Rangnick & Ronaldo

[Firestorm]

RR will find a way to incorporate Ronaldo, he’d be stupid not to. Ronaldo is our top scorer, he has scored 5 goals in the CL resulting in our 10 points and topping the group. He has scored in all 3 of our league wins ..2 of them outright winners and 3rd was an equaliser. Of the alternatives Cavani is a walking sick note and Greenwood and Martial are currently struggling…between the 3 of them they have scored just 6 goals.

 

[glazed]

I mean there's no question that he's shit at pressing. He could double or triple the amount he does and still be among the very worst attackers in Europe in that regard. But that doesn't automatically mean you can't accommodate him into a pressing system.

You only have to look at Lukaku at Chelsea to know what could happen. On paper it looks OK to have one guy not pressing. In reality it gives the opposition a passing escape route from the high press and it loses a lot of effectiveness.

Ask the question another way - do we really thing the Glazers understood the impact on the team of signing Ronaldo? And do we really think they understood the impact of asking Rangnick to manage him? I doubt it very much. Ronaldo ended up getting edged out at Juve. Might the same happen here?

It would be epic if he can be made to work. I just don't know how that happens though. This cutting off the lines stuff - I've never seen that done in practice. Isn't a press mainly surrounding the man on the ball?

 

[BlahRules]

I have a feeling Ronaldo will excel in Rangnick's system. He won't be pressing but will he cutting the passing lanes.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

As the great man once said, you can't be a little bit pregnant. He'll either adhere to the managers instructions, or he won't be selected. He won't wilt like Ole. He can always use Cavani.

 

[Smores]

You only have to look at Lukaku at Chelsea to know what could happen. On paper it looks OK to have one guy not pressing. In reality it gives the opposition a passing escape route from the high press and it loses a lot of effectiveness.

Ask the question another way - do we really thing the Glazers understood the impact on the team of signing Ronaldo? And do we really think they understood the impact of asking Rangnick to manage him? I doubt it very much. Ronaldo ended up getting edged out at Juve. Might the same happen here?

It would be epic if he can be made to work. I just don't know how that happens though. This cutting off the lines stuff - I've never seen that done in practice. Isn't a press mainly surrounding the man on the ball?

What's the escape route exactly? Full backs and midfield should be covered in any such system so you're talking long ball which is the whole point.

Ronaldo will be tasked with staying high, central, and being close enough to the CBs to pressure the pass, he won't have to run like a dog for that.

 

[Reapersoul20]

You only have to look at Lukaku at Chelsea to know what could happen. On paper it looks OK to have one guy not pressing. In reality it gives the opposition a passing escape route from the high press and it loses a lot of effectiveness.

This simply isn't true and makes no practical sense.

 

[Scholsey2004]

You only have to look at Lukaku at Chelsea to know what could happen. On paper it looks OK to have one guy not pressing. In reality it gives the opposition a passing escape route from the high press and it loses a lot of effectiveness.

Ask the question another way - do we really thing the Glazers understood the impact on the team of signing Ronaldo? And do we really think they understood the impact of asking Rangnick to manage him? I doubt it very much. Ronaldo ended up getting edged out at Juve. Might the same happen here?

It would be epic if he can be made to work. I just don't know how that happens though. This cutting off the lines stuff - I've never seen that done in practice. Isn't a press mainly surrounding the man on the ball?

Cutting off the lines if i understand what he means is pretty standard stuff, just closing off passing angles. It just means having a player move into the line between opposition players to make any pass between them as difficult as possible and easier to intercept. Obviously the opposition players will move to try to find an angle so the line moves and your player needs to follow it. If you combine pressing with closing off the passing angles then its very difficult for a player to retain possession. The idea is to make a trap.

 

[OleTheGreat]

The First and Foremost thing I personally love about The Professor is that he always talks about the development of the club which is how I want someone to see our club on the whole. I think he has loads and loads of experience in terms managing the footballing side of a club because he loves football for the game and not for the money. Every time I have seen him talking to the press, he's always talked about structuring the club to meet a motive and that's his passion for football. What is love even more is that, he hasn't won a lot in terms of first team football but his experience in the evolution of the modern football deserves a lot more respect than we can even comprehend. The more I read about this guy, the more happy I am about our stupid board stumbling upon him to take over the reigns at OT. What is even better is that, he will stay for a further 2 years and oversee things around the recruitment of the staff and players.

The Professor will definitely be the person who sees things as it is, he will definitely judge us based on what is here rather than taking the history of the club into account and how it is important to keep us performing at the highest level. Right now, I think he must consider us as a club in the English Football League 1 or 2 and think about rebuilding us into a powerhouse that will dominate European football in the next 5 years. I'm sure he has a vision for us in place although he wouldn't have thought about it for long since Ole was let go only a fortnight or so ago.

I definitely do not think he would be happy with the midfield talents at the club except for maybe Bruno and VDB because Pogba doesn't press a lot and McFred are not the same every game but he might change their game or bring in better players for sure. I'm very excited because I really want to see a change in mentality and a transition for our club. The last 3 managers we had were total duds in terms of positive and exciting football. Regardless of how Ralf Rangnick is going to do in the 6 months at United and the foreseeable future, I love the words attack and get into the opponent box within 10 seconds, retrieve the ball from the opponents within 8 secs. I'm getting ready to watch some heavy encounters in the future. I want our games to be open and exciting. I rather watch a 4-3 game that we lose in comparison to a 1-0 win with 30% or less possession.

Moyes and Van Gaal really screwed us up in terms of squad quality. Jose didn't make things any better. I think Ole was true to his words in terms of getting rid of the deadwood and giving young players a better chance to prove themselves. My only worry with Ole was. he always fixated on talking about the forwards and never about build up or how to keep possession and progress the ball. Carrick, Mckenna and Phelan were of no use to Ole who he immensely trusted. That is where his football went to nothing. Carrick played one of the worst teams against Chelsea regardless of what you say about the form etc etc. He just did what Ole did or what he would've asked Ole to do. Ole sadly was in the forefront of all this crap. I hope he had more of a say that he did with regards to Woodward and the Glazers which I'm now sure Ralf Rangnick will take care of.

I also hope he finds a way to play Ronaldo along with Rashford, Sancho and Bruno which will kill. They'll press and provide, he'll score from anywhere. I hope we appoint Poch or Erik Ten Hag in the summer and let the partying begin. It's high time we rose again.

 

[RUCK4444]

I have a feeling Ronaldo will excel in Rangnick's system. He won't be pressing but will he cutting the passing lanes.

Yeah this. Also if the squad are implementing the press as we should be then we should be a lot higher up the pitch than we find ourselves currently, which reduces the spaces, he won't be making 30 yard sprints to close people down.

Rather than chasing long balls like he is for us at times currently he can better use that energy to cutting passing lines like you say and being part of a coherent press further up the pitch. That's how I see it. It's still going to require effort on his part but Ronaldo will buy into it if he sees the benefit in it, he's driven like no other player for goals and trophies, no question about that.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

I mean there's no question that he's shit at pressing. He could double or triple the amount he does and still be among the very worst attackers in Europe in that regard. But that doesn't automatically mean you can't accommodate him into a pressing system. It might be a more limited system but then you get the compensation of the things he's actually good at, which can make it worthwhile.

This is what I'm excited about tbh. tomaldinho said the same thing earlier in the thread.

Feels like people are treating this as a bit of a binary argument: either Ronaldo won't work in a Rangnick system because he doesn't press, or Ronaldo's still a supremely fit world class player and could seamlessly do the same job Firmino or Gabriel Jesus do.

Our pressing and our off-the-ball movement in possession have been poor for years and years now. If Rangnick is as good as we're being told, he'll bring about massive improvements on both fronts, even if it means not being as gung-ho with the high press as we could without Ronaldo up front - and then we'll have one of the very best goalscorers in the world getting regular chances to do what he does. I'm still expecting Ronaldo to hit 20 league goals this season.

 

[Hammondo]

The First and Foremost thing I personally love about The Professor is that he always talks about the development of the club which is how I want someone to see our club on the whole. I think he has loads and loads of experience in terms managing the footballing side of a club because he loves football for the game and not for the money. Every time I have seen him talking to the press, he's always talked about structuring the club to meet a motive and that's his passion for football. What is love even more is that, he hasn't won a lot in terms of first team football but his experience in the evolution of the modern football deserves a lot more respect than we can even comprehend. The more I read about this guy, the more happy I am about our stupid board stumbling upon him to take over the reigns at OT. What is even better is that, he will stay for a further 2 years and oversee things around the recruitment of the staff and players.

The Professor will definitely be the person who sees things as it is, he will definitely judge us based on what is here rather than taking the history of the club into account and how it is important to keep us performing at the highest level. Right now, I think he must consider us as a club in the English Football League 1 or 2 and think about rebuilding us into a powerhouse that will dominate European football in the next 5 years. I'm sure he has a vision for us in place although he wouldn't have thought about it for long since Ole was let go only a fortnight or so ago.

I definitely do not think he would be happy with the midfield talents at the club except for maybe Bruno and VDB because Pogba doesn't press a lot and McFred are not the same every game but he might change their game or bring in better players for sure. I'm very excited because I really want to see a change in mentality and a transition for our club. The last 3 managers we had were total duds in terms of positive and exciting football. Regardless of how Ralf Rangnick is going to do in the 6 months at United and the foreseeable future, I love the words attack and get into the opponent box within 10 seconds, retrieve the ball from the opponents within 8 secs. I'm getting ready to watch some heavy encounters in the future. I want our games to be open and exciting. I rather watch a 4-3 game that we lose in comparison to a 1-0 win with 30% or less possession.

Moyes and Van Gaal really screwed us up in terms of squad quality. Jose didn't make things any better. I think Ole was true to his words in terms of getting rid of the deadwood and giving young players a better chance to prove themselves. My only worry with Ole was. he always fixated on talking about the forwards and never about build up or how to keep possession and progress the ball. Carrick, Mckenna and Phelan were of no use to Ole who he immensely trusted. That is where his football went to nothing. Carrick played one of the worst teams against Chelsea regardless of what you say about the form etc etc. He just did what Ole did or what he would've asked Ole to do. Ole sadly was in the forefront of all this crap. I hope he had more of a say that he did with regards to Woodward and the Glazers which I'm now sure Ralf Rangnick will take care of.

I also hope he finds a way to play Ronaldo along with Rashford, Sancho and Bruno which will kill. They'll press and provide, he'll score from anywhere. I hope we appoint Poch or Erik Ten Hag in the summer and let the partying begin. It's high time we rose again.

I don't think Carrick could improve much on the lineup he picked, and in most ways its the opposite of what Ole was doing in the big games.

 

[OleTheGreat]

I don't think Carrick could improve much on the lineup he picked, and in most ways its the opposite of what Ole was doing in the big games.

WOW! How you think Mctominay, Fred and Matic should play in the same line-up baffles me?!

 

[Hammondo]

WOW! How you think Mctominay, Fred and Matic should play in the same line-up baffles me?!

The reason we didn't get hammered is because we stacked the midfield, it's a good tactical decision, and it was our only realistic chance of working, SAF has done it before also.

 

[Pyroblazer]

Do people not understand that these stats are largely dictated by the team's style?

Ronaldo's doesn't play for a pressing side. He hasn't played for a pressing side. His team have been pretty much always been about sitting deep and countering because he was probably the greatest player ever at doing just that.

He doesn't have to go chasing every ball down. If he can cut off one pass at a given time then he can play in the system. He's not the guy who'll be winning the ball back but the one they'll look for to finish off transitions - He'll just have to do his role and I'm sure Ralf will want to weaponise his attacking movement.. There's no way he took this job without discussions about Ronaldo's role.

Ronaldo covers nearly 2km more per game than Messi. He can still run. Maybe let's see him become this huge problem before losing our minds about it.

Of course the team influences stats like that but it's not like Ronaldo's stats look great in comparison to his teammates either.

Bruno for example is a great pressing player and will only excel more with a proper manager. Ronaldo was never great at it even when he was much younger, so it would be strange to expect it from him now.
He also doesn't combine as well with Bruno than someone like Cavani because he doesn't suppport him in the press, drops deep or roam into wide positions while he pushes forward which causes Bruno ripping holes in our team or beeing ineffective in a deeper role when he probably should be the first player to press upfront.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Carrick dropped Bruno in Game 1 and Ronaldo in Game 2. Ole didn't give a shit about our balance and shape and that will imo change now.

We shouldn't be so dismissive about criticizing him. He will definitely be useful for us but I don't expect him to start every game or that we build our team around him, that won't do our team any good.
We sold van Nistelrooy years ago too and he was a great striker and goalscorer, a player can be individually great in terms of stats and numbers and still cause issues in the overall team setup.

Lukaku's stats point a similiar picture in terms of pressing and involvement in the overall game and I think Tuchel will also have to make the decision here and there if he wants a static 9 who is a good goalscorer or a more fluent attacking game without him.

 

[Hughie77]

This guy has been brought in to see us through to end of season. And just hope he picks players on form not reputation. SAF was brilliant at it, hope he's same

 

[RetroStu]

Why would it be a shame in 2 years he'll be 39 if he's still in the team then we'll be in big trouble, we need to move on from the nostalgia of Ronaldo, id even say i wouldnt be overly bothered if he left in the summer as it would save the circus of him being left out of the team and the i cant believe he dropped him rhetoric when if we are being honest he needs to be rested at the age he is at and we need to pick and choose the games he plays in.

Furthermore i think for him to survive and play in Rangnick,s team being out of the side will actually prolong his career with us rather than be a detriment to him or the team as a whole.

And lastly if there is a playing time clause the club are morons for doing it as it would undermine the manager completely.

He will actually be 38 in 2 years, not 39. And i feel at that point even Ronaldo would accept that being a squad player, or 'super sub' is where he will be at that point. And i cant think of many better players you could bring on in a match where you are despertae for a goal with 20-30mins left.

And players put all sorts of stipulations in their contracts, and Ronaldo, even at his current age, has the power to ask for what he wants, and with him still being a top class player at 36, he will almost certainly of asked for a 'playing time' stipulation.
Besides the new managr wont even be here after this season anyway so.

 

[Acheron]

Ronaldo it's not the Elephant in the room, in fact he has performed a lot better than I expected and carried in the team in several occasions. The problem with the team was the mediocre manager and a lack of style. If Manchester United where playing more like, let's say current Manchester City and Liverpool then there could be an argument about how to fit him in an already functioning and well oiled system. Of course he could play said styles but at his age it's more about having to control how much he plays in order to keep him fresh at the end of the season.

Under Ole he had to play almost every game in order to grind results and not get out of UCL in the group stages, yet again, but with good management he shouldn't had to play every single game. Ideally it should more like a situation where Messi is in right now, he hasn't performed as good as Ronaldo but his team doesn't need him to carry them every single game so he can take his time to adapt to the team and I expect him to close the season strong despite a slow start.

 

[RedDribble]

He will actually be 38 in 2 years, not 39. And i feel at that point even Ronaldo would accept that being a squad player, or 'super sub' is where he will be at that point. And i cant think of many better players you could bring on in a match where you are desperate for a goal with 20-30mins left.

If true then really there is absolutely no problem with Ronaldo in the team. You are right, he would be one of the most devastating super subs. Imagine as a player for 70 minutes you have been running your socks off then you see Ronaldo coming off from the bench for the opponent, you would feel terrified. Only thing that I kind of disagree is that point should be NOW, not 2 years later.

As the great man once said, you can't be a little bit pregnant. He'll either adhere to the managers instructions, or he won't be selected. He won't wilt like Ole. He can always use Cavani.

Absolutely, and the club should give the manager all the power. Ole did actually show some balls by dropping him in the Everton game then all this media making a fuss was disgusting. Ole just couldn't handle that pressure, I just hope Rangnick can keep his stance whatever.

We aren't FC Ronaldo, we are Manchester United. Under a top manager we will see less of Ronaldo imo. For all the raving about his goals, his work-rate is non-existent these days and his overall game declined a lot. Juve had similar issues here and there with him too. Especially in top games we will need to find a solution for that to balance our attack and overall game. In the end the results on the pitch are the most important thing, not who scores the goals

Everyone who is saying Ronaldo saved us all the time already and where would we be without him forgot that Bruno did pretty much the same all the time last year and we were overall much better? In Ole's whole time attacking players hit good form and saved our ass over and over again and his whole plan relied on putting as many class individuals on the pitch to get away with the lack of our tactics and it totally backfired this year. Bruno and Ronaldo don't really work together, Bruno was basically like a kind of striker in his time here so far, now he has to drop deeper and his game suffers for it, because Ronaldo is occupying the free role upfront and his weaker performances for Portugal show something similar. Haven't really seen many convincing performances from Portugal lately either despite Ronaldo scoring a good amount of goals, so in the end we have to ask ourselves the question if sacrificing a bit of his goal output actually helps the team to perform better. It's not as simple as just adding Ronaldo's goals on a very good team if you put him into a side and we saw that at Juve who declined with every further year and also with us being much worse than last year.
I think we have to choose between both here and there or try out Bruno in a wide attacking role. Ronaldo obviously is not the problem or the only issue but he is definitely one of many things our next manager has to figure out.

For me it's fine. Ronaldo is a great goalscorer, but at 37 I never expected him to start every game like he did under Ole. It's not healthy for everyone bar Ronaldo's stats. He will be great and useful for us in several scenarios but I don't think he will feature as much under Rangnick and someone like Ten Hag potentially in the summer. I still expect them to use him obviously and find the best balance for our team.
That's why I am a little bit worried if we go for Pochettino, seems like he struggles to drop someone at PSG for the sake of balance and he might have similar issues here. Carrick showed a first glimpse for that today, let's see how it works against Tuchel, I would be more confident if the midfield wouldn't be so inferior in comparison to Chelsea.

Preach!!

35 year old Raul played for Schalke under Rangnick. Ronaldo would be fine.

First of all, Raul didn't just stay on top and wait for the ball. The age itself is not the problem the way the player plays and how it fits the manager vision is the problem. Cavani despite his age would fit perfectly in Ralf's vision.
Second, there is a stark difference in making an average team into a great team and making a team to the top. To get to the top, every single player has to be on the same page.

They would have tried to work around him, same as we likely will. And would have benched him in certain games, as we just did.

I mean there's no question that he's shit at pressing. He could double or triple the amount he does and still be among the very worst attackers in Europe in that regard. But that doesn't automatically mean you can't accommodate him into a pressing system. It might be a more limited system but then you get the compensation of the things he's actually good at, which can make it worthwhile.

Only people who don't understand what a pressing team means would say that. When you press there is a trigger which EVERYONE has to react. Not even one player can get away with it. The reason is pressing is actually a very risky movement. It means you are leaving your space, so the other players need to cover that space for each other.

You either press or just keep your position.

 

[sullydnl]

If true then really there is absolutely no problem with Ronaldo in the team. You are right, he would be one of the most devastating super subs. Imagine as a player for 70 minutes you have been running your socks off then you see Ronaldo coming off from the bench for the opponent, you would feel terrified. Only thing that I kind of disagree is that point should be NOW, not 2 years later.



Absolutely, and the club should give the manager all the power. Ole did actually show some balls by dropping him in the Everton game then all this media making a fuss was disgusting. Ole just couldn't handle that pressure, I just hope Rangnick can keep his stance whatever.



Preach!!



First of all, Raul didn't just stay on top and wait for the ball. The age itself is not the problem the way the player plays and how it fits the manager vision is the problem. Cavani despite his age would fit perfectly in Ralf's vision.
Second, there is a stark difference in making an average team into a great team and making a team to the top. To get to the top, every single player has to be on the same page.



Only people who don't understand what a pressing team means would say that. When you press there is a trigger which EVERYONE has to react. Not even one player can get away with it. The reason is pressing is actually a very risky movement. It means you are leaving your space, so the other players need to cover that space for each other.

You either press or just keep your position.

I think you're oversimplifying how pressing systems work.

Every player has to be involved in the press. But that doesn't mean every player has to have the same role within it, or will have to do the same amount of running regardless of how the system is organised. You can change the way you structure your press to ease the burden away from certain players.

As I'm sure has been mentioned multiple times in this thread already, when teams are pressing certain players will often take up positions to block passing lanes, a role that often requires less running than other roles within the press. And you can also change the actual shape/formation you press in which alters the amount and intensity of running different people have to do too.

For example from Ronaldo's POV there'd be a massive difference between having to close down a CB and also possibly the GK as the striker in a 4-3-3 shaped press versus just having to block the CB from being able to pass to either the other CB or the DM in a 4-2-2-2 type shape, where the other CF and the AMs do the more aggressive work.

Obviously having to accommodate a player like that imposes limitations on how you can structure things but that doesn't mean you can't still get an effective press.

Take this structure for example:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

It's easy to see how less is physically demanded of the central attacker than the left sided one in that press, because while the latter has to make an aggressive run towards the opposition RWB the former is just shifting from blocking a pass into midfield to blocking a pass to the CB.

 

[OleTheGreat]

The reason we didn't get hammered is because we stacked the midfield, it's a good tactical decision, and it was our only realistic chance of working, SAF has done it before also.

Well I understand the tactics but I thought the game was more open than we thought it would be. What most of the lower teams don't understand is that, the teams that are in form and are playing often go out in a positive mind-set and look to attack. I thought everyone in the world knew that United were going to defend and sit deep in this game but what is the best way to get out of the slump? Is it sit deep and defend to get a point or be brave and keep going forward? I thought if we had surprised them and went on the offensive, we could've done better but then again I don't blame Carrick also, what else could he do with these stupid midfielders. I think as I write, I have come to a realization that we had to play this way but it was gutless nonetheless. Do not compare these tactics to that of SAF because if SAF did it, that point would probably mean we would go on and win the title.

 

[Hammondo]

Well I understand the tactics but I thought the game was more open than we thought it would be. What most of the lower teams don't understand is that, the teams that are in form and are playing often go out in a positive mind-set and look to attack. I thought everyone in the world knew that United were going to defend and sit deep in this game but what is the best way to get out of the slump? Is it sit deep and defend to get a point or be brave and keep going forward? I thought if we had surprised them and went on the offensive, we could've done better but then again I don't blame Carrick also, what else could he do with these stupid midfielders. I think as I write, I have come to a realization that we had to play this way but it was gutless nonetheless. Do not compare these tactics to that of SAF because if SAF did it, that point would probably mean we would go on and win the title.

Pretty sure this is how mourinho won leagues away to his main competition.

 

[tenpoless]

We really need to stop trying to predict how a player would perform under a manager. Jose brought in Pogba and Lukaku, they looked like Jose's type of player and it ended badly. Schweinsteiger joined LvG and ended up becoming a tennis player. Fellaini under Moyes at United lost 50% of his ability compared to Everton's Fellaini. Donny was all about Ole - young, exciting, attacking and didnt even get a lot of game time.

 

[captaincantona]

We really need to stop trying to predict how a player would perform under a manager. Jose brought in Pogba and Lukaku, they looked like Jose's type of player and it ended badly. Schweinsteiger joined LvG and ended up becoming a tennis player. Fellaini under Moyes at United lost 50% of his ability compared to Everton's Fellaini. Donny was all about Ole - young, exciting, attacking and didnt even get a lot of game time.

I don’t agree with any of that. Pogba and Lukaku were in no way a Mourinho players...low work rate high maintainable types...but with enough quality that Mourinho must have thought he could make it work. Fellani was excellent for us at doing what Fellani does- it’s just what Fellani does is not what a club the standing of MU should be aspiring to. Schweinstigers limitations were nothing to do with his style vs Louis Van Gaals style...he was just old and shit by the time he joined us and DVB is clearly the antithesis of an Ole player- too technical and not enough pace or power.

Rangnick will be a departure in style for a lot of our team - Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, McT etc.never played in high pressing teams...Ronaldo is just another name on that list. The reason for the more detailed discussion around Ronaldo is that there is no chance that benching Rashford or Greenwood let’s say because they don’t fit his system would get Rangnick in hot water...benching Ronaldo...now that’s a whole different story.

 

[OleTheGreat]

Pretty sure this is how mourinho won leagues away to his main competition.

I understand that but we don't want that. Isn't that the point? I'm sure SAF played numerous game like this but his teams always always put pressure when they were given the ball. They never lost possession but lofting the ball into spaces. I'm not saying playing defensively is wrong because I watch plenty of football and when some teams play well in possession, it is good to stay in shape and defend but my only worry is, we have no clue when we are in possession. We lose the advantage even when we are handed possession. If you remember the Chelsea game, Mendy sent the ball straight to Fred, what did he do when he had passes available? It was pure dog crap of a shot. I'm sure we didn't play well against Chelsea but we could've won that game with SAF or Jose in charge because they would coach players a pattern to play in possession. Ole or Carrick don't do that. Hope Ralf will in the near future.

 

[iHicksy]

I don't think he'll have any problem integrating Ronaldo. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he relished doing it just to show how good he is tactically. You can absolutely have a high pressing game with a more static forward, his job is to cut off the lanes of passing by simply standing in the right areas in certain phases of play - whilst the other players can press as a more energetic unit. In fact, it's often the case that once the opposition has the ball your forwards first thought is passing lanes, and the players behind them then get ready to press in conjunction with the forwards position and where the ball is. You don't have to run around like a madman at the front for pressing to be highly effective, everyone just needs to know where they stand depending on the phase of play and ball location and then initiate a press in groups of 2-3 and the next man covers the lane of passing.

 

[RedStarUnited]

We really need to stop trying to predict how a player would perform under a manager. Jose brought in Pogba and Lukaku, they looked like Jose's type of player and it ended badly. Schweinsteiger joined LvG and ended up becoming a tennis player. Fellaini under Moyes at United lost 50% of his ability compared to Everton's Fellaini. Donny was all about Ole - young, exciting, attacking and didnt even get a lot of game time.

What a damning review of our purchases

 

[Adnan]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[stefan92]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I don't even think this is in any way related to Rangnick. The tendency that Ronaldo works more was there for some games now, I believe he might have realised that he has to work for his team as it is too weak defensively and he has to help as much as he can.

It might even happen that this decreases again once the team clicks and isn't as vulnerable anymore.

Ronaldo is about winning, and he'll do whatever it takes to do that, he'll be fine under Rangnick.

 

[Saddy]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I obviously thought Ronaldo had a MOM performance last night and we won the match but he was showing signs of injury or fatigue in the last 15 minutes - until the opportunity to score a hat-trick !

The pressing stats are impressive for his age but I do think he will be best played as a 60-70 minute player in most matches and in some matches come off the bench at 45-60 minutes. He clearly gets a gob on being put on the bench but a good man manager will persuade him this would be the best way to play over the next 2 seasons.

Our front-line options are so strong that Cavani (when fit!) can be used in the same way and it's clear that Rashford needs putting down the pecking order as he's totally out of form and doesn't look fit to me. It's now time for Mason and Martial to push their claims - December will need a good rotation anyway and we really have some very winnable fixtures to get some confidence across the strikers.

 

[glazed]

Ronaldo looked like he couldn't keep up towards the end. Pressing for 90 minutes and being 36 aren't very compatible?

 

[RedStarUnited]

Ronaldo looked like he couldn't keep up towards the end. Pressing for 90 minutes and being 36 aren't very compatible?

He was sprinting in the 94th minute to stop the right back..

 

[VP89]

He was sprinting in the 94th minute to stop the right back..

Yeah you'll find isolated issues of him pressing but I think he does tire more toward the 70minutes+ mark. That said he did bucket loads more on and off the ball than Rashford did. I'd like to see Rashford dropped and replaced before we start discussing Ronaldo's place under Rangnick now.

 

[Irwin99]

Ronnie will be fine as long as he doesn't play every game and is managed carefully. Two games in the space of a few days is probably a bit much. Him and Cavani could be good rotation options.

 

[Brwned]

Ronaldo looked like he couldn't keep up towards the end. Pressing for 90 minutes and being 36 aren't very compatible?

He’s running more for us in defensive plays these days than he’s ever ran in his career

 

[cyberman]

I thought he jumping in front of the keeper for Fred’s shot, while possible offside, was idiotic. Atkinson on VAR could disallow that

 

[sullydnl]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Important note that different data providers use different definitions.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[RedStarUnited]

Yeah you'll find isolated issues of him pressing but I think he does tire more toward the 70minutes+ mark. That said he did bucket loads more on and off the ball than Rashford did. I'd like to see Rashford dropped and replaced before we start discussing Ronaldo's place under Rangnick now.

Agree with you. At the end of the day, Ronaldos will to win is a lot higher than Rashfords. You would think Ronaldo is one without a single PL, CL medal in his house.

 

[justsomebloke]

What we saw from Ronaldo yesterday was really reassuring with regard to his ability to function in a pressing-intense system. A real positive surprise!
I agree that Rashford looked switched-off a bit too often, especially in the second half. When the ball was lost, he just stopped moving.

 

[gibers]

Important note that different data providers use different definitions.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Makes you doubt the validity of these stats

 

[justsomebloke]

Makes you doubt the validity of these stats

The point is not the validity of the stats really, just that it's required to understand what each of them actually measures. But clearly they must measure quite different things, and it's surprising and problematical that this is the case for two stats that are both called "pressures". Very strange.