Before the turn of the year, I looked at Ronaldo’s form in comparison to the season before. We had all been blown away by his performances in 06-07, so to see him improving so dramatically seemed impossible. There was no way he could sustain this goalscoring form to the end of the season, surely?
Speaking before the last game of the month in January, Sir Alex Ferguson reflected on Ronaldo’s achievements so far. Our Portuguese winger had just missed out on the FIFA award but was determined not to let this effect his form.
Ronaldo had scored 25 goals in all competitions, 17 goals in the league. The season before, when he was said to be having a brilliant season, he had scored just 13 goals in all competitions, some 12 goals off.
“With Ronaldo having scored 25 goals already there is the potential for him to score 30 this season, without question,” said Sir Alex Ferguson back in January. “He’s not that far off and has a strong chance. I’m not sure that he is capable of scoring 30 league goals, though. I think that is a different matter entirely. Achieving that would be more difficult and it’s a big ask, but if he does manage it, I’ll pay him more money!”
By the end of January, Ronaldo had scored 27 goals in all competitions, an incredible 9 goals in 6 matches that month, with the 22-year-old looking certain to meet the 30 goal target Ferguson had suggested. However, even then, considering Ronaldo’s brilliant form, the idea of him scoring 30 league goals seemed pretty outlandish. Had someone told us by the end of the season he’d have scored 42 goals in 47 games, we’d have struggled to believe it.
So, Fergie has today claimed that Ronaldo can get even better. Is it possible?
“When he scored 25 goals the season before, no-one thought he could do better than that but I felt he could,” said Ferguson. “I expected him to improve, just as I expect him to improve next season. Of course, we are at a different level. Twenty-five goals against 42 is totally different. So if he only gets to 41 I will forgive him. I am sure he will have a great season.”
Now, the idea of any player being able to improve on that incredible goal-tally is pretty far fetched. The idea of a player who has spent all summer cockteasing Real Madrid then returning to Manchester and focussing on the task in hand might appear to be even more unbelievable. However, I’m not going to rule out Fergie being right here, for a few reasons.
Firstly, Ronaldo is going to be up against it next season, with the likelihood the boos won’t just be originating from the away section at Old Trafford. There are plenty of reds utterly fed up with him and his recent admission that he’s staying at United will do little to improve their feelings towards him. Now, whilst lots of players wouldn’t react well to this, we’ve already seen how Ronaldo thrives when the crowd are against him.
The first season he won the PFA and Football Writers’ Player of the Year awards followed the summer of the 2006 World Cup, where he was terrorised at grounds up and down the country. His improvement in form lead to even more hatred from the non-United fans in this country, seeing Ronaldo enjoy the most successful season of any winger at the club, including George Best, finishing with a league and European Cup double.
Secondly, Ronaldo is just 23-years-old, years away from what should be his peak. If already he has been the best player in England for successive seasons and is certain to be crowned FIFA World Player of the Year in December following his form of 07-08, imagine what he can achieve when he’s a year closer to his peak.
Thirdly, Ronaldo still wants to go to Real Madrid, despite being committed for next season. With Real Madrid capable of signing most players in the World, Ronaldo is not going to want to miss out on his ‘dream’ chance of playing for them. To ensure this, he needs to make sure that he’s playing brilliant football.
Do you think Ronaldo can improve on last season’s form?
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i reckon it will be more of a ask for him to be better then last season purely because of his current injury – i think he will be back end of sep or early oct, and i am not sure if he will be match fit by then. so realistically we will need to give him a month or so to get back to his best because hes missed pre-season.
i hope he can but in all honesty i dont think so – he would if it wasnt for his injury, as you said hes only 23 far from his prime they only place is up (unless players now adays peak early then burn out later…)
I don’t see how Ronaldo can improve on last years form but I hope that he can prove me wrong!!
he might not improve on his goal tally due to his injury and recovery time involved, but his general game appreciation will improve. He’ll be a better team player, more clinical in his finishing and more prudent in his dribbling.
This boy has potential, and I’m so glad he’s at ManUtd!!! I expect him to continually be in the running for world player of the year during the nxt few yrs….
Gabriel: “he might not improve on his goal tally due to his injury and recovery time involved, but his general game appreciation will improve.”
Spot on. There’s still more to come from his talent; this kid definitely wants to be seen as “world’s best” his dedication to excellence can’t be questioned – even if one can wonder about his desire to move on to play for the fascists in Spain.
I should have added that SAF’s widely-reported suggestion about a “new contract” for Ronaldo would seem to indicate that the first steps towards this mega-deal have already been discussed. That comes as no surprise to me as I have always believed – and written – that the UTD/Nike mega-deal will simply boggle our minds. If you believe that you have to spend money to make money then it follows that CR7 is going to be a very, very, very rich young man. Still and all, money is not what seems to motivate him – he seems driven by a perfectionist personality and that desire to be recognized as the “world’s best”.
So, I do think that he can improve on what he did last year but I am not so sure that SAF wants to organize the strike-force to feed him, at the expense of Rooney and Tevez.
Maybe he can improve his game, like getting more physical, but he’s not gonna score 40+ next season. 25-30 max, feel free to quote me on that. The main reason why he scored soo much last season was cus we didn’t have a striker, once we get a striker, he play more like a winger and so won’t score as much.
Nope. Dun see it happening. Seems to me the bonding within the team may be affected even if they laughed it off with a madrid jersey as a gift. I dun know if i am alone but i would love too see this twat gone and i was kinda disappointed!