Basically this. Or to say more precisely I wouldn't bet against him to peak again in the knockout stages. People already wrote him off before.
Although, this time it will need, not only him but the whole team to go level up.
Cristiano Ronaldo - performances 2017/18
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Basically this. Or to say more precisely I wouldn't bet against him to peak again in the knockout stages. People already wrote him off before.
Although, this time it will need, not only him but the whole team to go level up.
The whole team peaked. All he did was provide the finish. He peaked in terms that he was sharp in front of the box. That's it. Non of his performances where anything to shout about. Now that the full backs aren't delivering he does nothing usually.
Agree with you in general, that's why I said that this time he has a bigger problem with the fact the whole team isn't performing and he relies on their service. Marcelo looks atrocious, Benzema was already in decline, Carvajal is a level below last season. They do seem like they need an overhaul and frankly, they've been pretty quiet in the transfer market in the last few years, so I expect them to change that next summer.
Saying that I still wouldn't write off him or that team just yet. Too much quality and CL is all about getting your form at the right moment.
Should have been sold this summer while he was worth over 100 million euros. I hope Zizou grows a pair and benches him for the next 2-3 games.
Even Perez can see that this season is on the verge of a complete collapse and will not interfere now.
There needs to be a complete overhaul of the front line and the coach needs to be sacked if he doesn't start picking on merit.
Even Perez can see that this season is on the verge of a complete collapse and will not interfere now.
There needs to be a complete overhaul of the front line and the coach needs to be sacked if he doesn't start picking on merit.
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Ah I get you now. TBH I put them as favs over PSG without Motta. Think they are trying to get Lass Diarra. The only team I think that can consitently smash Madrid are Barcelona. I would still put Madrid as favs over every other team in the CL
Exactly.
Journalists needs to sell papers. They will say anything to create a debate among their consumers. The problem goes deeper than bad playmaking though, his freekick technique has regressed alot, a few years ago he actually put good effects on the ball, now it's power and hope it gets in, also, he is scoring much less headers, if any at all, he was known for being a big aerial threat too. I think this was his last individual award, although if he manages another CL stunner at the latter stages, all bets are off.
That is the most absurd I have read for a long time. If anything, it would be Real using Ronaldo as bait to land Hazard, not that Chelsea would like to bite though..
Maybe it's just me but I don't really see a physical decline at all from where he was 18 months or so ago. He slowed down considerably throughout 2015 but if anything I thought he looked even slower and more sluggish during some of the matches in 2016 and early 2017 than he does at the moment.
I went to the Super Cup at the Camp Nou a few months ago and he seemed as sharp as ever imo. He was barely on the pitch for 15 minutes but still scored one worldie, had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside, and could have even had another if he had taken a slightly better touch or stayed on his feet when he was given the yellow for diving.
The only differences from then are that his team was creating more chances for him and he was more clinical in front of goal. His finishing shouldn't decline too much with age, so once that and Madrid get over their current bad patch, he'll probably start banging them in fairly regularly once again.
I think it's fair to say Ronaldo's days of being a great dribbler or having a key influence on the general play are over, but I definitely think it's too soon to say he can't play another 1-2 years as a 30-40 goal per season striker.
I went to the Super Cup at the Camp Nou a few months ago and he seemed as sharp as ever imo. He was barely on the pitch for 15 minutes but still scored one worldie, had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside, and could have even had another if he had taken a slightly better touch or stayed on his feet when he was given the yellow for diving.
The only differences from then are that his team was creating more chances for him and he was more clinical in front of goal. His finishing shouldn't decline too much with age, so once that and Madrid get over their current bad patch, he'll probably start banging them in fairly regularly once again.
I think it's fair to say Ronaldo's days of being a great dribbler or having a key influence on the general play are over, but I definitely think it's too soon to say he can't play another 1-2 years as a 30-40 goal per season striker.
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Can't see this happening. Surely not.
16:17
Ronaldo could 'leave Real Madrid this month'
Ronaldo could be on his way out of Madrid and back to the Premier League but not to United.
According to reports in Spanish outlet Don Balon Ronaldo is determined to leave Real Madrid this month and join Chelseas.
They claim Chelsea are keen on bringing United’s former No 7 to Stamford Bridge and could use Hazard as bait to land the Portuguese international.
Sound legit. Let's trade so we lose key players due to cup tie in CL...
That Chelsea rumor sounds like something coming from the mind of a crackhead. It makes 0 sense.
The guy is definitely hearing father time's footsteps creeping up. Real Madrid need to seriously consider not one, but two attacking players between him and Benzema. Asensio is a good young player, but I don't think he's good enough to be leading Madrid's offense just yet. Getting Hazard would be one step, getting Kane would be the second step to going back to a dominant offense. Good luck getting rid of Cristiano though, it's going to be a tough sell if he keeps playing this way.
The guy is definitely hearing father time's footsteps creeping up. Real Madrid need to seriously consider not one, but two attacking players between him and Benzema. Asensio is a good young player, but I don't think he's good enough to be leading Madrid's offense just yet. Getting Hazard would be one step, getting Kane would be the second step to going back to a dominant offense. Good luck getting rid of Cristiano though, it's going to be a tough sell if he keeps playing this way.
The lack of respect for the guy's ability in most of the posts in this thread is astonishing. One would think that the only thing Ronaldo was good at during his career was poaching goals. He is going through a dry patch as he is trying to evolve and adapt to a less mobile striker role, he will come good and make every one eat their words. I have seen RM play quite many times this season, where Ronaldo has been highly underwhelming the whole team has been playing on a ridiculously low level. Zidane has no tactical answers to the slump as well...
I’d take him here in a heartbeat if the fee was reasonable. I’m sure PSG wouldn’t say no either.
On the contrary, there is a big respect for Ronaldos abilities here. Thats why, as some posters have pointed on in the last few pages, there is more emphasis on the abilities he actually possess'. Its pointless to argue against the fact that since Ronaldo joined Madrid, his overall gameplay has been more and more focused on scoring goals. This is the only ability he has enhanced - and in what a way. He has been so deadly for a couple of years it has been ridiculous.
This fact made him a very strong asset for the team. For them and the coach, all they needed to do was to bring the ball to him in a shooting position, most preferably in the box, and they would now for a certain that Ronaldo would do everything in his powers to bang it in.
I think it's double edged, the question of who makes who perform badly - "Ronaldo has been highly underwhelming the whole team has been playing on a ridiculously low level". The team Real Madrid is playing worse because of Ronaldos detoriating ability. He has been the player the whole team has been built around for several years now, and if he does not perform at the same level naturally the team won't either.
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Yeah, that's essentially what I meant - with a wee bit of hyperbole with the 3-4 matches. But apparently you're a Barca "fanboi" or CR hater when you point this out.
There's actually nothing wrong with "peaking" at the business end of the season IMO. We all know the awards are skewed towards the UCL/WC winners. This year though, Madrid's not at the same level.
He can't keep making "critics eat their words" the guy is almost 34, he will be past it soon and the critics will be right. Just a matter of time.
And you can't praise Ronaldo all the time when Real Madrid are functioning well as a whole team but don't expect him to be singled out when the team is bad. This goes with the territory of "having it both barrels".
Time will tell but I really think this time Ronaldo is losing it. Someone said he might still score 30/40 goals a season.. that won't win him Ballon d'Ors.
And someone suggested Real Madrid will struggle to sell? there's so thing as the MLS after the World Cup, that would be the perfect time for both club and player to part ways. Real Madrid spent £80M and have had more then 10x there money's worth, they can't complain selling him for a reduced fee.
I think the only ones "eating their words" are the Ronaldo fanbois who said he will have no problem playing well into his 40s at the top level because he's a I quote "a physical freak".. he's no Ryan Giggs that's for sure - he won't be able to adapt his game to a centre midfielder playmaking position like Messi will be able to extend his career a few extra years because he doesn't possess those god-given qualities of vision.
Can you imagine if Real Madrid try to rotate him how he will throw the toys out of the pram with his ego? they gave him a contract until he's 36.. very painful days ahead for him and Madrid. I think if he's not starting regularly, Real Madrid should get rid as he would become a bad apple in the dressing room.
And you can't praise Ronaldo all the time when Real Madrid are functioning well as a whole team but don't expect him to be singled out when the team is bad. This goes with the territory of "having it both barrels".
Time will tell but I really think this time Ronaldo is losing it. Someone said he might still score 30/40 goals a season.. that won't win him Ballon d'Ors.
And someone suggested Real Madrid will struggle to sell? there's so thing as the MLS after the World Cup, that would be the perfect time for both club and player to part ways. Real Madrid spent £80M and have had more then 10x there money's worth, they can't complain selling him for a reduced fee.
I think the only ones "eating their words" are the Ronaldo fanbois who said he will have no problem playing well into his 40s at the top level because he's a I quote "a physical freak".. he's no Ryan Giggs that's for sure - he won't be able to adapt his game to a centre midfielder playmaking position like Messi will be able to extend his career a few extra years because he doesn't possess those god-given qualities of vision.
Can you imagine if Real Madrid try to rotate him how he will throw the toys out of the pram with his ego? they gave him a contract until he's 36.. very painful days ahead for him and Madrid. I think if he's not starting regularly, Real Madrid should get rid as he would become a bad apple in the dressing room.
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To be fair, I think they said up to the age of 40 which does/did have a kind of sheen of plausibility to it, at least to those who don't know better.
Anyway, such claims are always more a sign of peoples own 'devotion' than Ronaldo's 'freakish' athletic ability.
He'll end up knocking PSG out of the CL and I'm probably what you'd call a 'Messi fanboi' (I think the latter is the goat).
I don't think he's done yet.
I don't think he's done yet.
Absolutely, especially if athleticism is an important aspect of your game and you're at his age. So, there is nothing wrong in targeting your peak for the second part of the season.
Tbh, I was puzzled a bit seeing that your post has been understood as some sort of criticism towards him.
Did Real Madrid play him as a striker again? lol
Of course he'll decline and he might be doing it now (the problem is we hear this talk 365 years a year every year).
I remember seeing stats 3 weeks ago or so that included goals + assists and minutes played this season, and Ronaldo was involved in more goals per minuite that Messi, Kane and Lewandowski which were the other players I saw.
Might have changed now, in any case he should still be up there with the others.
Of course he'll decline and he might be doing it now (the problem is we hear this talk 365 years a year every year).
I remember seeing stats 3 weeks ago or so that included goals + assists and minutes played this season, and Ronaldo was involved in more goals per minuite that Messi, Kane and Lewandowski which were the other players I saw.
Might have changed now, in any case he should still be up there with the others.
He’s back on planet earth and at his age it’s only likely to stay that way.
He wasn't much better in the second half of '16 - talk looked the same as it does now. Still totally teared it up in april/may/june '17, so I won't count him off.
Sensitive world we seem to live in Jim. Some people have it in their heads that you’re either a Barca fan/Messi fanboi or a Madrid/CR hater.
It’s obviously completely out of the question that some, even though they have a preference for one over the other, can actually enjoy them both.
I don't think this is about hitting peak form, afaik players can hit 3 or even 4 peaks of form (WC year) in a whole season via planning, we're at January and he hasn't hit one yet, after a peak there comes a resting period, he won't peak before March, and even at 34 y/o it would be stupid to peak just once in a season if you haven't been seriously injured, he could've been blasting the league as he had a whole month without league games due to the sanction, that's enough for him to be in form, but he wasn't torching Spain after that.
I think this is the same problem Suarez had in the first months (even with his knee problems), like he said when the ball doesn't want to go in, it doesn't and when it does you can score with your ass, Ronaldo has just hit one of those dry spells where everything goes against him, countered by his UCL performance this season, where he basically could score with his ass if he wanted.
If you look at stats he's getting more chances per game than Messi, and not those Ronaldo chances outside the box, he's outshooting leo inside the penalty area, but with that volume of chances sooner or later he's bound to pour goals againt, the only problem for Real Madrid will be if that hot form will happen vs PSG or UCL KO stage, or against Deportivo and Espanyol in La Liga.
His game won't turn better in April, same way it wasn't better last year in that wonderful spell, he's a machine and he's always there where he should be to score, the only thing that will change the appretiation about his season is if the chips go in or out, to me, he's already making a good job being where he has to be in order to score.
@Ishdalar fair points and you do watch him more regularly. From what I've seen this season it's true that he gets in good positions, so it's not about his movement, but he simply keeps missing chances as you say. The same chances that he scored without much problem his whole career.
Would agree completely if this is not his third season in a row where he goes a little bit slower, people calling him past it and then he picks it up as the season progress, so it has to be also about him stepping up at the right moments and right games, both CL and La Liga. Call it targetting his form, bringing extra motivation or whatever it is, but he has been able to do it so far.
It's also true that we're now in January and this "bad spell", when we talk purely about La Liga, never lasted so long.
Would agree completely if this is not his third season in a row where he goes a little bit slower, people calling him past it and then he picks it up as the season progress, so it has to be also about him stepping up at the right moments and right games, both CL and La Liga. Call it targetting his form, bringing extra motivation or whatever it is, but he has been able to do it so far.
It's also true that we're now in January and this "bad spell", when we talk purely about La Liga, never lasted so long.
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True, no room for middle ground at all. One of the reasons I mostly avoid Messi vs Ronaldo thread.
It's going to be an interesting season indeed. I'd have PSG as favorites over Real - especially with Real's current form/woes. But never write them, or CR off. They still have world class players, albeit some on the decline/others maybe lacking motivation after dominating recently.
Knowing CR, he might also just be building up steadily for the WC (he's won everything else), which will in all likelihood be his, and maybe even Messi's last chance to really shine.
Another excuse incase he flops against the magnificent PSG. First it was "oh he's going to peak at the business end of the CL" (if Real Madrid drew a duffer in the last 16 like they often do each year) but then people realised PSG are the daddy club at the minute so the "best player in the World" can't grab the game by the scruff of the neck.. like he should, the best players should shine in the biggest matches and look a class apart (they shouldn't have to rely on their teammates to score a "Worldie" or dribble past a few players and influence the game)
Keep making excuses for him, but the rest of the online football community and especially Real Madrid fans (who do watch every Real Madrid game so are more informed then anyone on this forum) feel he's well past it.
I guess time will tell who is right in the end.
Would put all PSG, Barcelona and City as favourites against them and have them somewhere in the tier with Juve and Bayern. As for Ronaldo, no matter how the season ends from an individual perspective he will still have pretty good numbers. As Ishdalar said he gets in the positions and even with his current bad form he is on 16 goals in 23 matches. Not bad for someone who is past it.
As for the WC, Portugal is more down in the pecking order than Real is at the CL, so it will be pretty difficult, but that doesn't mean he can't shine especially since it will be his last one and there will be absolutely no pressure for the team. They will go in it basically as underdogs which can be an advantage.
Btw. based on the previous post you've gone from CR hater to "making excuses" for him in just one page. All that, while saying the same thing. Funny and ridiculous at the same time.
@RedStrudel76 He could be in decline, yes. After all, he isn't young anymore. But, he could also bounce back like he did before. That's the only thing that people say. To say that he is absolutely finished or suggest like you did in some other post here that he should go to MLS after this season is beyond ridiculous.
Aye, same here.
Past his best and past it are very different things
You seem to be overreacting to @Ish s posts just a tad.
Exactly this. I don't think anyone is expecting him to defend his Ballon d'Or in 2018 - the man is about to turn 33. Doesn't mean he can't do the business at the highest level for a while longer though.
Aye amol, I achieved the impossible - I was called both a hater & fanboi on the same page of this thread (I think) for saying roughly the same thing: it wouldn’t surprise me if Ronaldo “peaks” later this season or during the WC.
He played a blinder last season, scoring bucket loads at the tail end of the UCL.
The biggest problem for Ronaldo is that if he isn't scoring consistently then he isn't doing much of anything at all. He's been absolutely shocking lately and while you don't expect that to last forever, it's no surprise that when the midfield isn't spoon feeding him he goes invisible. He needs everyone else to play at a high level as he can't do very much on his own.
Even his CL scoring, half of the goals were against APOEL and 2 of the other ones vs Tottenham were a penalty and a terrible deflection. It is what it is.
At least PSG's defense is terrible, I still think Madrid will do just enough to beat them, but then again seeing Madrid's defending as well who the heck knows.
Even his CL scoring, half of the goals were against APOEL and 2 of the other ones vs Tottenham were a penalty and a terrible deflection. It is what it is.
At least PSG's defense is terrible, I still think Madrid will do just enough to beat them, but then again seeing Madrid's defending as well who the heck knows.
Not performance related but nice to reminisce.
That second goal 
Love the shortsightedness here. Half a season gone and he is past it and should be dumped.
So much for loyalty to players. And fans expect players to be loyal.
So much for loyalty to players. And fans expect players to be loyal.