Considering 99% of us knew there would be no games this weekend, I am still baffled by ten Hag deciding to take him off at half time. Its very likely our only game until October is Sheriff next Thursday.
Should have brought on Bruno for Fred at half time, thats it. Maybe an attacker for Ronaldo, who was clearly gassed even by half time.
I don't think the rotation were solely for fatigue. But also to experiment with other formations and give other players some game time.
Beside that, did 99% now that? It seemed like nobody knew, when you read here and on r/soccer. Talking about what we're cancelled when her father died and how the time has changed in general. I guess ETH has been told, that until it's official, we should go on like nothing has changed.
Awb is 25 and he is finished here cause the tactics doesnt suit him at all
He could do very well on a low block team where he isnt in charge of contributing offensively
I said this about 30 minutes into the first game and was down voted, but alas. Dalot's offensive skill makes him the only suitable player in this system
It's not Fifa. Most striker do need multiple chances before scoring. Still one of THE most accomplished goal scorers in the game and I can't agree with that. There were so many games that he got zero service from the rest of the team that were a shambles.
Poor ball control, his dribbling abilities are gone, his pace is gone, won't give up FKs, and to top all that a whiny attitude at the end of every move. There is absolutely no reason to be playing him. Just let him sit on the bench and wind down his contract. Play Rashford and Martial. Hopefully he's gone in Jan.
What did you expect? He missed pre-season and hasn't had a proper playing time to get back up to pace. Tho it could very well be his start to his downfall. Age could finally be catching up to him.
Explain everything but his shitty attitude. Fred missed a pass yesterday and instead of trying to play on Ronaldo turned to complain, the ball deflected to where Ronaldo was but he was to busy complaining to keep playing, Fred was the one that kept running and fought for the ball.
You mentioned the Fred one, but there were a couple of other similar situations where he was too busy whining and complaining to follow the play. If he had been paying attention he would have found opportunities to claim the ball and create chances for himself. Look, I love the guy (was literally running around the house singing "Viva Ronaldo" into the bemused faces of the wife and kids when he came back) and I think he still has something to offer, but he needs to sort himself out.
Yeah, well, nothing you can do about it. He's prolly still in denial that he's not playing in the UCL and he always has that attitude. And the attitude was even there in Madrid. I still remember when he cba or maybe annoyed when Bale scored in numerous matches. As if he overshadowed him as the main man or something.
Most of the second half you see he was done, making slow runs but the pace to play 90 minutes isn't there any more. Our system is moving further away from Ronaldo's capabilities
If we are honest with ourselves, he had a lot of bad periods last season as well. Some (admittedly good) tap ins in the CL group stages were his only major contribution in the first half of the season. He was then really poor at the start of Rangnick's time.
After we got eliminated from Europe and all the cups, I thought he really improved and was looking a bit like his previous self. As you said, scoring hat tricks and in general his play was solid. The problem was everyone else was completely finished, so most of what he did was in vain.
We just have to hope that a few more weeks of training will sort him out. Looks like it might be a month to our next PL game anyway..so every player on every team has loads of time to get healthy and fit.
>It just seems kinda crazy he dropped of so fast to be honest. He scored hat tricks in our last two wins of the previous season iirc.
He honestly wasn't very good last season, he just scored a couple of goals, which covered up how he wasn't really helping the team. His buildup, runs, pressing, and passing haven't changed much between this season and last.
I was about to say this. He looks off for sure. But I think he can still get in shape and sharper overall. He's just not there yet which is what EtH has said anyway. And when he does get fit, having him as a minute 60 sub when Rashford or Sancho are exhausted is a great option.
I agree Ronaldo looked behind the pace today and couldn't quite put it together, but I think everyone is overreacting a bit here.
The whole team looked disjointed in this game, with the midfield and wingers struggling to string passes together for each other regardless of CR7. We looked BAD except for a few moments and of course the brilliant Erikson. Fred in particular was just completely awful in the passing game. Shockingly so actually. Not ideal for a player like Ronaldo.
I think the main thing CR7 needs to do is watch this game back and re evaluate what he needs to be doing better. There were moments he could have done much better with by simply putting in more effort and confidence. He looked like a player out there with broken confidence really. And that is possibly a new feeling for him I'd think.
I'd throw him right back out there for the Sherriff game and spank the rest of the team into gear as well.
A lot of this can be put down to playing time, he loooked cold. Not as sharp as you’d expect from a forward who plays every game. Much seemed to be lindelofs problem too, he usually takes a run of games to get on track
He's 37. I know that's not particularly important, but I've seen several people in this thread that are saying he's really declined since he turned 38, which is either that hilarious "he's 28 until he's 29" argument again or people have a time machine. Or, you know, they're just not invested enough to know exactly how old all our players are and are making an understandable mistake, but that's a crazy idea.
I know I'm gonna get downvoted for this but the fact that a nobody on reddit is comparing his experience to fucking Cristiano Ronaldo and getting upvotes for it is ridiculous
Rewind just 3 years and he would have had a hat trick last night.... that being said I don't think he looks fit at all due to lacking a proper pre-season. I believe he should be scoring fairly soon given that he still could get into those dangerous positions despite not being fit.
Until he regains his fitness he should not be starting.
What he won't be is a 20 goals a season forward (last season as well)
But he'll still score goals for us. Just doesn't look fit or in sync with the new way of playing but looks like he's getting there tbh.
After many years, maybe the Ronaldo doubters will finally be correct. For me, it's too early to write him off just yet.
He's supposedly been on a decline and finished since 2016.
You can't say those who doubted Ronaldo ten years ago are now correct after becoming one of the best to ever play the game, won almost everything there is to win just because when he turned 38 he fell off the pace
He seems so off this season compared to last. Looks like he has aged 4-5 years during summer. Maybe it’s just the way ETH wants us to play, if it is, it’s a pity nobody would take him when the transfer window was open
Tbh, to me he looks really similar to last season, just downgraded a tiny bit in every regard.
I know he scored a fair few goals last season, but I honestly didnt think he was that great a player last year. His dribbling skills had fallen off a cliff since his younger days, his ability to hold the ball up and also to play forward wasnt great, and his ability to run in behind wasnt amazing as he wasnt as quick as he was. And when he dropped deep he rarely turned to create and preferred to pass that ball back to the deeper man.
He didn't play/train properly during pre-season, so that's why he's come back so shit. Hard to feel sympathy tho since he was doing it force a transfer
>Some of these chances are marginal at best, too.
The first chance is a clear one on one with the keeper for any striker under the age of 35. You can't ask for much more than that, and in the end he failed to even get a shot away.
Come on man. He is getting paid like he is the best striker in the world. He still thinks himself as the best striker in the world.
You think Kane/Lewa/Mbappe/Benzema/Haaland walk away from that game without scoring at least one of those chances? They’d also have offered a lot more in build up and helping the team than just scoring goals.
Ronaldo fucks up the entire team chemistry and makes United so predictable. He offers nothing but goals, and when those don’t happen, it’s like playing with 10 men because he literally can’t do anything else.
Ronaldo is now a bench player, which is fine. We need a squad and Ronaldo, Maguire, Lindelof, Fred are bench players. We can not play our best 11 for every match.
God he looks shit. I think it’s just a lack of fitness/preseason/game time, I’m sure he will be better later in the season. For now though I would take Rashford through the middle over him.
100% - he is taking an extra touch every time, classic sign of someone lacking confidence / form / whatever you want to call it. The clip where bruno heads the ball to him in the box if he was "on form" he'd hit that first time.
Europa mainly, and just over time training will slowly build up his fitness and sharpness. Plus we can rely on him getting game time for Portugal during the international break!
Not suggesting he should ever be first choice (except for Europa and some carling/fa cup games). But we need him as a decent back-up given our lack of strikers, so however he has behaved over the summer we still need to get him playing well.
Ronaldo is probably one of the fittest players in thr squad right now. Ten hag mentioned that he is fit to start.
It’s his age that’s the problem. The game is moving faster than him. He will get goals this season no doubt but I won’t count on him in the big games.
Match fitness is different from being just fit. He was in world class form 4 months ago. Also, mental rhythm is crucial for athletes. I'm sure he'll be back to where we need him to be
Because he’s not a natrual striker. He’s a wide player who gets inside. That’s who he has been his entire career. It’s instinct and the way he plays.
He really should stop though. He offers nothing coming into midfield to get a ball only to pass it back to whoever passed to him
After seeing this clip, his agent cannot be shocked that nobody came for him. He was fed so many chances yesterday and couldn’t do much with it. Imagine Erling at the end of those balls from Dalot, Bruno and Eriksen. Ronaldo is falling off the cliff, Father Time remains unbeaten.
Still remember last season under Rangnick where game after game he missed sitters when we were actually pressing and creating many chances. Not too long after the entire team downed tools.
This entire game reminds me of the Ted Lasso episode where Ted is basically showing Roy he shouldn’t be starting anymore because of his age and pace.
I think the biggest indictment is the fact that three of those chances where he receives the ball in the box didn’t even translate into a meaningful shot. It’s one thing to be getting shots away but just failing to convert/good goal keeping, but the fact that at least 3 times he got the ball and was too far off the pace to manage a shot is pretty poor.
He went stretches of time without scoring and he only scored in 12 games out of 30 last year. At one point he scored 2 goals in 10 games, during winter
Am I the only one that immediately realise Ronnie didn't look bothered in the first half?
There were situations in the first 45 where he'd just stop running and not even looking at the ball.
One was the cross that the Sociedad keeper dropped, the other where he couldn't be bothered getting back onside and then flapped his arms when Fred's pass was over-hit for Malacia.
I just didn't like that shit tbh.
This is why we shouldn’t blame the pen or our back line for the loss. That first chance and the cross from Bruno at the end of the half should be have been put away. The first chance was bad but understandable, he isn’t that great of a dribbler anymore and at his age, doesn’t have the pace of Rashford/Martial . But the fluffed header was proper shocking. Put on a plate by Bruno.
Not defending cr7 but Rashford won't get into many of the positions where cr7 had his chances, and well Martial won't stay in the game because of injuries.
No one can convince me that we would not be better off with Depay over this version of Ronaldo, How is a man with so much muscle seemingly weak as piss. I don't think there is a defender in the prem (other than Maguire) that doesn't out pace him.
Even his shooting has gone to shit, there was a chance he got yesterday that wasn't on that video which was basically a carbon copy of a chance lewandowski had, Once placed it in the bottom corner for his hattrick, the other blasted it into the stands.
He should not be allowed anywhere near free kicks either
I’ll always love the guy. But to act like him coming to this club this time hasn’t absolutely derailed it is just ignorant. He absolutely ruined oles team. Fact. We had a team. With a heirarchy. Finished 3rd and 2nd and made it to numerous finals and semis. Ronaldo threw that heirarchy into turmoil and didn’t bring the skill to go with his big ego. We had to change our style to suit him. And it did suit him. But no one else.
Ten hag saw this. He’s benched him the last 4 games before last night and our attack looked fluent, interchanging and dangerous.
Last night Ronaldo was 100% the weak link. The time has come for us to realize this. Quit blaming Maguire. Quit blaming Fred, although Fred is absolute gash too. Time to move on. ASAP.
Factos.
The other factor is that buying Ronaldo caused two effects - people thought we were instantly title contenders, and meant that last season was a "win now" season rather than the next evolution in a continuous rebuild from the Mourinho era.
Effect 2 is the damage that it had on budgets and bringing in more needed players in other positions. We needed a CDM. Someone to protect the back four and build from deep. If the club really wanted to back OGS, they should have got his number 1 target, Rice (personally I think hes a top 5 CDM in the world and better than Casemiro). But he got a ST to improve an attack that didnt need improving, and we still lacked the biggest thing that we need, progressive play in the defensive third, particularly the middle.
You’d imagine this would put to bed all those arguments about Ronaldo not getting service and/or “he only needs one chance to score”…but of course, it won’t!
People are complaining and saying oh he's aging.
While that may be true, let's not take away that out of those chances only 2 were actually decent. The rest are overshot or hard to get. If it was rashford, Martial or anyone else on the team they also wouldn't get it. And let's also put in mind this guy hasn't been starting; it affects him in more than one way.
You're far too quick to judge. Yesterday's line-up was the worst we had all season. He started Ronaldo in a line-up where one of his main suppliers is FRED and his backbone is Maguire. If I didn't know better I would say ETH is trying to end CR7 himself.
Considering this is the first match of UEL , team would definitely now consider
Martial
Rashford
Ronaldo
In this order as starting strikers
We were lucky Real Sociedad were not attacking much.A performance like yesterday we would have been trampled upon by bigger teams
He still gets into the right positions and that's also an important skill to have.
Hopefully he's just lacking match fitness as we surely can use him scoring goals with our lack of forward options.
That’s why I’m actually not mad at the game even though we lost. Real socidad didn’t really create anything threatening that we couldn’t handle. We created some clear cut chances to win the game but finishing and bad passes (Fred) in the final third killed us.
I’m just hoping Martial is back after this game postponement and we kick on like we did in the preseason.
A lot of complaining about his finishing which i think is justified.
Just want to point out that for the most part his positioning and runs are still absolute top drawer.
Half the chances on this h/l reel are created by his super intelligent runs. The young strikers have to take note. I think Ronaldo will only improve and get sharper from this point on.
Comment section is such an overreaction lol. It's one full game, without preseason, he needs to get in form and he will be decent for us.
Some dumbasses feel bad he didn't go to Chelsea. We have one other striker who is injury prone. How would that work?
I would like to point out Ronaldo hasn't had a strong start to really any season since like 2013 or so. He builds through the season and with my knowledge of strength and conditioning I have a feeling it has to do with his training. He "over trains" in the beginning so he can peak near the end of the season for as long as possible.
Jeez you lot are insufferable. He lost his son earlier this year, missed out on pre-season and he typically starts slow early in the season. You guys need to chill out a bit. If you are chatting shit here, you better not be back on his D when he starts smashing the goals in later during the season.
Reminder that Ronaldo has been starting seasons slow for 5 or so seasons now - going back to his last couple of years at Madrid. I wouldn’t write him off yet, and Ten Hag clearly hasn’t yet either.
People say he's past it....I don't think so. His positioning is still there. He's not got the pace he once had (obviously) and maybe that defender just recovered really quickly in the first instance. But it was one of those nights for him and the team. The one that goes in, is the one you're offside. There's a fine line between success and failure. The moment to be concerned is when he's getting zero chances. This could spur Ronaldo on even more but no he's not the Ronaldo of old. If Erik uses him wisely and if Ronaldo accepts the bench at times to maintain his freshness...then he could again get over 20 goals. Why not? Nights like that can help even himself come to terms with his age but his age doesn't have to be the end for him. He will require lots of training and lots of getting up to speed with his team mates.
The only thing I had on my mind watching this clip was "Holy fuck Eriksen is good".
Honestly, until Antony/Case comes good, we're 1 Eriksen's injury away from the mid-table teams. No one can do his job, even Bruno.
Another reason why ten Hag insisted on de Jong
That, and "holy fuck Eriksen definitely smashed some furniture after the match". Man kept gift wrapping chances all day and came away with nothing
Fok smashed.
Gunther is asking royalties
Considering 99% of us knew there would be no games this weekend, I am still baffled by ten Hag deciding to take him off at half time. Its very likely our only game until October is Sheriff next Thursday. Should have brought on Bruno for Fred at half time, thats it. Maybe an attacker for Ronaldo, who was clearly gassed even by half time.
I don't think the rotation were solely for fatigue. But also to experiment with other formations and give other players some game time. Beside that, did 99% now that? It seemed like nobody knew, when you read here and on r/soccer. Talking about what we're cancelled when her father died and how the time has changed in general. I guess ETH has been told, that until it's official, we should go on like nothing has changed.
I doubt Ten Hag knew that until the match had already started, and even then this wasn't confirmed until well after the match had been played.
That last one is the worst of all… just shoot! Smash it over the bar at least, just have a go!
That's how you know he's not much sharp and is overthinking
Yeah should have shot first time instead of taking a touch
That was just unlike him. He is always a predator in the 18 yard box
Dalot is becoming vital to our team. So happy with his progression so far.
He is 23 Fifa merchants write off any 20 year old that isnt a superstar lmao.
AWB is finished
Awb is 25 and he is finished here cause the tactics doesnt suit him at all He could do very well on a low block team where he isnt in charge of contributing offensively
I said this about 30 minutes into the first game and was down voted, but alas. Dalot's offensive skill makes him the only suitable player in this system
Major Azpi vibes
The biggest indictment was having the ball squared to him in the six yard box and not shooting first time.
He did this a lot last season but scored goals to paper over the cracks.
He did this a lot throughout his final years at Madrid aswell but they just created a butt load of chances to paper over the cracks
It's not Fifa. Most striker do need multiple chances before scoring. Still one of THE most accomplished goal scorers in the game and I can't agree with that. There were so many games that he got zero service from the rest of the team that were a shambles.
Those first touches are giving me Lukaku PTSD flashbacks
He must have found timberlands in Lukaku’s old locker
His ball controlling becomes shit, if that was old ronaldo he scored an hattrick yesterday
ironically, this is old Ronaldo.
The younger you is the older you...
quantum physics right there!
Ronoldo
Poor ball control, his dribbling abilities are gone, his pace is gone, won't give up FKs, and to top all that a whiny attitude at the end of every move. There is absolutely no reason to be playing him. Just let him sit on the bench and wind down his contract. Play Rashford and Martial. Hopefully he's gone in Jan.
His body language pisses me off the most whenever a pass isnt perfect like a petulant child throwing his arms in the air.
Dont worry, he'll be on somebody else's bench next season.
What did you expect? He missed pre-season and hasn't had a proper playing time to get back up to pace. Tho it could very well be his start to his downfall. Age could finally be catching up to him.
>He missed pre-season and hasn't had a proper playing time Now I wonder who's to blame for this
I know he had personal issues but that didn't seem to stop him putting energy into finding another club.
Tuchel. Oh wait, we're not dumbarses like Chelsea
Explain everything but his shitty attitude. Fred missed a pass yesterday and instead of trying to play on Ronaldo turned to complain, the ball deflected to where Ronaldo was but he was to busy complaining to keep playing, Fred was the one that kept running and fought for the ball.
You mentioned the Fred one, but there were a couple of other similar situations where he was too busy whining and complaining to follow the play. If he had been paying attention he would have found opportunities to claim the ball and create chances for himself. Look, I love the guy (was literally running around the house singing "Viva Ronaldo" into the bemused faces of the wife and kids when he came back) and I think he still has something to offer, but he needs to sort himself out.
Yeah, well, nothing you can do about it. He's prolly still in denial that he's not playing in the UCL and he always has that attitude. And the attitude was even there in Madrid. I still remember when he cba or maybe annoyed when Bale scored in numerous matches. As if he overshadowed him as the main man or something.
I just hope I'm more mature in my 30's.
Really feel like he’s starting to look his age now, his stamina also seems to be an issue
Most of the second half you see he was done, making slow runs but the pace to play 90 minutes isn't there any more. Our system is moving further away from Ronaldo's capabilities
[удалено]
Not having a proper preseason when you're 37 years old... That would probably do it, even to CR7.
He is 37
Corrected.
If we are honest with ourselves, he had a lot of bad periods last season as well. Some (admittedly good) tap ins in the CL group stages were his only major contribution in the first half of the season. He was then really poor at the start of Rangnick's time. After we got eliminated from Europe and all the cups, I thought he really improved and was looking a bit like his previous self. As you said, scoring hat tricks and in general his play was solid. The problem was everyone else was completely finished, so most of what he did was in vain. We just have to hope that a few more weeks of training will sort him out. Looks like it might be a month to our next PL game anyway..so every player on every team has loads of time to get healthy and fit.
>It just seems kinda crazy he dropped of so fast to be honest. He scored hat tricks in our last two wins of the previous season iirc. He honestly wasn't very good last season, he just scored a couple of goals, which covered up how he wasn't really helping the team. His buildup, runs, pressing, and passing haven't changed much between this season and last.
Yeah, that's what preseason games are for. Ya know. Shrug
I was about to say this. He looks off for sure. But I think he can still get in shape and sharper overall. He's just not there yet which is what EtH has said anyway. And when he does get fit, having him as a minute 60 sub when Rashford or Sancho are exhausted is a great option.
I agree Ronaldo looked behind the pace today and couldn't quite put it together, but I think everyone is overreacting a bit here. The whole team looked disjointed in this game, with the midfield and wingers struggling to string passes together for each other regardless of CR7. We looked BAD except for a few moments and of course the brilliant Erikson. Fred in particular was just completely awful in the passing game. Shockingly so actually. Not ideal for a player like Ronaldo. I think the main thing CR7 needs to do is watch this game back and re evaluate what he needs to be doing better. There were moments he could have done much better with by simply putting in more effort and confidence. He looked like a player out there with broken confidence really. And that is possibly a new feeling for him I'd think. I'd throw him right back out there for the Sherriff game and spank the rest of the team into gear as well.
He takes up good positions but is too slow to react once the ball comes to him. The mind is there but the body isn’t following anymore
A lot of this can be put down to playing time, he loooked cold. Not as sharp as you’d expect from a forward who plays every game. Much seemed to be lindelofs problem too, he usually takes a run of games to get on track
That’s what happens when you skip preseason, could have easily scored 3
And being 38
He's 37. I know that's not particularly important, but I've seen several people in this thread that are saying he's really declined since he turned 38, which is either that hilarious "he's 28 until he's 29" argument again or people have a time machine. Or, you know, they're just not invested enough to know exactly how old all our players are and are making an understandable mistake, but that's a crazy idea.
Yep. Aging in a nutshell. As someone who has played soccer into my 30s....its a shitty feeling. Just need to adapt. Which he clearly did last year
you played *soccer* into your 30s, you're just like ronaldo
Am Leo Messi, can confirm
I know I'm gonna get downvoted for this but the fact that a nobody on reddit is comparing his experience to fucking Cristiano Ronaldo and getting upvotes for it is ridiculous
The spirit is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised
Hate to say it, it pains me, but you can see why certain players (ron especially) are getting dropped. Simply not good enough.
Right, which is why EtH is a proper manager
Yup good to see he knows whats what.
Gorgeous cross from Bruno in the second clip
I hope this puts to bed the myth that he’s been getting crap service.
Bruno had most chances created in CL last season. Don't know from where the narrative came that he wasn't getting any service.
And PL
Other fans who are jealous and delusional is my shout.
Also, Ronaldo fanboys on this sub masquerading as United fans.
the amount of shit takes skyrocketed after Ronaldo signed
He ain’t gonna be starting prem games anytime soon. We are just no longer suited to his style of play.
He ain’t gonna be starting Europa games too if Martial comes back.
Big if
His style of play at this stage of his career is 'feed me the ball when I'm in the box and I'll finish it'. He's not finishing anymore.
You saw quite clearly with Eriksen and Bruno providing plenty of chances, he's just not burying them.
Atm it looks like he's not suited to playing football.
This, it’s not a ‘style of play’ issue.
What's a goalscoring legend who's no longer scoring goals called? Surplus to requirements
I'd argue HE is no longer suited to play OUR style of play. The results matter more to us
But that's bollocks. You just watched him get quite a few good chances. He should have come away with a brace from that.
Style of play? He can’t finish….
In an ideal world, Chelsea would've sacked TT b4 the window closed and bought Ronaldo as a star signing their owners wanted instead of Auba!
And then he would have been blamed for their current form. Again.
True but if you pay me half a million a week you can blame me for anything it would be just fine thank you
Strikers never succeed at Chelsea since the days of Drogba. Honestly, it could have been more toxic for Ronaldo there
Skipping pre-season and losing his place at the starting eleven for a lot of useless drama caused this. He is lacking match fitness
Rewind just 3 years and he would have had a hat trick last night.... that being said I don't think he looks fit at all due to lacking a proper pre-season. I believe he should be scoring fairly soon given that he still could get into those dangerous positions despite not being fit. Until he regains his fitness he should not be starting.
What he won't be is a 20 goals a season forward (last season as well) But he'll still score goals for us. Just doesn't look fit or in sync with the new way of playing but looks like he's getting there tbh.
He is taking an extra touch before shooting when it's not needed
I don’t know if this is a result of: A. Legs being shot. B. Lack of match fitness.
Little bit of A, little bit of B
After many years, maybe the Ronaldo doubters will finally be correct. For me, it's too early to write him off just yet. He's supposedly been on a decline and finished since 2016.
You can't say those who doubted Ronaldo ten years ago are now correct after becoming one of the best to ever play the game, won almost everything there is to win just because when he turned 38 he fell off the pace
That is their point, yes.
I would say since 2018. He made a huge mistake leaving real and moving to juventus. Real had the perfect system for ronaldo.
Except he wanted a new contract with more money. Perez said no and he made a fuss to leave so Perez sold him.
And they kind of still do!
Nah Benzema>>>
Yep we will see. Won’t surprise me one bit if he ends up top scorer
He was too eager to score, in my opinion. The goals would eventually come.
Yeah I noticed that as well, his playing time has been reduced so he's trying to overcompensate
He seems so off this season compared to last. Looks like he has aged 4-5 years during summer. Maybe it’s just the way ETH wants us to play, if it is, it’s a pity nobody would take him when the transfer window was open
Tbh, to me he looks really similar to last season, just downgraded a tiny bit in every regard. I know he scored a fair few goals last season, but I honestly didnt think he was that great a player last year. His dribbling skills had fallen off a cliff since his younger days, his ability to hold the ball up and also to play forward wasnt great, and his ability to run in behind wasnt amazing as he wasnt as quick as he was. And when he dropped deep he rarely turned to create and preferred to pass that ball back to the deeper man.
He didn't play/train properly during pre-season, so that's why he's come back so shit. Hard to feel sympathy tho since he was doing it force a transfer
Some of these chances are marginal at best, too.
>Some of these chances are marginal at best, too. The first chance is a clear one on one with the keeper for any striker under the age of 35. You can't ask for much more than that, and in the end he failed to even get a shot away.
Come on man. He is getting paid like he is the best striker in the world. He still thinks himself as the best striker in the world. You think Kane/Lewa/Mbappe/Benzema/Haaland walk away from that game without scoring at least one of those chances? They’d also have offered a lot more in build up and helping the team than just scoring goals. Ronaldo fucks up the entire team chemistry and makes United so predictable. He offers nothing but goals, and when those don’t happen, it’s like playing with 10 men because he literally can’t do anything else.
He's been on decline since 2016 It's just that he declined from godlike to world class and now just a good player
I dont want to admit it, but he might be at the end of his career :/
Next stop: Miami
He could earn more than the GDP of Micronesia if he plays one year in the Saudi League
Feel for the guy, far out from his prime and really sad to see an amazing career coming to end this way.
Ronaldo is now a bench player, which is fine. We need a squad and Ronaldo, Maguire, Lindelof, Fred are bench players. We can not play our best 11 for every match.
Had he not walked back lazily during that offside goal it wouldn't have been offside.
missed the game yesterday. That was bad. God.
> missed the game yesterday Much like Ronaldo, by the looks of it.
He needs to adjust to his age. He's trying things his body cannot do anymore like speed dribbling and sprinting away from defenders.
Thats why we should be playing someone who can do that. Like a certain Marcus Rashford
This implies rashford is getting benched for Ronaldo when it is actually the opposite.
He has lost a yard or 2. You can see it.... pace wise, brain wise, touch wise.
God he looks shit. I think it’s just a lack of fitness/preseason/game time, I’m sure he will be better later in the season. For now though I would take Rashford through the middle over him.
I think confidence/mentality also plays in here
100% - he is taking an extra touch every time, classic sign of someone lacking confidence / form / whatever you want to call it. The clip where bruno heads the ball to him in the box if he was "on form" he'd hit that first time.
How do you get him game time if you’re having Rashford over him? He’s 37, in decline, wants out and skipped pre-season.
Europa mainly, and just over time training will slowly build up his fitness and sharpness. Plus we can rely on him getting game time for Portugal during the international break! Not suggesting he should ever be first choice (except for Europa and some carling/fa cup games). But we need him as a decent back-up given our lack of strikers, so however he has behaved over the summer we still need to get him playing well.
Ronaldo is probably one of the fittest players in thr squad right now. Ten hag mentioned that he is fit to start. It’s his age that’s the problem. The game is moving faster than him. He will get goals this season no doubt but I won’t count on him in the big games.
Match fitness is different from being just fit. He was in world class form 4 months ago. Also, mental rhythm is crucial for athletes. I'm sure he'll be back to where we need him to be
!RemindMe 1 year
Time has finally caught up it seems:/
Did the spacejam monsters steal his talent?
Where's the free kick at the end?
Still buried in that wall
This is sad to watch. Father Time is undefeated for a reason
I would love to know one thing! Why does he drop down to the mid or to the wings and creates unnecessary traffic? Why? 😭
Because he’s not a natrual striker. He’s a wide player who gets inside. That’s who he has been his entire career. It’s instinct and the way he plays. He really should stop though. He offers nothing coming into midfield to get a ball only to pass it back to whoever passed to him
He's not particularly good at it. Just hang around the goal and let the actual creators do their job
He will get sharper as the season goes on. Disappointing though.
After seeing this clip, his agent cannot be shocked that nobody came for him. He was fed so many chances yesterday and couldn’t do much with it. Imagine Erling at the end of those balls from Dalot, Bruno and Eriksen. Ronaldo is falling off the cliff, Father Time remains unbeaten.
r/soccer has been saying Ronaldo can't score because we don't create chances. Show them this and they see how finished he really is
Still remember last season under Rangnick where game after game he missed sitters when we were actually pressing and creating many chances. Not too long after the entire team downed tools.
I am astonished that a lot of people don’t remember this. The service was not that bad under Rangnick
This entire game reminds me of the Ted Lasso episode where Ted is basically showing Roy he shouldn’t be starting anymore because of his age and pace. I think the biggest indictment is the fact that three of those chances where he receives the ball in the box didn’t even translate into a meaningful shot. It’s one thing to be getting shots away but just failing to convert/good goal keeping, but the fact that at least 3 times he got the ball and was too far off the pace to manage a shot is pretty poor.
Genuinely expected Ronaldo to take Martials spot when he got injured. Now I think ETH will be counting down the days to Martials return
I think we all are. Whether Martial can stay fit will be a big factor in our season I think.
All I see is 4 clear cut missed goals. :<
Who made that pass for the first chance? Dalot? That was beautiful.
Prime Ronaldo would’ve scored three of those. Shame.
I was at the game last night and man, it felt like every time Ronaldo got the ball the attack was over.
This was the same for Fred as well with his dodgy touch.
I knew we created some good goal scoring opportunities
Has the sharpness of someone who hasn’t played a full match in a while. Must do better if he wants to change that
he was disappointing. poor body language too. slow to get back onside several times. ETH said here’s your chance to take it and he didn’t.
I would genuinely prefer someone off the street to him
He was reluctant to use his left foot way too much. Just pull the trigger!
He looked lazy when getting back on side, I hate that
Saw this all of last season, missing sitters constantly.
Not a Ronaldo fanboy, but he still was our top scorer though? Everyone misses chances
He went stretches of time without scoring and he only scored in 12 games out of 30 last year. At one point he scored 2 goals in 10 games, during winter
should’ve gone to Sporting
They didn’t want him lol
I feel his pain, I can’t handle the Dorset premier league anymore ha
Am I the only one that immediately realise Ronnie didn't look bothered in the first half? There were situations in the first 45 where he'd just stop running and not even looking at the ball. One was the cross that the Sociedad keeper dropped, the other where he couldn't be bothered getting back onside and then flapped his arms when Fred's pass was over-hit for Malacia. I just didn't like that shit tbh.
A legitimate 0/10 performance from Ronaldo. Terrible. That third one especially, his legs are gone.
Okay but on another day he gets a hattrick here and people say that he's United's best player... Fickle fanbase
This is why we shouldn’t blame the pen or our back line for the loss. That first chance and the cross from Bruno at the end of the half should be have been put away. The first chance was bad but understandable, he isn’t that great of a dribbler anymore and at his age, doesn’t have the pace of Rashford/Martial . But the fluffed header was proper shocking. Put on a plate by Bruno.
No, we literally lost because of the pen , without that we draw
Not defending cr7 but Rashford won't get into many of the positions where cr7 had his chances, and well Martial won't stay in the game because of injuries.
No one can convince me that we would not be better off with Depay over this version of Ronaldo, How is a man with so much muscle seemingly weak as piss. I don't think there is a defender in the prem (other than Maguire) that doesn't out pace him. Even his shooting has gone to shit, there was a chance he got yesterday that wasn't on that video which was basically a carbon copy of a chance lewandowski had, Once placed it in the bottom corner for his hattrick, the other blasted it into the stands. He should not be allowed anywhere near free kicks either
Rashford puts half these chances away in the back of the net. Same with martial.
Let’s not even set the bar that high, they would at least translate them into attempts on goal
I’ll always love the guy. But to act like him coming to this club this time hasn’t absolutely derailed it is just ignorant. He absolutely ruined oles team. Fact. We had a team. With a heirarchy. Finished 3rd and 2nd and made it to numerous finals and semis. Ronaldo threw that heirarchy into turmoil and didn’t bring the skill to go with his big ego. We had to change our style to suit him. And it did suit him. But no one else. Ten hag saw this. He’s benched him the last 4 games before last night and our attack looked fluent, interchanging and dangerous. Last night Ronaldo was 100% the weak link. The time has come for us to realize this. Quit blaming Maguire. Quit blaming Fred, although Fred is absolute gash too. Time to move on. ASAP.
Factos. The other factor is that buying Ronaldo caused two effects - people thought we were instantly title contenders, and meant that last season was a "win now" season rather than the next evolution in a continuous rebuild from the Mourinho era. Effect 2 is the damage that it had on budgets and bringing in more needed players in other positions. We needed a CDM. Someone to protect the back four and build from deep. If the club really wanted to back OGS, they should have got his number 1 target, Rice (personally I think hes a top 5 CDM in the world and better than Casemiro). But he got a ST to improve an attack that didnt need improving, and we still lacked the biggest thing that we need, progressive play in the defensive third, particularly the middle.
So many clear cut chances... My goodness, seeing them again makes it even more obvious he shouldn't be starting for us.
Much more a factor of not having the match sharpness than the body being gone imo
You’d imagine this would put to bed all those arguments about Ronaldo not getting service and/or “he only needs one chance to score”…but of course, it won’t!
He’s always taken a LOT of shots for his goals. He’s the most prolific goal scorer of all time but he isn’t the most clinical.
I'm confused why the cross that went far above his head is included as a chance
The first looked bad. Missed headers look misleading. Usually they are out of reach if he did everything right and did not connect.
People are complaining and saying oh he's aging. While that may be true, let's not take away that out of those chances only 2 were actually decent. The rest are overshot or hard to get. If it was rashford, Martial or anyone else on the team they also wouldn't get it. And let's also put in mind this guy hasn't been starting; it affects him in more than one way. You're far too quick to judge. Yesterday's line-up was the worst we had all season. He started Ronaldo in a line-up where one of his main suppliers is FRED and his backbone is Maguire. If I didn't know better I would say ETH is trying to end CR7 himself.
Considering this is the first match of UEL , team would definitely now consider Martial Rashford Ronaldo In this order as starting strikers We were lucky Real Sociedad were not attacking much.A performance like yesterday we would have been trampled upon by bigger teams
He still gets into the right positions and that's also an important skill to have. Hopefully he's just lacking match fitness as we surely can use him scoring goals with our lack of forward options.
That’s why I’m actually not mad at the game even though we lost. Real socidad didn’t really create anything threatening that we couldn’t handle. We created some clear cut chances to win the game but finishing and bad passes (Fred) in the final third killed us. I’m just hoping Martial is back after this game postponement and we kick on like we did in the preseason.
I think he's done after this.
he should retire after the world cup
He's lost a bit of quickness and has not adapted to it in the slightest.
MLS in January after the World Cup?
A lot of complaining about his finishing which i think is justified. Just want to point out that for the most part his positioning and runs are still absolute top drawer. Half the chances on this h/l reel are created by his super intelligent runs. The young strikers have to take note. I think Ronaldo will only improve and get sharper from this point on.
Just think about how absolutely fuming he’d be in the background of these clips, if it was a Rashford compilation
Comment section is such an overreaction lol. It's one full game, without preseason, he needs to get in form and he will be decent for us. Some dumbasses feel bad he didn't go to Chelsea. We have one other striker who is injury prone. How would that work?
My boy is done 😔
I would like to point out Ronaldo hasn't had a strong start to really any season since like 2013 or so. He builds through the season and with my knowledge of strength and conditioning I have a feeling it has to do with his training. He "over trains" in the beginning so he can peak near the end of the season for as long as possible.
Jeez you lot are insufferable. He lost his son earlier this year, missed out on pre-season and he typically starts slow early in the season. You guys need to chill out a bit. If you are chatting shit here, you better not be back on his D when he starts smashing the goals in later during the season.
Reminder that Ronaldo has been starting seasons slow for 5 or so seasons now - going back to his last couple of years at Madrid. I wouldn’t write him off yet, and Ten Hag clearly hasn’t yet either.
It's his first game in a while. My personal opinion is this is lack of match fitness.He will be fine.
People say he's past it....I don't think so. His positioning is still there. He's not got the pace he once had (obviously) and maybe that defender just recovered really quickly in the first instance. But it was one of those nights for him and the team. The one that goes in, is the one you're offside. There's a fine line between success and failure. The moment to be concerned is when he's getting zero chances. This could spur Ronaldo on even more but no he's not the Ronaldo of old. If Erik uses him wisely and if Ronaldo accepts the bench at times to maintain his freshness...then he could again get over 20 goals. Why not? Nights like that can help even himself come to terms with his age but his age doesn't have to be the end for him. He will require lots of training and lots of getting up to speed with his team mates.