It was actually nice watching a game yesterday with the knowledge of knowing that we wouldn’t see Ronaldo throwing his arms in the air in frustration that someone dared not to what he expected them to do. Further, there is no way the front three would have been as fluid with Ronaldo in the team. I’m not saying we don’t need a new CF, of course we do. I’m simply saying that with Ronaldo in the team we can only set up one way.
The only way I see Ronaldo in a ten Hag team is an impact sub. Ronaldo’s ego is far to great to accept that. He may not like it but age catches up with everybody. The high-press tactics used by ten Hag would not have worked with Ronaldo in the squad.
Personally, I think Ronaldo has realised this and that’s what’s triggered his urge to leave the club, that and his ego unable to accept that he wont be playing in the champions league again should he not leave this season.
I think the same. We're out of the CL since april. He was looking forward to work with ten Hag, he said. Suddenly one day around June/July he wants to leave because we're not ambitious in the market... with 2 months ahead still. It's all bad excuses.
He's been told the plan for the team this season and his role in it and he doesn't like it, I'm almost convinced. He tried to find a way out and he's started trying by the best possible clubs. Nobody out of them want to sign the guy to pay him like a world beater while sacrificing their own tactical plans to mould everything around him. That was predictable.
If you pay someone 500k p/w and you leave him aside the system it's because he's going to pull off extraordinary things regardless of any tactical plan or situation. The classic free verse who wins you the game in two or three isolated actions, solo drives like peak Ronaldinho, creating his own chances, assisting out of nowhere so it's worth the freedom and the salary.
The moment you have to mould the whole plan and tactics so Ronaldo forcedly collects the most shots in the league (I think 2nd most behind Salah maybe?) in order to be the big star in the face of sponsors, this is the moment where you become a joke of a club at the service of one person. Tactics wise we're playing with one arm tied behind the back in order to make sure Ronaldo scores his good number of goals.
I think Maurizio Sarri explained it well this time last year.
Ronaldo’s personal interests difficult to manage, says Sarri
Maurizio Sarri says he found Cristiano Ronaldo difficult to manage during his time in charge of Juventus, as he had to consider the "personal interests" of the Portugal striker.
“Ronaldo is not easy to manage, he is a multinational company with personal interests that must be combined with those of the team. I consider myself to be better at being a coach than a manager” Sarri told Sport Italia.
“There are also a lot of positive aspects, because Ronaldo will bring results home in the end, and they are important results.
“He represents something that goes beyond the club, with more than 200 million followers on social media, but this is a problem in our society. Unfortunately, there is too much talk about players and little about teams.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/so...ests-difficult-to-manage-says-sarri-1.4613051
Essentially when Ronaldo joins a club they become Ronaldo FC and his "personal interests" have a big influence on how the team is managed. I guess these changes are imposed from the top, with the board and sponsors making sure the man is shining out there. If the team is balanced or not, if they press well or not, if their attack is fluid or not that's some boring garbage they don't care about. Ronaldo plays and Ronaldo scores. From that point, try to do the best you can.
Surely many here remember how during the Galacticos era some Real Madrid manager was called by phone at half time, because some of the stars "couldn't be on the bench". I don't remember the manager but I'm sure he resigned the next day or even after that game. This is what happens with 'stars' and sponsors and external interests interfering with football matters. We don't need that garbage at United and managers trying to adapt to any "personal interests" from a 37 years old who barely moves or does anything in general. No top club ruled by football metrics will do this either and we're seeing it this summer.
It's a hard awakening for Ronaldo, the market has spoken so there's two options for him. The first one is finding a "humble" CL club (if we can call a club in the top competition humble but you know what I mean) where he can get the keys of the team to build his personal platform. Or he completely changes his nature and becomes a rotational player, serving the team interests, meeting the manager demands physical and tactically and so on. His career as a 'star' in top elite clubs is well and truly over.