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- Aug 11, 2021
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Yeah, its ONE GUY’S fault that the whole team fails at pressing. This is the dumbest argument ever raised.
Stop trying to cram players upfront.If you have three forwards then you simply cannot have three strikers. This is what United have and this is one of the reasons why our frontline has no fluidity to it. Our team is too unbalanced even before Ronaldo came. Not it is showing more. If you put the ball in the right areas Ronaldo will score.
It’s because their English/British - I remember all these pundits used to give David Luiz so much stick and say things like hes un-coachable etc despite him being a proven winner at Chelsea and PSG, but when it comes to Maguire and Shaw who have won nothing nobody says a word!Love the fact that shaw, Maguire, AWB and mctominay all avoid having their form discussed. I mean how does that happen when we can't keep a clean sheet?
I like Cavani but he scored 1 in 3 last season. Ronaldo has 6 in 10 and we aren’t playing as well.Cavani has been better for us.
This is exactly the problem. The 4-2-3-1 is actually, essentially a 4-2-4 which leaves us overran in midfield. We could have the two best holding midfield players in the world in there, but a decent three man opposition midfield will simply pass it around you. It was obvious against Atalanta (as Paul Scholes pointed out) and Liverpool, with a far from first choice midfield of Milner, Keita and Henderson who had so much space and time it was always going to a be a disaster.Without Ronaldo we’re currently out of the champions league sat on one point after 3 games. He’s the least of our concerns.
For me, the issue is disconnect between midfield and forwards and unfortunately I put a lot of that down to Bruno playing too high. He’s essentially playing up top with Ronaldo rather than being that number 10 who connects midfield and attack leaving the midfield massively exposed and teams are quickly able to play between the lines, central midfielders needing to compensate and press on the holding midfielders leaving a midfielder able to play between the lines of defence and midfield.
Our options to compensate for Bruno, who I’m not saying needs to be dropped, are:
- play a back 3 with wing backs providing the width. Essentially playing with 6 defenders if you include our 2 midfielders- give Shaw the licence to get forward
- play a 4-1-2-1-2 / 4-3-1-2- make the midfield more compact and play Bruno as a false 9
- play Bruno as an 8 rather than a 10.
He already dropped him versus Everton. The fall out was ridiculous after that game. Fergie saying you always play your best players when he became infamous for never playing the same XI in a row.The media, in general, want Ole to stay in his post. And would love Ronaldo to be dropped, and all chaos to ensue. That's the spectacle they're chasing.
On the very slim chance you’re being serious, you should check out a website called redcafe. There are threads dedicated to each of those players. Some of them surprisingly unflattering!Love the fact that shaw, Maguire, AWB and mctominay all avoid having their form discussed. I mean how does that happen when we can't keep a clean sheet?
Yes, but the trouble is as mentioned elsewhere in a thread on the Jonathan Liew Guardian article: “Manchester United must finally dump Fergusonism and make a clean break”. It isn’t the media who make Ronaldo undroppable, its SAF. Leiw states this: “This month a video emerged of Ferguson criticising Solskjær’s decision to drop Cristiano Ronaldo for the game against Everton. ‘You should always start your best player,’ Ferguson tells the former cage fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov.” It also confirms this bizarre rumour: that OGS doesn’t park in the managers parking space - he leaves that free for Sir Alex. If he dare not park in his ex-managers old space (almost ten years old by-the-way) will he dare to start Cavani over Ronaldo now he knows what Sir Alex thinks about it! Of course not. What a mess.This, Cavani before Ronaldo, every time.
Good post.Blaming Ronaldo for our woes is stupid. Nearly all of the problems we have, we had before he arrived. At worst he exacerbated some of them but that's more down to our lack of a plan generally than anything he did wrong.
At the same time, we have to be real about how good this 36-year old poacher version of Ronaldo actually is as a total package. He's well past his peak at this point and shouldn't be viewed as undroppable. And a striker who can't press is an issue you have to think your way around tactically.
It may be that a new manager will adjust tactically to accommodate him. But it may also be that they decide he doesn't work in their system. And if it's the latter case, that's fine. The idea that there should be some onus on the manager to find a way to accomodate Ronaldo in the team is wrong. The manager's job is to make the team work, with or without Ronaldo.
Clearly the problem.
Aye. Heard tonnes this week also ask for Bruno to be dropped.Only Man Utd fans would ever fall for the noose telling them that their better players are the problem
No matter what happens in the rest of this match, this was very timely given what we have seen in the first 70 minutes before Ronaldo was taken off.I wanted my first thread to be of a good topic when I signed up to the Caf, and I think this is it. Just reading articles and watching Sky pundits constantly blame Ronaldo for our failures has truly irritated me as it has many other United fans. I’d say the annoyance plateaued when Carragher said Ronaldo wouldn’t get in a team over Firmino and Mason (as much as I love him) on MNF.
For me, yes, there’s no doubt that Ronaldo doesn’t press. 2.7 pressures per 90 or something isn’t a good look on him. However, his pressing numbers have always been very low, and he is still scoring goals at a good rate, around 0.8 per 90 since his return. I think he is still one of the best players in the world at 36, so it’s down to the manager to get the best out of him. He is simply not a lone striker and never has been. He has scored 35+ goals per season for the last decade and more playing off a focal point who does the running for him, be it Rooney, Higuain, Benzema or Morata. We literally have the perfect man for the role now in Cavani, whose work ethic at 34 is admirable. That cross field sprint against Villarreal was probably the most inspirational moment of our season!
After you get the tactical bit that has helped him be so potent year after year out of the way, it’s simply down to getting players to create chances for him. With Pogba, Bruno and Shaw all part of our strongest 11, we should have no problem doing that, whether by playing through balls which the former two specialise in or exploiting his generational heading ability with Shaw’s crossing.
No matter what though, dropping one of the greatest players of all time and still one of the best now would be an absolutely awful decision. He is guaranteed goals, and has already proven so this season, particularly in the CL.
?Neville is the main culprit.
Called the Cavani pairing as well In fairness though, it’s not rocket science that when you manage a football team, you don’t drop one of the best players to ever kick a ball, if not the best.No matter what happens in the rest of this match, this was very timely given what we have seen in the first 70 minutes before Ronaldo was taken off.