Ronaldo as a LWF or SC?

Stojan Stamenic

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Simple question: with that Portuguese fella with number 7 or 77 on his back, is it better for our team that he plays in a left wing - forward position, or as a central striker?

Personally, I think he would be better in a wider position. And age is not the issue, look how good he played this spring from the left:


Also, this match in april:


For national team he plays in a more central role. His last match for Juve:


Discuss. I would like to see something like Ronaldo on left, Sancho on right side, with Greenwood in central role like against Leeds and Bruno behind him. Believe it would give us right balance, mobility, etc.
 

Relevated

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I'll be honest, I haven't seen Ronaldo play in ages and the first thing that springs to mind is how hes still so quick
 

Pexbo

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He’s a CF now. We play with pace out wide, he will be expected to dominate the box and nothing more.

Ole loves a striker who is hungry for goals and willing to put his face in front of a boot. He’s got his ultimate striker, he’s not going to waste him by playing him anywhere other than as close to goal as humanly possible.
 

AltiUn

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Striker, for sure. He’s an unbelievable player but his all-round game has suffered last couple of years, but having Pogba, Fernandes and Sancho behind him means basically all he has to do is get on the end of balls.
 
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I would like to see something like Ronaldo on left, Sancho on right side, with Greenwood in central role
The interesting thing about this lineup is that it can very naturally switch to a 4-3-1-2 in possession...like Rijkaard's Barca, which also started in a 4-3-3.

Sancho likes to float around and Ronaldo has that goalscoring instinct to always be in and around the box, no matter where he starts from.

----------Fred--------
Bruno------Pogba
--------Sancho------
Mason----Ronaldo

Cavani could also slot into Ronaldo's role (or Greenwood's). He played a very similar position from the left at Napoli, and even did it with PSG from the right.
 
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Sied

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Striker but the option to play him off the left could be useful in the event of injuries.
 

TheHeya

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He’s a CF now. We play with pace out wide, he will be expected to dominate the box and nothing more.

Ole loves a striker who is hungry for goals and willing to put his face in front of a boot. He’s got his ultimate striker, he’s not going to waste him by playing him anywhere other than as close to goal as humanly possible.
This.

Let Rashy and co bring us the pace and Ronnie with the lethal touch in front of goal
 

Red_toad

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Ole watching that cross role across the box against Southampton and zero in the box, he sorted that issue.
 

Jacob

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I'd be tempted to play him on the left to accommodate Cavani. Let's not forget how good his linkup play is.
 

Foxbatt

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I am presuming that it would be a midfield of Bruno, Pogba and then whoever plays? Fred or McTominay or if we buy another DM.
 

Andersons Dietician

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See if Sancho gets up to speed and we find a way to get Pogba and Bruno in midfield. Start being able to consistently control games and build play through midfield, Ronaldo will have a fecking field day playing upfront. Best of all given he and Cavani’s ages I’m sure they will be rotated quite frequently.
 

peridigm

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Shaw gonna be banging crosses in from the left and we'll see some flighted headers we haven't seen since the likes of... RONALDO!!!
 

Mr Smith

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I think those clips show why he would be wasted on the wing. He's a goalscorer now. I want him in the box. It's seriously underestimated how good his movement is. He will score a lot of goals from set pieces.
 

edcunited1878

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Even though Leeds gave United so much space and made themselves so open, United's front 3 can move about. How well they do it will be up to coaching and pure instincts on the pitch.

Ronnie will be a center forward. Main concern is the service from all areas of the pitch not only to Ronaldo, but Bruno and the wide areas whether it being Sancho, Greenwood, or Rashford.

Marcus is the vertical inside forward. Stretches the oppositions and scores. Sancho is more of the line breaker for others to score or secondary assist like in ice hockey. Bruno can do it both while Pogba is a better provider than goal scorer. Greenwood has shown that he can be a provider but obviously he's a finisher. Interesting to see the selections and who is lined up with whom.

I still believe in a nuclear 442 option that can feature a few different striker partnerships with a few different wide pairs and all or nothing center pair of Pogba and Bruno. The backline would stay back and defend a counter.
 

Lewnited

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Central for me, he makes his biggest impact in the area nowadays. Having said that, he's still very capable in wide positions and we play with a very fluid front line. We can afford to let him use his intelligence and decide when to drift and when to stay.
 

fergies coat

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What is an SC?
Still Cristiano

Ladies the pay homage, but haters say Ron fell off, How my last club was Juve, they wanna know if he's still got it, they say football's changed they wanna know how I feel about it.

If you ain't up on things
Cristiano's my name, I'm ahead off my game, still.
 

Alemar

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Play him through the middle, nailed on for 25 goals this season as no 9 :drool:
At least 35 more likely. We have a lot of creativity now, so he will have an abundance of chances from open play
 

Oly Francis

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He’s a CF now. We play with pace out wide, he will be expected to dominate the box and nothing more.

Ole loves a striker who is hungry for goals and willing to put his face in front of a boot. He’s got his ultimate striker, he’s not going to waste him by playing him anywhere other than as close to goal as humanly possible.
That will be Ole's hardest task : making him understand that he really needs to stick to this CF role. He's still a lethal striker but i've seen him far too often at Juventus taking the ball 40m far from the goal and attempting a 25m shot that hit a defender. He just cannot dribble players consistantly anymore and that's OK if he doesn't have to.
 

Van Piorsing

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Doubt Cavani can play 40+ games in high form & tempo. Having Ronnie and Mason there to help should spark goals galore continuosly. Rash & Sancho will chip in from the wings and if Martial wants to be part of this team he needs to do something, too.

The thought of Ronaldo's & Cavani's combinational play sounds great, too. Think Cavani can easily assist more than few times.
 

VanDeBank

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Up top mostly. Cavani isn't available for 60 games and Greenwood hasn't been as effective up top as on the right.
With Rashford, Pogba, Sancho all quality options on the left, he should be used up top almost exclusively.
 

NoPace

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I assumed up top, but the more I think about it the more I could see us playing Cristiano-Cavani-Sancho as a front 3 fairly often until Rashford is back.
 

UpWithRivers

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Makes no sense to play him on the left when we have Rashford, Martial, Pogba and Sancho that are all top top players that can play on the left. Has to be number 9. Then again thats what we thought of Sanchez so you never know.
 

Bebestation

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ST and let him compete against Lukaku for the top scorer of the PL.
 

RedRonaldo

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Should play striker, as we have plenty of other good options on LWF (Rashford, Sancho, Pogba).
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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He'll be up top, but he'll have freedom.

He'll drift out left on occasion.
 

Acheron

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I think it depends on who are the other forwards, overall he should be more like a CF but he could also drop to the wing and interchange positions adapting to the oposition.