This is what many are missing. Qualifying wanting him to stay with him being content to be rotated and subbed is just not realistic. He will throw his toys out and it will lead to unnecessary media scruitiny.
There's a big difference between Ronaldo agreeing to have his minutes managed and Ronaldo agreeing to be our second-choice CF though. And assuming we sign a CF this summer (as seems almost certain), the latter is what we'd require from him.
Well tbh, and maybe I'm wrong with this but he doesn't really strike me as being overly comfortable as centre forward. He never played there for real Madrid he was always on the left wing but with somewhat of a free role. He routinely looks quite isolated up front because he's playing a role he's largely unfamiliar with and he's done a decent job, considering how we've overplayed him. But he could play on either wing more comfortably in my opinion, just because he wouldnt be the first choice striker doesn't mean he wouldn't get regular games all across the front line. For quite a few of his goals this season theyve not come from playing as a centre forward, they've come on the counter, or from long range or headers from corners but he does seem more isolated at centre forward than he has been when playing for previous clubs.
I can’t go for either of those alternatives as stated. I’d have him stay if he is used more sparingly and often (usually?) replaced by a younger, more mobile striker who can contribute to the team more broadly.
People vote keep because we have no one else. Who are we supposed to play next season? Martial?
More to do with the fact that we have no other attackers in our squad.
The bolded part is critical because the team absolutely does not have to play with him as the focal point, they choose to. He has never played as the focal point for United the first time around, Real Madrid or Juventus consistently, he played off the wing the majority of the time and occasionally as part of a front 2 for both Real & Juve. There is so much of this narrative that the team has had to be changed to suit Ronaldo when in reality we haven't changed to suit him at all, we brought him in and played him as the #9 in the exact same 4-2-3-1 system we were already playing prior to signing him, RR then came in and tried a 4-2-2-2 because that was his preferred formation & then moved to a 4-3-3 because that suited the players in the squad better. At no point has being the focal point in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 suited Ronaldo whatsoever, you can see him constantly looking to pull out wide or drop deep to find space, even at his age now he wants to be breaking into the box rather than have to already be in the box being marked by two centre backs. It's frankly ridiculous how we've utilised Ronaldo this season and since January (Greenwood/Martial in addition to Cavani's partial retirement) I'm not saying there have been other options so I do understand it to a degree but this whole idea that we have changed everything we do to suit Ronaldo or that we've even adapted to him, is just plainly wrong and comes from incredibly lazy punditry rather than actually watching us play.
The fact you think Ronaldo is the problem shows we as a fanbase don't deserve nice things
People vote keep because we have no one else. Who are we supposed to play next season? Martial?
There's a transfer market and this is a club that hasn't bought a striker younger than 30 since 2017, and we sold that guy 3 years ago.
If we buy someone better I'm ok with him leaving but I rather have a 55 year old Ronaldo than Martial up front.
Valid point, although I thought it was odd you'd use Juve. Since his departure exteammates, pundits and legends of Juve have been very vocal about this very issue, stating how they became less team centric for CR's benefit. Never watched Juve so can't comment but I do know these criticisms actually followed him in Italy.
I'm not overly interested in Juventus or what they've said about him to be honest, I'm sure they may have changed things when he came in but the reality he spent most of his early time at the club playing off the left and his later time at the club as part of a two man strikeforce in a 3-5-2 system. It would have been more odd if I'd mentioned him mainly playing as a winger and part of a two man attack at Real Madrid and then completely ignored the past 3 years at Juventus where he did exactly the same, surely?
That may be the case but we don't need a readymade top striker we should be able to find a young player who could grow into the role , someone who should help us improve overall team dynamic rather than somebody who is ineffectual more often than not and is mostly a liability if isn't on the scoresheet .
Then there's no problem. Utd has plenty of young players -- one of them can grow into a great striker! [Rooney Jr perhaps?]
Lukaku only costs so much because you also expect him to bag a load of goals.
Exactly this. If we buy Haaland or someone fair enough. But we won't be able to, and have loads of other issues much more pressing.
We have some exceptionally bizarre fans. I just can't fathom it.
The few times I watch Ajax, yes and the stats back it up. Haller averages 18 pressures per 90, Ronaldo averages just over 6. Haaland for example averages 12 and Jota averages 23. Just to give you a comparison. Considering Haller is a big guy, you have to say he works hard.
Why are we even worse when he doesn’t play?
