They looked better against Switzerland, but against Morocco they weren't any better without him on the pitch and that's where they went out, he's definitely declined but it's not as if ramos or anyone else was fantastic, ramos was so poor against Morocco they had to take him off at half time.
The fact that he had to be dropped spoke volumes though. In a World Cup no less.
And his replacement had to be subbed off at half time in a World Cup no less, for him. I'm not suggesting he's still a world class striker, but he's a decent option for Portugal, particularly given they don't have to pay his enormous wages, which was clearly a stumbling block for staying in Europe. If he doesn't perform martinez should drop him but so far he's doing OK under him and I'd imagine as long as that stays the case he'll keep his place. I think his career has probably earned him the right to have a chance to prove himself under martinez
Luxembourg and Liechtenstein are hardly the measure of competitiveness, 2 semi-proffesional teams.
I doubt it, he'll be dropped if he doesn't perform, I can't see martinez giving him games, he keeps scoring and then just gets dropped. Didn't martinez keep playing the older players at belgium as well? I'm sure Ronaldo will get a chance anyway
He was shite for us apparently, but still scored more than any other striker we've got the last 15 years, bar RvP
He was beyond shit the 2nd season. It's inarguable.
You‘ve just proved here why I’ve said it’s a complete lie. You are purposedly taking this completely out of context. I was comparing this example to a five a side competition comment from the original poster quoted from below in a joking manner, instead of making a case of it “being good enough”. Thats basically my whole point of comparing. Heres the original post:
Heres actually what I’ve said in reply, which you have conveniently ignored the key part to fit your own deluded agenda:if we're disregarding the level of competition you can add me to that list. I've scored a fair few in my five a side recently.
You are simply missing the whole point (in bold part), the whole comparison with five a side thing is made in a joking tone instead of “desperately talking up something“. The fact I have keep mentioning right before/after that it’s nowhere near the level of top league in Europe several times while you have conveniently ignored, would means you are simply trying to draw the whole picture completely out of context to fit your own agenda here. It’s quite a pathetic move, really, as it’s plain clear I was just comparing with five a side all the while (where the poster has scored a few) instead of making a case of it being good enough.That’s quite a stretch. Those are still top division/best league in Asia, in a country regular qualifies for WC, and also manage to produce club reaching 2nd place this year in world club cup, beating the best club from South America. But true it’s nowhere near the level of Europe’s top 5 league, not even close. But it’s still much closer to that level than your five a side competition.
you are joking, right?
Well last year this time some were still convinced he was gonna be playing at top level all the way into his 40s
Nail on the head. End of the day we can all love Ronaldo for his career but this end is quite simply a bit of a farce.
I see what you did there. First you are agreeing Ronaldo being a bit of a farce during his late career, then you are simply stating he is a modern day Pele, which somehow lead to conclusion of Maradona being better.
You’ve gotta keep adding some fire to that argument sometimes on the sly. Messi is a bit like Maradona too while we are at it…
Who are the young Portuguese strikers he’s keeping out?
That’s even crazier than when Celtic and rangers fans used to say they’d finish top 6 in the PL
And after all, thats all there is to football. Who scores the most goals for the team. Doesn't matter if the team are crap with them in it or they cause massive problems on and off the pitch. Its all about those tasty goal numbers. I just cannot fathom why we had such a poor season with him scoring so many goals when that is all that matters
Ramos for instance (or even Silva), or anyone who are in the future plans for Portugal. Playing a 38 year old over future options in matches you will win comfortably no matter who you start up top, serves only one purpose: Let the old man feed his ego and break those records.
He was dropped because of his reaction to being subbed in the South Korea game.
They basically have two strikers at the minute with Ronaldo being one. Silva isn’t close to being good enough just yet.
Yeah, it was crazy some actually believed Ronaldo could stay in Europe until his 40s playing CL football.
Unluckily for Ronaldo, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein won't qualify to the next Euro.
He’s been constantly scoring in qualifiers for the last few years, there’s a lot more examples of those two teams that Portugal faces in competitive games than not.
There is no way Martinez will bench him, he hasn`t got the balls and it will end up getting him sacked. As others have said on here by playing him now Portugal are missing out on giving game time to younger players and a chance for them to gel, improve and learn a new system before they meet tougher opposition in the Euros. Martinez will see how difficult Ronaldo and his ego is to manage when he realises he needs to drop him and it could well be too late by then and Ronnie will probably do an interview with Piers and harp on about all his goals against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. It is all good for Portugals future opponents though as Ronnies selfishness doesn`t help them.
In a league where even in depth sites like transfer market don’t even have basic photos of half the players. Plenty of players are getting nearly a goal a game on the top scoring list there and Ronaldo had 4 in a single match and has blanked in half his matches there.
I think it can be argued both ways. Even without counting his 4 goals and motm contributions in the 2 qualifying games, with Ronaldo extending his all time record with Portugal, it might also lift the spirit of the whole squad, and make the whole nation pride. After all, the record breaker does represent their country, and international competitions is all about giving pride to the country.
Post of the year here
He's pretty useless last few years with the NT, scored 13 goals in the last 20 games, 8 of which were against Luxembourg, Lichtenstein and Qatar in 4 games. Not to mention his usual ghosting in the WC which became his standard. Portugal does not need him to win against those sides.
It's really hard to tell off one-off games, you're talking about only losing 1-0 to Chelsea and then bring up Southampton and Nottingham Forest. Southampton beat Chelsea just last month, and Forest drew with Chelsea, both better results than that.
This place is mental and it's going to get an awful lot worse.
So no one then
What other references do we have regarding games of EPL teams vs Middle Eastern teams? None
