He’s absolutely correct.
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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How would that work? I'm not sure Ronaldo sees himself as a super sub and you just don't bench one of your best players. He didn't play good last night and he was quiet on the weekend but overall I think he's played well for us. We should try starting both of them in a game with Ronaldo coming off the left.
If that's chance fall to any other player we wouldn't score goal.
Viva Ronaldo.
Viva Ronaldo.
Saw a twitter nerd describe him as a player who's goals keep solving problems that his signing have created
You mean Bret Hart?The greatest of all time. Best there is, the best there ever was, and the best there ever will be.. Viva Ronaldo KING GOAT CR7!finally beat our Villarreal curse because of Viva Ronaldo he has paid back his signing already!
United are playing badly but winning.. that's a good sign of champions. Once the new signings fully settle in and gel and we get a settled midfield that works (which we will we have too good players) watch out other teams! plenty to be positive/hopeful about !
Sorry that’s all I could think of when I read this
I think we can be selective by bringing him into some games in the second half.
Interesting point. Could be. We'll see out it plays out. I'm a bit surprised at how many people think we're so dependent on him. We have plenty of firepower and we came into this season expecting to use Greenwood and Cavani up top which most people seemed happy with. Now some people are acting like we won't score a goal unless Ronaldo plays every minute.
People overrate goals, to be more precise people overrate the importance of individual goal tallies. It doesn't matter who scores and it usually much more healthy to spread the goals around the team.
Cult of personality develops around goalscorers(and Ronnie may be the apex of that) but it is very possible that Utd would be just as good, maybe better as an attacking force without him.
Of course you don’t, it’s a ridiculous suggestion that will never happen. If anything they should try playing both on occasion.
Indeed and scoring 3 goals in the process considering Cavani wasnt ready until recently. Ashley Young being as lazy as Ronaldo up top but without the goals.
it’s not an interesting point. It’s an imbecile one. What problems have the signing of Ronaldo created? We were going through the exact same shit last year and the year before, except we didn’t have Ronaldo’s crucial goals to bail us out. It was often Greenwood, but he’s a kid and won’t always come up with the goods and it’s not fair to expect such
I don’t know, that’s why I said we‘ll have to see out things plays out.
Agree.
I thought we just sign the whole new XI, and only got Ronaldo in last minutes, so people not happy with Ronaldo derailing the original plan. The reality is we have been seeing the without Ronaldo team for the whole of last season. With Cavani starting or playing 90 minutes, we had issues with creating chances.
And then prolific scoring was issue. Leeds and Southampton padded our scoring stats in PL, where in truth, we're not free scoring. Cavani has been good but he's always missing lot of games and also not without bad games. Even young peak Cavani was not considered big game player, somebody think we were a team good enough to turn down chance to sign Ronaldo?
He had a stinker of a game yesterday and against Villa. There's no getting away from that fact. That goal papered over his and the teams' performance.
This is where it matters more. Without all these papering over the cracks, are we gonna keep ignoring the cracks, and blaming papers for not being good enough, to build a foundation on?
Not aiming at you, just my confusion on other people opinion on we better off relegate Ronaldo influence in the team. Until the team can show they can perform on their own merit without Ronaldo, then he's so needed for those game changing moments.
I agree he had two bad games however I don't think it's entirely his fault.
Especially against Villarreal we created almost nothing for him. He is the kind of player now who needs service otherwise he will be anonymous and we didn't create enough chances.
The main issue is the midfield which is unable to control the game.
He really didn’t have a stinker against Villa, it was a quiet game but he was neat and tidy and played a lovely ball over the top of the defenders into Greenwood. Stinker isn’t the right word at all.
You can’t judge a striker like you do other players. Generally speaking, strikers are expected to score goals. Everything else is gravy.
Scoring a match-winning goal pretty much rules out any other description than a good day at the office.
Scoring a match-winning goal pretty much rules out any other description than a good day at the office.
Watching him at United has been painful as it reminds some of his seasons for us at Madrid were he would be focal point in our attack and start the season with not the best finishing. I remember him getting in good scoring positions, linking up well and overall having a good game except for his finishing. When he wasn't scoring no one else was doing it. Some people would blame the loss, draw or whatever on him but I was more concerned in the other forwards not being able to perform when Ronaldo wasn't scoring for some reason. Never thought he was the problem as he was getting the most goals for the team, even setting up team mates to score but them failing miserably.
It's a good thing he's scoring but I'm not sure he can continue playing 90 minutes each week and scoring every game for the rest of season. He needs better support but hopefully this type of performances help to motivate the team to never give up and keep trying and trying. If the forwards fail to convert their chances then the team needs to create more chances for them, at least I think that should be the approach.
First off, you don't bring a player like Ronaldo for him to be a bench player. Second, Ronaldo's most valuable quality is that he can score a goal in absolutely any situation. Even with minimal service that guy knows how to score. We lose that and who do we have scoring our goals? He won us 9 points already and has been basically our only real goalscorer.
Solskjaer needs to have Ronaldo affect the play more. Use him how Madrid used him - comes out wide, drifts in the middle for goalscoring positions. Using him as a pure poaching striker is a mistake. He is too isolated and this team is simply too disorganized for him to have any service which basically leaves him to have goals of individual brilliance such as the one the other day.
It's not really true though, most CL winning teams have strikers that are doing more than that. Lewa has a high workrate, Benzema is very versatile, Firminho wasn't here to score, Suarez at Barcelona wasn't the main scorer in their CL win, they bring more than goals to the plate most of the time.
Ask any manager like Sir Alex Ferguson and they'll tell you goal-scoring is the hardest thing to do in football that's why the strikers (especially the best most clinical ones) are paid the big bucks and are worth their weight in gold. Yet people seem to think you can put any other striker in Ronaldo"s positions and it's a goal. Just because Ronaldo is constantly making these finishes look easy doesn't mean they are. he's one of if not the greatest footballer to ever lace up a pair of boots. If a striker keeps getting "lucky" it might not be luck. Ronaldo's underrated positioning and movement will create the first few yards in his head even without pace and then once he gets the chance to score he just seems to always know exactly what type of finish to do in each scenario, whether to blast it or place it, which side of the goal-keeper to shoot etc. That's football intelligence you just can't teach.. it comes from training and playing thousands of games of football.
if that's the case and finishing is so easy why did Cavani miss that sitter with the header in the second half? Imagine if that was our only decent chance to win the game.. you know Ronaldo would score that 9/10 which against the best teams you might only get 1 decent chance.
Ronaldo is surviving on scraps currently on "the graveyard shift" luckily he's so efficient. 1 decent chance in the box per game even against poor teams is not his fault (he didn't have any against Villa they all went to other players our best chances and lots of selfish play is why we lost). And he took it again on Wednesday night. It would've been so easy to lash at the ball and hit it over (especially as he's frustrated with the lack of service all game the temptation is to lash at it). It's not an easy finish by any means at such a tight angle.
we have the best guaranteed goal-scorer of all-time in the history of football. The greatest "clutch" player ever most football experts agree on.
you build the team around Ronaldo and get other players around him to compensate for his shortcomings. He was never a striker who chased down defenders etc so why not get Greenwood, Rashford or Fernandes to do that instead? Fergie was the master at sacrificing other players to get the best out of Ronaldo and give the team the best chance to succeed. Ole needs to do the same. It's the only way Manchester United will win trophies by getting the best out of Ronaldo as we haven't won anything or gotten close to winning anything the past few years without him.. (Europa League aside how we wish we had Ronaldo that night!) and after almost 10 years of not winning any major honours we can't mess this opportunity with having Ronaldo up.
I was watching the PSG vs Man City game and there was a shot from a City player in the 2nd half that the PSG keeper spills.. Sterling was caught on his heels and didn't react enough.. i imaging if Ronaldo was in that City team he would've anticipated the PSG keeper spilling it and probably got a goal. That's the difference between the greats. And why City and Pep was desperate for Ronaldo after failing to get Kane.
Ronaldo has 5 goals in 5 games. That's his prime Real Madrid form.. that proves that while he may not be as explosive as his prime but he's still as clinical. I don't think he can keep up with a goal-per-game ratio but it's amazing at 36 years old in the most physically demanding league when people was questioning him nothing but credit to the bloke for the way he takes care of himself the perfect pro. Even in his pomp at Real Madrid Ronaldo never did the "donkey work" of passion merchants chasing down defenders wasting energy risking injury etc. So I don't get what people are saying it seems a lazy stuck to beat him with because of his age.. we are not carrying him at all.. he's carrying US on his back currently! I think some people just use his age as a stick to beat him with which is just lazy excuse to use when he doesn't score. He's always been a player who comes alive in the final third and big moments. And thank god for United he does. And check out Ronaldo's performance against West Ham away and you'll see Ronaldo was everywhere and has still got it! In the opposition box, left-wing skinning West Ham defenders, midfield and even defending corners with an overhead kick at the edge of our defensive box! Ronny is defying his age!
I think Cavani's good cameo has got people a bit giddy with people calling for him to start but why change a good thing? He's a great super sub to have when we are chasing the game. Maybe not such a great starter. And if god forbid Ronaldo does pick up an injury atleast we have the perfect replacement on the bench in Cavani.
even if Ronaldo is knackered he occupies 2 or 3 of the opposition defenders focusing on him which creates space for other players to score or to get space. That's why I don't think we would've lost against Young Boys if Ronaldo had stayed on the pitch
what the team and players need to do is get use to playing with the GOAT Ronaldo not him getting use to them. One of his best qualities is his heading ability.. how many crossing chances have we gave him since he joined? Not many and that's criminal when you have probably one of the greatest headers of a football you'll ever see. So once the team starts gelling together (Sancho included) I think that's when you'll see Manchester United dominating teams and winning by 3-4 goals. It will happen eventually and it'll be epic like watching the ketchup bottle bursting open!
if that's the case and finishing is so easy why did Cavani miss that sitter with the header in the second half? Imagine if that was our only decent chance to win the game.. you know Ronaldo would score that 9/10 which against the best teams you might only get 1 decent chance.
Ronaldo is surviving on scraps currently on "the graveyard shift" luckily he's so efficient. 1 decent chance in the box per game even against poor teams is not his fault (he didn't have any against Villa they all went to other players our best chances and lots of selfish play is why we lost). And he took it again on Wednesday night. It would've been so easy to lash at the ball and hit it over (especially as he's frustrated with the lack of service all game the temptation is to lash at it). It's not an easy finish by any means at such a tight angle.
we have the best guaranteed goal-scorer of all-time in the history of football. The greatest "clutch" player ever most football experts agree on.
you build the team around Ronaldo and get other players around him to compensate for his shortcomings. He was never a striker who chased down defenders etc so why not get Greenwood, Rashford or Fernandes to do that instead? Fergie was the master at sacrificing other players to get the best out of Ronaldo and give the team the best chance to succeed. Ole needs to do the same. It's the only way Manchester United will win trophies by getting the best out of Ronaldo as we haven't won anything or gotten close to winning anything the past few years without him.. (Europa League aside how we wish we had Ronaldo that night!) and after almost 10 years of not winning any major honours we can't mess this opportunity with having Ronaldo up.
I was watching the PSG vs Man City game and there was a shot from a City player in the 2nd half that the PSG keeper spills.. Sterling was caught on his heels and didn't react enough.. i imaging if Ronaldo was in that City team he would've anticipated the PSG keeper spilling it and probably got a goal. That's the difference between the greats. And why City and Pep was desperate for Ronaldo after failing to get Kane.
Ronaldo has 5 goals in 5 games. That's his prime Real Madrid form.. that proves that while he may not be as explosive as his prime but he's still as clinical. I don't think he can keep up with a goal-per-game ratio but it's amazing at 36 years old in the most physically demanding league when people was questioning him nothing but credit to the bloke for the way he takes care of himself the perfect pro. Even in his pomp at Real Madrid Ronaldo never did the "donkey work" of passion merchants chasing down defenders wasting energy risking injury etc. So I don't get what people are saying it seems a lazy stuck to beat him with because of his age.. we are not carrying him at all.. he's carrying US on his back currently! I think some people just use his age as a stick to beat him with which is just lazy excuse to use when he doesn't score. He's always been a player who comes alive in the final third and big moments. And thank god for United he does. And check out Ronaldo's performance against West Ham away and you'll see Ronaldo was everywhere and has still got it! In the opposition box, left-wing skinning West Ham defenders, midfield and even defending corners with an overhead kick at the edge of our defensive box! Ronny is defying his age!
I think Cavani's good cameo has got people a bit giddy with people calling for him to start but why change a good thing? He's a great super sub to have when we are chasing the game. Maybe not such a great starter. And if god forbid Ronaldo does pick up an injury atleast we have the perfect replacement on the bench in Cavani.
even if Ronaldo is knackered he occupies 2 or 3 of the opposition defenders focusing on him which creates space for other players to score or to get space. That's why I don't think we would've lost against Young Boys if Ronaldo had stayed on the pitch
what the team and players need to do is get use to playing with the GOAT Ronaldo not him getting use to them. One of his best qualities is his heading ability.. how many crossing chances have we gave him since he joined? Not many and that's criminal when you have probably one of the greatest headers of a football you'll ever see. So once the team starts gelling together (Sancho included) I think that's when you'll see Manchester United dominating teams and winning by 3-4 goals. It will happen eventually and it'll be epic like watching the ketchup bottle bursting open!
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Yes and no. Holdup play is an important attribute but at the end of the day the job of a 9 is to finish chances.
I think we'd all agree that most of our players bar De Gea have underperformed, especially after some standards we set after getting Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo.
Yes, he wasn't good vs both Villas, but he's got the edge we need in games like this to get such a win.
Imagine this cross flying over to Lukaku....
Yes, he wasn't good vs both Villas, but he's got the edge we need in games like this to get such a win.
Imagine this cross flying over to Lukaku....
Funny how some are already saying that he's causing problems to the team. As if we didn't already have the same problems with our previous strike force and the occasional disjointed link up play and lack of adequate defensive cover. At least he's helping to paper the cracks with goals this time.
you deemed it an “interesting point” and said “could be”, now you’re saying “let’s see how things play out”, when in reality it’s a verifiably false point. I ask you again, what are the issues that you’re seeing now that we have Ronaldo, that we hadn’t seen in the past 2-3 years? All the issues that we have existed before we signed Ronaldo. At least with him the goals are coming.
Exactly! Your whole post is excellent.
Some people say "other strikers contribute more"... contribute more in what? The whole game is about goals. Actually, the goal is the only thing that counts in football. If you have a striker that gives you an insane amount of goals, why would you want him to "contribute other things"? The hardest part in football is the goal, and the most sought of players are those who score a lot of goals. "Other things" are only good if they lead to goals. If they don't, it is a waste of time and effort.
I agree to a certain extent, you can't drop Ronaldo at the moment. But Van Nistelrooy was dropped for Saha despite scoring more goals and it did improve the team.
Such a simplistic view on football. A striker who links up well and helps create openings/presses well/holds the ball expertly can result in the team scoring more goals. Drogba's hold up play would torment oppositions even if it didn't result the "G/A" stat. Ronaldo is IMO undoubtedly good for us but this whole "goals are all that matter" is something I disagree with. The point isn't to beef Ronaldo's goal tally but improve our football team to achieve genuine excellence and win big trophies. And the hardest part in football, based on our experience over the past 8 years, is to play high quality football. We've had the likes of Ibra and Lukaku score 25+ goals for us before, we've had a young front three all score 15-25 goals each two years ago and it hasn't led to success.
So by that logic Cavani running down the ball in the second half was a ‘waste of time and effort’? If Cavani does that every game he plays over a season, it will lead to 3 or 4 goals. In fact Cavani coming on changed the game during the week, even though he didn’t score. Players other than the player in question can score too. City can score hundreds of goals without any striker.
Based on his performance, he should have been subbed in both games. He's a player that needs to be managed from Ole and shouldn't play every game
If he runs around and creates goals, then it is worth it. If he runs around and misses the goal then it is not worth it. Remember Welbeck? He was running around a lot but he couldn't score. The important thing is to score. The whole point of running is to get in a position to score.
I'm kinda amazed how he gets bullied by the opponents CB as a lone 9. He can't play with his back at goal and there's no hold up play from him. It's making him invisible
Maybe he needs a striker with him. Higuain, Benzema, Mandzukic, Morata... He always had a 9 playing alongside him when he left United.
When Cavani was on the pitch and Ronaldo drifted to the wing, he made a great cross to Lingard. Also, Cavani had a great chance with the header when they crossed movements inside the box.
Maybe he needs a striker with him. Higuain, Benzema, Mandzukic, Morata... He always had a 9 playing alongside him when he left United.
When Cavani was on the pitch and Ronaldo drifted to the wing, he made a great cross to Lingard. Also, Cavani had a great chance with the header when they crossed movements inside the box.
You haven't read my post properly. You're acting like I've changed my position, but I said all of those things in the same post.
The last sentence part from you is interesting too. "At least with him the goals are coming". We didn't score goals before he got here? I didn't know that.
You still haven’t answered which problems have presented with Ronaldo’s signing since it’s an “interesting/could be” point.
We did score goals without Ronaldo, I said as much in my initial reply to you, it’s also easily verifiable how often the likes of Greenwood bailed us out. However, Ronaldo currently has a record of 1 in 1 for us thus far (without pen duties), from a small sample of games, but speaks to his effectiveness, hence “at least with him the goals are coming” the implication being more consistently than with others.
Surprised to see the level of criticism directed at Ronaldo. He didn't play well against Villareal. He said so himself in his post match interviews. However, he did what we bought him to do: He scored the winning goal.
Nobody is more self critical than Ronaldo. He was aware that his general game was off yesterday, and he was willing to talk candidly about it. However, whether it was the nerves affecting him or whatever, we know Ronaldo's dip in performance won't last forever. We have years and years of evidence to back this up.
His touch, his passing, his speed of thought, on Wednesday night it was off, no doubt about it. Still, he found himself when it really mattered. And he will keep doing so throughout this season, bet your house on it.
Nobody is more self critical than Ronaldo. He was aware that his general game was off yesterday, and he was willing to talk candidly about it. However, whether it was the nerves affecting him or whatever, we know Ronaldo's dip in performance won't last forever. We have years and years of evidence to back this up.
His touch, his passing, his speed of thought, on Wednesday night it was off, no doubt about it. Still, he found himself when it really mattered. And he will keep doing so throughout this season, bet your house on it.
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Good. He's right.
We are like a fecking oil tanker trying to get moving at times. Sludge
We need to play another striker to partner Cristiano. against Villareal and Aston Vila he was really isolated up front, and since his hold-up play is basically non-existent we look completely lost upfront. we need Rashford back ASAP but I reckon Cavani will also work great with Ronaldo. Ronny always delivered his best output when he had a second striker playing off his shoulder whether it was Rooney, Benzema, Higuain, Dybala, etc.
Cavani's and Ronaldo's constant movement in the box is a joy to watch, I think this lineup makes us a lot more fluid upfront:
Cavani - Ronaldo - Sancho
Bruno
Matic - Donny
obviously, we won't get it and it will be Pogba shoehorned somewhere on the pitch and the good old McFred.
Cavani's and Ronaldo's constant movement in the box is a joy to watch, I think this lineup makes us a lot more fluid upfront:
Cavani - Ronaldo - Sancho
Bruno
Matic - Donny
obviously, we won't get it and it will be Pogba shoehorned somewhere on the pitch and the good old McFred.
Make him player manager
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