I don't agree that he loses the ball often. I couldn't find any good stats to back it up but his general play seems just average to me now.
Let's just say he directly contributes to us losing the ball a lot. Way too much for real madrid
It's not a negative for me and calling it 'very bad' is just being too harsh.
It's really bad relative to our team and what we need from our strikers in that regard
When he gets the ball away from the area I don't feel the danger of a few years ago but I also don't feel like he's going to lose it.
I do. Him and Bale on the pitch together is incredibly frustrating at times
I also think Real's style doesn't help him in this regard, you'll create more danger with Modric and Kroos running the game, Carvajal and Marcelo on the flanks and Cristiano in the box than if he tries to come deep or to the wings and force things.
Erm...Cristiano plays the way he wants for us...
And Modric and Kroos do run the game, and marcelo and carvajal do attack the flanks, and cristiano does mainly occupy the box
Counter attacks are definitely the part of his game where he has declined a lot. Which is to be expected.
Which doesn't excuse him repeatedly making the wrong decision and losing the ball in those situations
He does come to the wings often though. More so on the left than on the right and not as often as before but that's because if he comes to the wing there's little threat in the middle. He still makes good combinations with the full backs whenever he does that though.
Of course he does. It's modern football. He can't afford to just stand still inside the box...
He plays like any other second striker
I couldn't find any numbers but I doubt Inzaghi had more assists in his whole time at Milan than Cristiano has in the last two seasons. I know assists are a bit of a weird stat and that Inzaghi was no Bacca but Cristiano still offers a lot more to the build up than Inzaghi used to.
Well, for one, Inzaghi wouldn't have made an assist for his grandmother. For another, Cristiano's still better than Inzaghi ever was. But it's not like Inzaghi didn't contribute outside of goals
If you take away any big team striker's goals, you'd be left with an average player that would definitely not start for that team.
Don't think i was clear. Point is, Cristiano does one thing at an elite level nowadays: scoring goals. He's about average at almost everything else, bar crossing. Compare for example with Lewandowski, or Suarez, or Higuain, players who contribute a lot more in possession, on top of scoring goals
For me a poacher is a player with below average technique who's only on the pitch to put the ball in the net when it's inside the box. Cristiano's main strenght is exactly that but he offers other things outside of the box that poachers don't normally do.
What you're describing is Carlos Bacca. There's a reason he left Sevilla for Milan instead of going to a big club...
Maybe we're just seeing a poacher as different things. Out of the current strikers in football which ones would you call a poacher?
Radamel Falcao, RVN, Cristiano(last two seasons)
Poachers are box killers who don't offer much outside the box on the ball and mostly play off the ball
