[SportingCP96]

Im sorry but some of the stuff read on here has been absolute shite (with some truth).

Blaming Ronaldo for how United has performed this season is lazy and nonsensical. United (with all due respect) were complete shite before he got here and unless drastic changes are made will continue to be shite after him.

The team was constructed poorly with no midfield and no depth as well as having a highly attacking team (which somehow they still manage to be dreadful at) with zero balance.

Then you factor in piss poor management decisions in Ole and then this whole Rangnick facade with a coach who quite frankly has achieved feck all in comparison to top managers in the world and he was supposed to come in here and fix this train wreck.

Now is Ronaldo prime Madrid Ronaldo? of course not. Will he run up and down the pitch? of course not. Should United build through him? of course not. He is 37. Can he take a man on consistently? probably not. Will he spear head you to a title like a prime Ronaldo could? also no

With all that he is still by far the most impactful player on the team and his finishing is amongst the best in the world. A 37 year old Ronaldo still bangs with the best of them without being the best in the world (Look at the goal vs Spurs as an example). He has 14 goals in a team that struggles to create many chances during the course of a game. He was never going to be the "savior" and the spear head to a EPL title without a balanced and well constructed team around him. Put him in that scenario and people would be singing a very different tune in here. Ronaldo in Madrid or Bayern or PSG would be scoring for fun.

So this agenda of blaming Ronaldo is mental and nonsensical. United is a fecking train wreck and the team quite frankly...is shite. Ronaldo is probably on of the last people to blame for thats going on in United not just this year but since 2013. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in LA LA land.

 

[SportingCP96]

He has 6 open play goals in 16 appearances in the league so far this season.

Not sure the output is worth all the trade-offs.

How many open play goals does anyone else have in the team in the EPL this season? Ahh ok so maybe its the team who can't create a half chance as opposed to the player in question. Name me one other player in the team who can score the goals he did vs Spurs.

 

[Ladron de redcafe]

Im sorry but some of the stuff read on here has been absolute shite (with some truth).

Blaming Ronaldo for how United has performed this season is lazy and nonsensical. United (with all due respect) were complete shite before he got here and unless drastic changes are made will continue to be shite after him.

The team was constructed poorly with no midfield and no depth as well as having a highly attacking team (which somehow they still manage to be dreadful at) with zero balance.

Then you factor in piss poor management decisions in Ole and then this whole Rangnick facade with a coach who quite frankly has achieved feck all in comparison to top managers in the world and he was supposed to come in here and fix this train wreck.

Now is Ronaldo prime Madrid Ronaldo? of course not. Will he run up and down the pitch? of course not. Should United build through him? of course not. He is 37. Can he take a man on consistently? probably not. Will he spear head you to a title like a prime Ronaldo could? also no

With all that he is still by far the most impactful player on the team and his finishing is amongst the best in the world. A 37 year old Ronaldo still bangs with the best of them without being the best in the world (Look at the goal vs Spurs as an example). He has 14 goals in a team that struggles to create many chances during the course of a game. He was never going to be the "savior" and the spear head to a EPL title without a balanced and well constructed team around him. Put him in that scenario and people would be singing a very different tune in here. Ronaldo in Madrid or Bayern or PSG would be scoring for fun.

So this agenda of blaming Ronaldo is mental and nonsensical. United is a fecking train wreck and the team quite frankly...is shite. Ronaldo is probably on of the last people to blame for thats going on in United not just this year but since 2013. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in LA LA land.

The same team was second last season and immediately regressed in almost unfathomable levels. You're conclusion as a Ronaldo fan is that he's the last of United's problems?

Buffon and Bonucci's words are ringing true here.

 

[Ladron de redcafe]

How many open play goals does anyone else have in the team in the EPL this season? Ahh ok so maybe its the team who can't create a half chance as opposed to the player in question. Name me one other player in the team who can score the goals he did vs Spurs.

So why aren't we creating much? Does it have anything to do with the 500k-a-week player refusing to move around the pitch or do anything besides wait for a tap in?

 

[Ladron de redcafe]

Gotta say I am surprised he didn't solve our all problems when we signed him in the summer, like majority here thought he will.

Once we signed him everyone was over the moon, forgetting about our all other problems, and criticising everyone who didn't like the idea of Ronaldo being our saviour and the man who will lead us to the title. It was very weird reaction from the fans at the time, I don't quite understand how can people like and have so much respect for a guy past his best, and who nearly signed for our biggest rivals just day before he signed for us, but as @Brwned implied, he probably liked our terms better, and City are not that stupid as United are these days.

Gloating about it doesn't feel right as I thought it will be though.

I'm not sure you're gloating, either. Many of us who have eyes saw the warning signs and called it. The posts saying "he'll win us the league" were always laughable and many called them laughable before the season started.

Football is about the collective. We were better when RVN left than when our entire game plan was predicated on going through him. Ronaldo's overall play is even worse than Ruud's, and that was always going to hamper the team (even while he gets the goals that keep his fans happy).

 

[Red the Bear]

Regarding our dip in attacking potency, Its very logical to take the position that Ronaldo is the main culprit and while i don’t necessarily agree with it , it has a lot of merit.

But people are getting overboard on their criticism of his lack of workrate, for example there was many examples of him dropping back in midfield to do a one two , him trying to press , trying to cross or etc etc, whether those were helpful is another matter entirely but they were there , and its also compounded by the fact that our attacking line up aren't even the pressing type either as everyone bar cavani is seriously dreadful in those regard and they're youngsters for gods sake.

Our entire team is an malfunctioning dreadful mess , and fair enough you could chalk a lot of that up to Ronnie, there are certainly arguments to be made but at this point people are just basing the consensus arguments more on click baiting media titles than reality and that's not helpful at all.

 

[3KDré]

How many open play goals does anyone else have in the team in the EPL this season? Ahh ok so maybe its the team who can't create a half chance as opposed to the player in question. Name me one other player in the team who can score the goals he did vs Spurs.

No ones denying that others don’t score the goals he did vs Spurs. However what’s happening with him now is that whether it’s on purpose or not the team’s trying to either start or finish almost all moves with him. But he’s not the type of striker that is going to get the best out of the players we have. The best football we have played since Fergie left was just after the first lockdown when we had everyone come back fit. We had Martial up top, flanked by Greenwood and Rashford. Martial was the perfect striker for the two because his game is about wuick one twos in and around the box allowing them to score more goals and play their natural games. As inside forwards they’re trying to link up with the striker when they come inside to get shots off. That’s not Ronaldo’s game. Martial also got the best out of Bruno for the same reason he’d linkup with Bruno even drop deeper when Bruno runs past him. Ronaldo would rather Bruno stay deeper and feed him the ball. We also had a fresh Matic protecting the defence and Pogba’s passing from deep as well as solid defence behind them. Even with Cavani I don’t think the football was attractive but he was much better at helping Rashford and Greenwood play their natural games. The balance is gone with him here whether it’s his fault or not. I think if we played him out left and have Fred cover for his lack of tracking with Shaw providing width we might be able to change this but I am not sure.

 

[WR10]

Can we finally move him to his most effective role? Impact sub?

We're playing with 10 men now. In fact, it's a bit worse considering every pass towards him either get auto passed back or gets fumbled like your uncle 'rolling back the years' playing football at the bbq.
He is unfortunately the best defender for the opposite team.


Bring him on when we're 2-0 up for him to get a goal or two to keep him smiling. Bring him on in the 70th minute if we're 1-0 down for a massive physiological 'we will score' boost - which also keeps him smiling.

It's a win-win.

Why aren't we doing that?

 

[Joel Miller]

Im sorry but some of the stuff read on here has been absolute shite (with some truth).

Blaming Ronaldo for how United has performed this season is lazy and nonsensical. United (with all due respect) were complete shite before he got here and unless drastic changes are made will continue to be shite after him.

The team was constructed poorly with no midfield and no depth as well as having a highly attacking team (which somehow they still manage to be dreadful at) with zero balance.

Then you factor in piss poor management decisions in Ole and then this whole Rangnick facade with a coach who quite frankly has achieved feck all in comparison to top managers in the world and he was supposed to come in here and fix this train wreck.

Now is Ronaldo prime Madrid Ronaldo? of course not. Will he run up and down the pitch? of course not. Should United build through him? of course not. He is 37. Can he take a man on consistently? probably not. Will he spear head you to a title like a prime Ronaldo could? also no

With all that he is still by far the most impactful player on the team and his finishing is amongst the best in the world. A 37 year old Ronaldo still bangs with the best of them without being the best in the world (Look at the goal vs Spurs as an example). He has 14 goals in a team that struggles to create many chances during the course of a game. He was never going to be the "savior" and the spear head to a EPL title without a balanced and well constructed team around him. Put him in that scenario and people would be singing a very different tune in here. Ronaldo in Madrid or Bayern or PSG would be scoring for fun.

So this agenda of blaming Ronaldo is mental and nonsensical. United is a fecking train wreck and the team quite frankly...is shite. Ronaldo is probably on of the last people to blame for thats going on in United not just this year but since 2013. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in LA LA land.

Except the side finished 2nd last season and had no issue creating and scoring goals. And with all due respect you’d probably be the last person to offered an unbiased and well reasoned opinion on the topic!

As someone else said, Bonucci and Buffon probably know a thing or two having played in sides he’s joined up with, and what they say appears to hold more weight with each passing week. Footballs a simple game, when you set your side up to service a 36 year old who can no longer do anything but finish, then you’re probably going to suffer for it.

 

[Bebestation]

The thing with Ronaldo is simple.

Ronaldo requires the rest of the team to play towards him, to create towards him. We are only good as Ronaldo can be.

Then you look at it the other way around -

Does Ronaldo play or create anything for the rest of the team? Does Ronaldo create a chance for Greenwood? For Rashford or Cavani?

Ronaldo is a centralised plan of United. We can only be as good as he can be because we play towards him.

 

[RedCurry]

In a well-functioning team, he would be an asset. In a team like ours, that was still learning to play together, he’s a liability.

 

[kouroux]

How many open play goals does anyone else have in the team in the EPL this season? Ahh ok so maybe its the team who can't create a half chance as opposed to the player in question. Name me one other player in the team who can score the goals he did vs Spurs.

He has also missed a lot of chances tbh. Ronaldo isn't alone responsible of the team's struggle but it needs to be said that he hasn't performed well himself. It's not one thing or the other

 

[Water Melon]

He should be an impact sub player. Bring him on when you're chasing a goal. From the start he's far more detrimental than a positive. Provides nothing off the ball. Provides 0 build up or link up play. Useless at holding up the ball. Just gives it away.

Stop forcing him into the team, it's a black hole for our attacks.

Agreed. He need to come on for half an hour to cause havoc against tired legs. Surely he is fit enough to play at maximum intensity for half an hour. If you play him from the start particularly against a team like Wolves, he will not survive it physically and his overall contribution will fade away quite quickly. Surely it is much to have a laser tool for 30 minutes than an old saw for 90.

 

[SportingCP96]

The same team was second last season and immediately regressed in almost unfathomable levels. You're conclusion as a Ronaldo fan is that he's the last of United's problems?

Buffon and Bonucci's words are ringing true here.

So true that Juve are even worse this season than last.

United without Ronaldo would be in the same or worse position they are in now and would be currently eliminated from the CL.

 

[SportingCP96]

In a well-functioning team, he would be an asset. In a team like ours, that was still learning to play together, he’s a liability.

This I can get behind. In this stage of his career he would perform brilliantly in a well constructed team.

In a team like United it did not make sense to come back knowing they won't be competing for any major trophy for the foreseeable future.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Im sorry but some of the stuff read on here has been absolute shite (with some truth).

Blaming Ronaldo for how United has performed this season is lazy and nonsensical. United (with all due respect) were complete shite before he got here and unless drastic changes are made will continue to be shite after him.

So this agenda of blaming Ronaldo is mental and nonsensical. United is a fecking train wreck and the team quite frankly...is shite. Ronaldo is probably on of the last people to blame for thats going on in United not just this year but since 2013. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in LA LA land.

Well of course you would say this as Ronaldo's biggest fan... but they weren't complete shite at all. United weren't outstanding but they were at least a good solid team, 2nd in the league, semi-finals of competitions, 5 draws in 6 games against Chelsea, Liverpool and City, competing against the best. 74 points in the league last season, before Ronaldo, scoring 74 goals. 19 games gone of this season, and United are on course for 60 points and only 60 goals scored.

60 points would be United's worst points tally since 1990. The performances have been even worse than the results. Could have lost 7 or 8 nil to Liverpool and 5 or 6 nil to City. Lost 4-1 to Watford. Struggling against Norwich and Newcastle. This is noticeably worse this season than last season, there's no way around it.

 

[Strelok]

100% he was guaranteed to play almost every game when fit, at the board level. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t Sir Alex’s idea. He made it clear the one thing we needed to avoid is Ronaldo going to City, it would do too much damage to the club’s image, and they were just going to give him whatever he needed to close that deal.

Of course Ronaldo was going to make demands about game time when we were rolling out the red carpet. Given Sir Alex’s most recent comments about Ronaldo being someone you should always play when available, I’d guess he thinks that wasn’t a bad compromise to make.

If he’s dropped for a few games in a row you can be sure he’s leaving, probably under very favourable conditions (e.g. leaving for free).

If this is true then goodbye top 4.

 

[Wolf1992]

So true that Juve are even worse this season than last.

United without Ronaldo would be in the same or worse position they are in now and would be currently eliminated from the CL.

Juventus aren't worse without him, they are exactly at the same place they were with him last season.

Ronaldo isn't a saviour anymore, he is 37 he isn't gonna save anybody.

United made a mistake trying to built a team around a 37 years old, who is no good anymore outside of the penalty box, if his name wasn't Cristiano he would have been subbed while ago for his rubbish performances(6 non-penalty goals in 16 PL games) ... somehow he is gonna be a starter in the next PL match, and play 90 min again.
City tricked United into buying Cristiano, it was a desperate buy, a mistake made by clueless Glazers, who were thinking just about money and selling t-shirts.
Bayern would have never bought Cristiano, it's not the kind of player Bayern would sign, can't imagine Karl Heinz Rummenigge thinking about signing 37 years Ronaldo to sell Bayern t-shirts in Malaysia, Indonesia,Japan,China,South Korea,etc

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

This move was a bad idea for both sides. We need to build a better core and he does not help us in that regard. I also think that the PL is too intense for him nowadays, there is a reason why hs seems more suited to the CL games.
Also him and Cavani together is awful.

To give him some credit he worked quite hard and tried to help in defense a few times and make things happen.

 

[Greck]

Not blaming him for the team form but one can definitely question his performances up top. He's a poacher and only plays to be on the end of final passes. Linkup contribution is generally incredibly lacking with our forwards right now including him.

I seriously wish we had a firminho, our forwards often look like they have something against playing for the team. Way too many greedy types. Ronaldo will end attacks blasting the ball from unlikely angles. Ffs can someone just hold the ball up and take the short option? They were reportedly frustrated with Greenwood for the same thing. Cavani seems to have caught the bug or perhaps he was always like that.

 

[matsdf]

How anyone can blame him for yesterday is beyond me. Ran more than all our other attackers combined. Sure the goal treats were lacking, but so was it for everyone else as well.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

You can't carry players in the PL. He will leave in the summer anyway. It was a bad idea coming back to this league at his age.

 

[DWelbz19]

So annoying he was offside for his goal

Alongside the back pass, two insane moments from him. He never got onside a single time during that set piece

 

[DWelbz19]

He has 14 goals in a team that struggles to create many chances during the course of a game.

Only Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane have more shots in the league this season. 8 goals in 16 appearances - a goal per 162 minutes in the league, he’s on par with Emmanuel Dennis of Watford.

The rest of your post(s) are just rambles of a Portuguese Sporting Ronaldo fan, see @Brwned ’s post a page back for a sensible breakdown as to why people are aggrieved with Ronaldo.

 

[TMDaines]

The same team was second last season and immediately regressed in almost unfathomable levels.

People have such short memories. The 2020/21 season were not halcyon days. How are people already reflecting fondly on last season? We were second with 74 points, when even 70 would have been enough. That primarily reflects the competition.

Whist we have undoubtedly gone backwards a bit, it isn’t all by that much. Last season we were out in the CL group stage and won 9/19 of our home league games. At least this season, we won our CL league group and have won 50% of our home league games. Yes, even this shower of shit is even slightly less worse than less season in some regards.

 

[captaincantona]

How anyone can blame him for yesterday is beyond me. Ran more than all our other attackers combined. Sure the goal treats were lacking, but so was it for everyone else as well.

Why do Ronaldo fans take any criticism of him as blaming him solely for results? He was shit. So were others. He has been mostly shit despite his goals. So if someone had the opinion that benching shit players might result in an upturn in performances- that’s reasonable. It doesn’t mean those players are solely to blame for the entire woes of a football club!

 

[kouroux]

Why do Ronaldo fans take any criticism of him as blaming him solely for results? He was shit. So were others. He has been mostly shit despite his goals. So if someone had the opinion that benching shit players might result in an upturn in performances- that’s reasonable. It doesn’t mean those players are solely to blame for the entire woes of a football club!

When you deal with fanbois, there ain't any middle ground and nuance. A fair criticism is seen as an all out attack

 

[The Plump Poet]

People have such short memories. The 2020/21 season were not halcyon days. How are people already reflecting fondly on last season? We were second with 74 points, when even 70 would have been enough. That primarily reflects the competition.

Whist we have undoubtedly gone backwards a bit, it isn’t all by that much. Last season we were out in the CL group stage and won 9/19 of our home league games. At least this season, we won our CL league group and have won 50% of our home league games. Yes, even this shower of shit is even slightly less worse than less season in some regards.

I don't like that argument, because you could also interpret it as the lesser teams being strong enough to take points off everyone, and therefore that the league was stronger as a whole/less top-heavy.

 

[captaincantona]

People have such short memories. The 2020/21 season were not halcyon days. How are people already reflecting fondly on last season? We were second with 74 points, when even 70 would have been enough. That primarily reflects the competition.

Whist we have undoubtedly gone backwards a bit, it isn’t all by that much. Last season we were out in the CL group stage and won 9/19 of our home league games. At least this season, we won our CL league group and have won 50% of our home league games. Yes, even this shower of shit is even slightly less worse than less season in some regards.

We are much worse than last season and were much much worse in our CL group against lower quality opposition. I ask you to go back and watch all touch videos of Ronaldo in those CL games. These famous titanic performances that kept us in the CL are fabled. Bar the goals- he did nothing in those games. Yes he deserves credit when he deserves credit but to say that he has not had a negative impact on destabilising what was an already shakey team is really like putting your fingers in your ears and saying “blah blah blah”

I thought RR would solve this. See straight away his value but know we need an attack that can hold on to the ball better and sustain pressure. Maybe use him more sporadically and give another forward line a chance to emerge. He has done the opposite and played the guy to death- at 37. It’s quite worrying.

 

[Bebestation]

The thing is that people say that we don't create enough chances for Ronaldo.

Did we ever need to create more chances for Cavani? For Martial? Did we need to create chances for Rashford and Greenwood? Bruno was scoring goals for us, who created those?

I feel that we were playing as a team that was capable of creating chances for each other - but also creating chances for themselves.

Since Ronaldo has come that has completely disappeared.

All the focus is on creating a chance for him and no one else. When they try to do that, Ronaldo gets the ball whilst messing his first touch or interlinking play; never mind the fact that his running to created chances are no where near as good as it used to be.

 

[Leftback99]

He's barely offering more than Martial at his worst but the perception is completely different.

 

[matsdf]

Why do Ronaldo fans take any criticism of him as blaming him solely for results? He was shit. So were others. He has been mostly shit despite his goals. So if someone had the opinion that benching shit players might result in an upturn in performances- that’s reasonable. It doesn’t mean those players are solely to blame for the entire woes of a football club!

Because that is usually how the arguments go: "We were better last year, than now with Ronaldo, hence he is the reason why". I have no problem with agreeing with you that he was shit yesterday, and quite frankly has been for a while.

 

[Firstouch20]

I think this Utd team is a bad fit for Ronaldo and Ronaldo is a bad fit for this team. Ronaldo is still hungry as ever, still busting his gut to get into good goal scoring positions and is still a threat in the box but there isn't enough creativity in the team to really exploit his thirst for goals. He doesn't have the legs anymore to create something out of nothing so depends now more than ever on a strong and creative midfield behind him.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Why do Ronaldo fans take any criticism of him as blaming him solely for results? He was shit. So were others. He has been mostly shit despite his goals. So if someone had the opinion that benching shit players might result in an upturn in performances- that’s reasonable. It doesn’t mean those players are solely to blame for the entire woes of a football club!

Also Ronaldo burdens a larger criticism when the attack fails or the team loses, given his position in the team. He's the highest paid forward, highest profile forward and the team is built around him. So if the team wins and he gets celebrated, then the team loses he deserves criticism, especially when he has an awful game. He's the face of this United team, for better or for worse, at the moment for worse.

 

[captaincantona]

Because that is usually how the arguments go: "We were better last year, than now with Ronaldo, hence he is the reason why". I have no problem with agreeing with you that he was shit yesterday, and quite frankly has been for a while.

But both don’t have to be true...he can be shit...and be part of a bigger problem...without being the only reason for that problem. That is the case. He is and extra problem to solve in an already unstable team.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

People have such short memories. The 2020/21 season were not halcyon days. How are people already reflecting fondly on last season? We were second with 74 points, when even 70 would have been enough. That primarily reflects the competition.

Whist we have undoubtedly gone backwards a bit, it isn’t all by that much. Last season we were out in the CL group stage and won 9/19 of our home league games. At least this season, we won our CL league group and have won 50% of our home league games. Yes, even this shower of shit is even slightly less worse than less season in some regards.

Last season we scored the second highest number of goals in the league. This season our current goal-scoring rate has us on track to score the same number of goals as the team that finished 9th last season.

Need I remind you at which end of the pitch Ronaldo plays?

 

[The Corinthian]

Ronaldo needs to be dropped.

 

[D. Mungai]

The way he falls over every other time when he is under pressure is usually funny .

Ronaldo is part of the larger problem.

United is a

• old team (ronaldo, cavani, matic),
• lazy team (rashford, sacho, shaw,greenword),
• technicality limited squad(AWB, Maguire,McT, Fred),
• high self imposed ego squad how have won nothing major for united but on very high wages,
• Alot of players who do not even start for their own countries,

• if you are honest every member of our squad has a very glaring defeciency, even the senior most players have very very glaring issues from Ronaldo (age), Bruno (Zero Control), Pogba ( least said the better), Maguire ( shocking footballer), Varane ( injury prone), Cavani (injury prone & Old), Matic ( No legs), DDG (stay on the line keeper) McFred ( least said the better), AWB & Shaw (they are just there playing for united, its their "dream" + good wages = perfect life)

A team is as good as its bad players, if your bad players are few with less pointers then the average range of being a good team is so high. City have no strikers but because they do not have poor glaring players they still outscore teams.

We are not as good as we thought, we have alot poor players in our midst and its telling.

 

[Brwned]

Cavani is the person who didn't pass to Greenwood today, and who only plays a game every 8 weeks or so.

Everyone questions the team work ethic! Because it sucks. I guess you thought Roy Keane was a meanie too.

Maybe Bruno should play better and not worry about where the limelight is located.

Varane is probably responsible for the defense playing so badly, since he's won so much and has caused them to feel bad about themselves. Should we get rid of him too?

What a strange post. None of the points you made have anything to do with what I said. The fact Cavani missed a pass in a game means nothing, in the same way the fact Ronaldo messed up when through on goal means nothing. It isn’t about one game. The fact Cavani is often missing is just one more reason why he doesn’t update the squad balance in the same way.

 

[Matt851]

Also Ronaldo burdens a larger criticism when the attack fails or the team loses, given his position in the team. He's the highest paid forward, highest profile forward and the team is built around him. So if the team wins and he gets celebrated, then the team loses he deserves criticism, especially when he has an awful game. He's the face of this United team, for better or for worse, at the moment for worse.

It doesn't seem a coincidence that the goals have dried up for other players since Ronaldo arrival

The other point is that unless Ronaldo can deliver trophies in the short term we should be prioritise the development if our younger players