replace them - providing that they have the same level of egotism and the desire to build up their stats.
1. Having the entire Real Madrid team work for him
2. Tirelessly trying to score more even when his side 4:0, 5:0 up etc
3. Generally, being more concerned with scoring then with the team's results. Just remember the final moments of the previous CL final or the extra-time of the first CL final vs Atletico.
4. The gap between the biggest of clubs and the rest increasing, allowing their top players (if egotistical like Ronaldo) to set unprecedented numbers.
5. A moment of brilliance that gets hyped up to ridiculous levels (ie the bicycle kick against Juventus - a move that most professional players can produce. But when Mexes does it, no one cares).
I am not surprised to see Real continue to score for fun without him and him struggle at Juventus. Of course, many will say that it is early in the season... And I agree, time will tell. However, I am certain that his departure will not really be felt and will be shocked if he manages to score more than 20 league goals for Juventus, I reckon he will score 10-15. I repeat, only time will tell who is right.
Pretty much everyone agrees that Ronaldo's goals over time has evolved in such a way that he offers goals and not much else. But is he as good at it as lauded, or has he benefited from the service?
There was an interesting thread over here a few years ago, was titled something like "How many goals would you score for United?".
Instead of considering replacing Ronaldo with yourself, let's narrow the gap in skill and imagine replacing Ronaldo with an average striker, ie, a prime Grant Holt (apologize to those of you who feel that they are more skilled at football than the Norwich legend).
Here is a video of all of Ronaldo's goals from last season:
I will consider his goals for Real Madrid only, so no Portugal.
I feel it would be unreasonable to expect prime Holt to score the following goals (using the numeration from the video):
1, 8, 14, 16, 17, 20, 26, 30, 31, 33, 36, 44, 45 - a total of 13 goals
And this is while trying to be harsh.
Since Ronaldo scored 43 goals for Madrid last season, I henceforth claim that a prime Holt would have scored, give or take, around 30 last season under the same conditions.
My point?
This is the way football is heading. Ronaldo and Messi are not the freaks that they are made up to be. They are the best players of today, sure, but are not more dominant than top players of yesteryear. What changed is that the machinery supporting them is much better than ever before, as will become evident once they retire and others come to replace them - providing that they have the same level of egotism and the desire to build up their stats.
