Promised myself I wouldn’t get sucked back in but here it goes.
Team Ronaldo on here are not engaging with the argument...perhaps because of how it’s being put across but Even so....
Your Europa League image is bollox. We are IN possession in that image...while it’s not an ideal strategy to go with one of the plays that has worked for us this season is Pogbas almost no look pass over the top and Bruno running from deep. This has fuk all to do with what we shape up like when we lose the ball as 6 defenders including the 2 CMs should be enough to hold the fort if we lose it so as not to get caught on the break. (PS-I know that ain’t Pogba on the ball in your pic- I am just using the analogy to indicate how Bruno joining the frontline while in possession is not unusual and has worked...see Leeds goal.)
[/quote]
I genuinely do not udnerstand what you're trying to say here. The image quite clearly paints 4 at the top, no connection with midfield, thus we're unable to move the ball around. This is one of the most prevailing problems I've seen with United, even in the Liverpool game. McFred for the most part are too disconnected from our attackers and Bruno, who should be dropping deep, most of the times is actually IN FRONT OF RONALDO. This is not Bruno's individualism, he is told to do it. And if it is Bruno's individualism, then Ole should have curbed those tendencies a long time ago.
The issue is that Ronny needs wants demands to play in top level games and Ole is not in a position to leave him out. Image, reputation or status whatever- no one could argue that against better opposition Cavani would not be a better option as we will inevitably have less of the ball. When Ronny plays we are a man down when we don’t have the ball(see Liverpool back line given the freedom of old Trafford, Atalanta too) and against good sides you need to be compact first or get ripped apart. Ole didn’t do this, Ole pushed Bruno on so we had no clue who was triggering a press, Ronaldo was static, Greenwood and Rashford were unsure if they were pressing keeper, centre half or fullback, Bruno was pressing FOR Ronaldo, our midfield two were disjointed Trying to plug the gap left by Bruno. The rest is history.
Again, absolute nonsense. Cavani played last season. We were the same shit team then that we are now. The other issue here is you talk about how compact we are and what not. How is Ronaldo at fault for that? I don't get it. Organization and team structure is down to the coaches and teamwork, not one specific player. So Fergie and Zidane, and even Mourinho could play Ronaldo perfectly to his capabilities, but now masterclass Ole can't? And don't give me the crap that Ronaldo's game changed. He has never been a pressing player, never. And his Madrid game and now has not changed at its core essence. Bruno pressing FOR Ronaldo is an absolute joke. Bruno has been pressing like a headless chicken long before Ronaldo came here. He is a hard working player, but it is quite clear he has ZERO instructions and goes with his gut insticnt on what to do. That is called BAD coaching
Point being, when OUT of possession Ronaldo is about as useless as a waterproof teabag. You can’t just overcompensate by moving other players around as it’s chaos- you need to play exclusively to accommodate him. We didn’t and I would contend...we shouldn’t...
players like Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Bruno are too good to ignore their strengths to feed one striker.essentially, a team with Ronaldo starting is restricted to playing in a certain way in order to get the best out of him not out of the team and his goals alone ain’t enough to win things at the top level (PL or CL). He has waned. His touch is terrible and he is very weak on the ball and has linked well with no one on the team. He is a supreme goal scorer...that’s it.It would take a seriously dominant team who are completely confident on the ball anywhere on the pitch to not suffer from Ronnys lack of doing anything except in the oppositions 18 yard box.
Jesus Christ, listen to yourself. "Rashford, Greenwood are far too good to play for Ronaldo". This is not how a team works. It's because everyone is so individualistic in this team that IT DOES. NOT. WORK. You can't have everyone doing their own thing and expect a different result. You need everyone to play as a unit. Far better players than Greenwood and Rashford have spent their careers playing FOR Ronaldo. Benzema, Modric, Marcelo, Casemiro, Bale, Kroos all used Ronaldo as the main outlet, yet we're too good for Ronaldo? Jesus. Yes, I know he is not the same player as he once was, but then again Rashford and Greenwood are nowhere near as good as Bale or Benzema, so let's cut the crap. When you have a main man, you use him, play him to his strength. That's how we won the league with Van Persie. That's how Liverpool use Salah and Bayern - Lewandowski. You don't play all the players to their strength because you create a massive disbalance that we're currently seeing.
If Ole was a good coach, what he'd do is very simple and very similar to Madrid. Use the pace of Rashford and Greenwood on the wings to beat their man and whip crosses in, use Bruno in the Benzema role and have Ronaldo be at the end of the crosses. Shaw on the left can be our Marcelo, if he stops eating burgers all the time and starts taking this game seriously. We'd win 99% of our games with this set-up. It'll be deadly efficient. The problem is that albeit Ole claims to love the 90's and classic Alex Ferguson teams, he does very little to emulate them. In fact, I don't think he is ABLE to emulate it. I may say what I'm saying, but in order for this tactic to work you need incredible coaching.
Instead let's blame Ronaldo for our woeful manager, defence and midfield even though our attack, no matter how disjointed and vibes it is, is the only thing actually producing in this team.
