Cristiano Ronaldo is now the highest scorer in the Premiership. Given that he missed the first month of the season entirely because of the operation he had over the summer, then spent a further month trying to get his fitness back after going so long without playing, Ronaldo should be very happy with himself indeed. Add to the time he has missed the idea that he hasn’t even really played well this season, then it certainly says a lot about his ability to come up with the goals when needed, as well as the poor competition he has been presented with for the golden boot this season.
So far this season he has featured in 40 matches for United, scoring 19 goals. An average of a goal almost every other game isn’t too shabby at all for a player lacking form. However, whatever he achieved last season it would always look average, given that he had scored 37 goals in his first 40 appearances of last season!
My feelings on Ronaldo are clear, I have made them clear, but there is no way that we can overlook what an important contribution he’s made to our season. From the goals that he scored, they proved vital in six matches, with his strike proving the difference between us collecting three points or not collecting three points.
Another crucial contribution yesterday where the goals were concerned, but does that make him exempt from other criticism?
Whenever I mention Ronaldo’s failure to track back, the general response I get is “Well that’s what he did last season!” or “That’s just what Ronaldo does. Like him or lump him.” I beg to differ with both those statements though.
Whilst Ronaldo wasn’t killing himself to win the ball in Rooney/Tevez fashion, he did make a defensive contribution last season. He did track back and he did show a great deal more effort when doing so.
Yesterday, Ronaldo lost the ball along the right wing and then stopped, watching the ball and player disappear in to our half. Hands on hips, he just watched. He didn’t make out like he had been fouled as he often does or complain about any injustice. He just watched.
Whilst he was watching, the rest of our team who had been supporting him on an attack, legged it back to help the defence. 34-year-old Gary Neville was level with Ronaldo when he lost the ball, but managed to sprint back to keep up with John Carew. Nani, who had been further forward than Ronaldo at the moment of the tackle, made it back to the penalty area just in time to watch Abonglahor head past Van der Sar.
Nani is 5′9″. Agbonlahor is 5′11″. Ronaldo is 6′1″. Nani couldn’t outjump Agbonlahor. Ronaldo, who is good with his head, would have been able to.
As the ball crashed in to the back of the net, Ronaldo was stood in exactly the same place he had been standing when he lost possession and the crowd reacted angrily to him. United were losing 2-1 and our fans were contemplating a third successive defeat. Why? Because Ronaldo had lost the ball and couldn’t be arsed to even try to win the ball back.
Every player has a job to do in our team, no doubt. We expect Ronaldo to win us games with goals, just as we expect Rio to win us games with vital blocks and tackles. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t expect Rio to go up for corners or put his foot through the ball if it came to him in the six-yard box. Equally, Ronaldo isn’t excused from defensive duties just because the onus is on him to score goals.
The most frustrating thing about Ronaldo’s refusal to track back, even more than us conceding goals as we did directly from Ronaldo’s behaviour yesterday, is that the rest of the team has to make up for his lack of effort. Every other player on that team chases the ball back, whether it is them who has lost it or not. Ronaldo doesn’t even attempt to win it back when he’s lost the ball, let alone when it’s someone else who is at fault. Why is that acceptable? Why do some fans think it’s OK for every other player on the team to work their balls off defensively when Ronaldo can stand there with his hands on hips and watch?
He is officially the best player in Europe and the World, accolades he fully deserves based on his brilliant performances in 2008. I wouldn’t ever expect Ronaldo to run around like a headless chicken like Tevez, Rooney and Fletcher, who put every ounce of their being in to trying to win possession back for the team. I do expect him to put some effort in though. I expect him to put in more effort than striker Dimitar Berbatov, who despite the lazy stereotype that gets banded about, actually does track back to a certain extent. I expect Ronaldo to do more than Berbatov because essentially he is a midfielder and Berbatov is a striker, and positionally, Berbatov shouldn’t be running to the edge of our box in defence because that will leave him in the wrong place if we win back the ball and break. However, Ronaldo, who is unquestionably the fastest player on our team anyway, is supposed to cover more of the pitch than an out-and-out striker.
I don’t need to get in to detail about Ronaldo’s attitude elsewhere, his petulant kicks out that we would crucify him for if he was Steven Gerrard or John Terry, or the fits he throws when he isn’t given a freekick for losing the ball, or the angry explosions he directs at the ‘lesser’ players when they don’t pass him the ball exactly where he wants it. No, I’ll leave them for another day. Today I am addressing the idea that Ronaldo has, which is sadly shared by large portions of our fanbase, that it is acceptable for Ronaldo not to track back and let the rest of the players compensate for his mistakes, because he scores goals and because he’s The Best Player in the World (TM).
Ronaldo got us out of jail yesterday with his two goals but equally Federico Macheda got Ronaldo out of jail, as much more would have been made over his failure to attempt to make amends for his mistake. Liverpool would be top of the table and it would be replays of Agbonglahor’s goal that was taking precedence today.
Come on Ronnie lad, pull your finger out, and help the rest of the lads in your team. In case you hadn’t realised, it’s not all about you!
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Watching the replay of the game. Right before he scores the 2nd goal the commentator says “Ronaldo, thought about staying down but then realizes that his team needs him” and then bang back of the net. It was such a perfect observation…
redmojo, it is very true, and it is one of the annoying sides that has crept back into his game this season. but i just don’t understand why if he is banging the goals in why utd fans would get on his back so much?? its incredible.
scott, you cant sell your best players and expect to stay at the top of world football. man utd are bigger than ronaldo, but i worry that it will take us atleast two seasons to recover from losing him, just like it did with stam. there is one player in world football that can replace him and thats messi, and he’ll never leave barca.
i accept your point about rio, but ronaldo’s game is built on explosive moments going forward… what would you rather see, ronaldo sprinting back towards our goal, and then being too nackered to get forward or beat a man when on the ball? or hanging further forward, getting the ball behind the opposition midfield and causing damage in the final third of the pitch? put simply, you cant have both, he doesnt run on duracell…
spot on scott, your last comments absolutely hit it… what’s more, the question is not “what makes ronaldo play at his best?” rather it is “how each player has to play to get the best for the team?”. maybe you guys are right that it was also nevilles and evras fault on the second villa goal, but as scott already said, ronaldo didn’t even TRY to make up for his earlier fault or didn’t even TRY to help out his team mates. it’d be definately better for the team if he tracked back as every other player does. and i disagree with people saying he didn’t do it last season either. i think his team play was WAY better, and after all that was what made him better than any other play (combined with his immense ability).
football is NEVER about just one player. NEVER! i think the worst influence on him had that f*cking player of the world award. it’s ridiculous givin away individual awards in a team sport… he’d never played so well like last season hadn’t he had the likes of rooney, scholes, hargo, giggs, tevez, etc. around him. he’d better realize it, or otherwise he should leave and try his luck at a shite team like real, which are a bunch of individuals. his player of the world award will soon be forgotten…
sorry, i can hardly contain myself… i just hate his behaviour at the moment, especially because i KNOW he can do better, as he showed last season.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5154287,00.html
Why don’t we listen to the man himself rather than the rumours from some wanker in Spain who is trying to win an election?? To me, it sounds like he wants to stay…
Why? Because he says he thinks this is the right club?
I’m looking forward to the “I told you so” come the summer.
North Stand, you’re spot on mate, i’m fed up with the Ronaldo bashing too, just ‘cuz he dreams to play in Spain one day we’re not giving him the support, i’m not saying we have to bend over backwards for him but I don’t see the Berbatov rants on this page or the Tevez ones when they do nothing all game or when Tevez only closes down all game but does sod all. Ronaldo cannot waste his energy closing down otherwise his tricks and skills would be alot tougher to do when he’s tired, the same reason Eto’o, Henry, Messi don’t have to close down and look how that’s paid off for Barce. Ronaldo wouldn’t have done nothing more than waste his energy yesterday if he chased back, if Neville couldn’t defend against it what could’ve Ronaldo done, when we needed him, he showed himself and got us goals, can’t believe people are having a go, if there were no rumours of him leaving nobody would be having a go, not even Scott here, no offense but I never see Berbatov moans on here and he’s done alot less than Ronaldo, first season or not, he cost over £30m and he’s had time yet Ronaldo has always looked more dangerous despite being half the player he was last season. I think we need some perspective. Like I said, I think he’s a dick but VIVA FUCKING RONALDO!
Just watched the final 10 minutes of the game again, and at full-time Ronnie went to give Gary high fives, which Gary did, but there was also a look from the skipper to Ronnie as if to say, you could of cost us today. I won’t slag him off as he is a United player, but he needs to put the shift in and track back and protect the back four as he is a midfielder. That aside, a welcome three points after almost losing it, 7 more league wins and the title is ours again. Come on United! A repeat of the 1997 4-0 scoreline against Porto tomorrow will do quite nicely.
Mic, finally someone with some sense.
Scott I come to Man Utd blogs to get away from the outrageous amount of scouse b*stards that fill every living room in the country with their shocking “pro scouser/anti utd” punditry through skysports (Thompson, Redknapp), setanta (Ince, Mcmanaman) and MOTD (Hansen, Lawro) – and finally read some form of “pro united media”
I hope you didn’t cheer Ronnie’s goals on Sunday cos you don’t deserve to. I’m starting to think it’s secretly Scott the (Scouse) Red… Get behind the f*cking team!!
Whingey moany poor excuses for supporters. At the end of the day if Ronaldo is to blame for one goal but scores two then I do not give one solitary shit, and neither should you. There are plenty more people who need to pull their finger out more than Ronaldo – our top goalscorer, why don;t you write an article about the strikers who aren’t doing their job properly by hitting their goal targets, or Nani who had another below par peformance yesterday. For fuck sake, why don’t you knock Evra for not scoring any goals this season or Neville for not proviiding as many clinical crosses as he used to.
Considering he is our top goalscorer, albeit with a modest total, he should really be one of the last people we should be trying to pick holes with. I find it a lot more unacceptable that none of our strikers have reached double figure in the league yet.
“I hope you didn’t cheer Ronnie’s goals on Sunday cos you don’t deserve to”.
Some bloke next to me yesterday was giving Ronaldo some right shit all game. “go on, get back ya lazy cunt” and “stop doing all the fancy stuff you fuckin twinkle toes”, pretty abusive stuff. 4 lads in front of me turned round and said “did you cheer when he scored?” “Yes” and they told him to shut the fuck up. Didn’t hear him again. Idiot.
North Stand – So because I find criticisms AS WELL AS PRAISE for our players, that makes me a scouse bastard? Read the first three paragraphs again then come on my blog like Billy Big Balls having a pop.
Then stop being so fucking precious and get your head out of Ronaldo’s arse. If your idea about supporting the team is finding no fault with anything to do with the club then that it up to you. But don’t expect me to think everything associated with the players is perfect and isn’t worthy of criticism.
When Ronaldo starts laughing and joking about his love for playing in white and his DREAM of leaving us for Real Madrid, totally embarrassing our club and our support after we worshipped last season, you can remind us all again how important it is to support our players… however they behave. Because that’s what football support is ALL about! Now I get it.
Duncan – So because Ronaldo is our top scorer, it’s OK for him to sit back and relax on the pitch, not put in 100% effort, and expect his team mates to make up for his mistakes? It’s OK to expect the rest of our players to work harder so Ronaldo can take it easier because he’s our top scorer?
Pathetic.
The bottom line is, Scott,
You have obviously never played any kind of serious football yourself to conceive how much energy it takes to be as skillfull and pacey as Ronaldo is on the offence AND to conastantly track back. He plays almost every single match and gets kicked the shit out of for 90 minutes. You’re expecting him to put up with all of that plus score the majority of our goals plus never stand still, plus make crunching tackles, plus get the ball and counter and outpace evry player on the field! Someone’s been playing too many football video games
Ronaldo is not super-human. Tevez pays the price for tracking back the eay he does by draining his enrgy which in turn efects his composure when shooting and general attacking ability.
I would bet that almost every single viscous critic of Ronaldo’s defnesive commitment has never played beyond a park kick about with their local pub team.
Some of the effort and skill that goes with Ronaldo’s abilty is amazing yet it gets nowhere near the credit it deserves. It’s just used a short paragraph which precedes the massive BUT to follow. He scored two match-winning goals, his sceond out of absolutely nothing, yet you’ve got the cheek Scott, to go slagging him off.
You kind of people bring nothing but shame to this fantastic club. You’re not wanted or respected as a supporter and a fan. I’m sure if you ever had the privelage the meet Sir Alexe, he’d put you right in your place and laugh at how clueless you really are about football. How is this kind of article good for our club? How dare you put our clubs badge on your website and then trashtalk our beautiful players. You don’t deserve the privelage to grace the stands at Old Trafford. Never have I had such a lack of repsect for anyone I have never met than you, Scott. YOU ARE A DISGRACE! GO BACK TO ANFIELD!
Very good and much needed rant Scott. After the fabulous end to yesterday’s match people tend to forget how piss poor we were and are tempted to view things in a positive light. I know I am.
Kings – I saw that as well but I honestly think that Neville wasn’t at all happy with his own performance, something that he alluded to in interviews with Sky Sports, MUTV and the BBC. Still, I suppose it’s all conjecture mate, I don’t think we’ll ever know.
I agree with Scott in general, but I think because of the amount of times that it has happened, it cannot be a case of attitude – Fergie wouldn’t have stood for it. Instead, I do feel that Fergie believes it is better to have Ronaldo stranded in case we break, as he would fancy Ronaldo up against a couple of defenders possibly more than a 3 on 3. This is fine, as there are always other players to track back, your Fletchers, your Parks, you Rooneys etc.
However, Ronaldo is an intelligent footballer and each game needs to be taken on its merit. I feel that it has been drilled into him to stay up the field, but, even if he never tracked back the whole game, he should have gauged the situation and seen that Carew would be up against Neville who was having a shocker and subsequently used his pace to get back there.
So really, I reject the notion that his failure to track back is the result of an attitude or desire. However, there have been other times when his attitude has been deplorable, the rolling around and whinging for example.
Halo, I agree with your point about rolling around on the floor and whinging, it’s irritating and achieves absolutely nothing. It’s the main reason I am not a fan of Nani (except the fact I’m generally just unsure of his ability – still give him time he’s only 22) He completely removed it from his game last year, but it’s crept back in this season. As per my point above somewhere, I think most of it is down to his own frustration that he hasn’t reached the same level as last year, partly down to being triple marked by teams coming to OT making no attempt to win the game by playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with two deep lying midfielders (almost 6 at the back at times!!)
*Sigh*
I stopped visiting this blog about a month ago after getting sick of Scott’s anti- ronaldo posts.
For me that was a shame as I enjoy how regularly this blog is updated and regarding any other player Scott is fine.
I came back tonight as obviously we are on a massive high and I wanted to see what was posted here
But it seems Scott just cannot drop his Ronaldo bashing
I was stunned to see this after his two goals yesterday, he set up Welbeck to who should have scored.
Calling Scott a scouser is way OTT,
‘Jealous’ or ‘idiot’ is closer to the truth, though to be fair both insults only apply when it comes to Ronaldo.
Doubt this will be published as it doesn’t go along with Scott’s hate-our-best-player agenda but whatever.
Scott, I disagree with you on so many levels, apart from the kicking out, but even then, if you watch highlights of the game, Ronnie is persistantly kicked around the ankles, something we don’t really see fully inside Old Trafford, so he is bound to boil over at some point.
He will never track back like the rest of the lads, because when he has the ball he is ‘all guns blazing’, and do we really want to see him give that part of his game because he is tired from tracking back. It would be the end of the “Do him Ronnie” and “Skin him Ronnie” shouted from the stands, because he would have the fitness for those 100% energy bursts.
Don’t get me wrong, Ronaldo isn’t my idol player, that goes to Wazza, but are there not more players that deserve the nonsense criticism, the players who simply don’t deserve, and are not good enough to wear the beloved Red Shirt!!
No doubt that he is a good player, but I would rather go for Rooney than a 1000 Ronaldos because of Ronaldos attitude, the most arrogant type of player I have ever seen…
I still don`t think we should take the Premiership for granted, as Liverpool seems unstoppable and Chelsea looking good and stabile, while we are probaby one of the top 5 worst team in the english top division. Just look at how easily Liverpool crushed Villa, and how we struggled, but still won. This was a match against the two teams in the Premiership who have the worst form, even though I expected that we should beat Villa pretty heavily before the match…
Well the team who deserved to win until the 70th minute, was Villa, and that is NOT good when we play at home…
Even though we won, I was angry as hell because we struggled against a off- form side as Villa, I`m afraid that this win will get to our players heads too much, so next PL- match, I`m afraid that United will get a quite unpleasant suprise…
Great article by the way.
Tim, if Villa played as they did against us but against Liverpool they’d've left with something from that game, did Liverpool have Arbeloa(RB-Brown), Carragher(CB-Vid), Skrtel(CB-Rio), Torres(ST-Rooney) and Gerrard(CM-Scholes) missing? You’ve got to remember we’ve beat spanked Villa last season and pretty sure we beat them home and away as well as in the cup, when we had a fully fit side, have some perspective people, take 5 key Liverpool players away, they wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell. Everyone who’s giving our team criticism is a spoint brat, they’re not super human, I don’t give a shit if Ronaldo is leaving, he’s been well worth the money and the trouble and against Villa I saw him giving us a point with two quality finishes rather than costing us one by getting tackled and us being caught on the counter, if you can’t lose it in their half, where can you lose it!?
Last summer I was discusted with Ronaldos behaviour and ever since then I can’t seem to gain the same affection as used to have for him, and I know many match going fans who love the club that feel the same way.
He is no doubt one of the most talented players to ever wear a Utd shirt but his flapping of arms and whining antics do irritate at times, especially when we are struggling to get a rythm going in game and things aren’t going his way. But what a talent he is so we just have to be glad he’s at our club and except that a little bad comes with what is so good at times.
Scott is correct about one thing tho and that is Ronaldo does dream of playing in the white of Real and why wouldn’t that get under some fans skin?
I’m thinking he will stay this summer but I’m pretty sure he will leave when SAF leaves which won’t be to long to wait. However if he does leave this summer I do think some of the protective attitudes on her towards him will have changed.
Haven’t read all the comments, but the post sucks. It’s not his job to track back and yes i mean it. his job is to score and creat. We have too many passengers already, who only battle track back and staff, fuck that all. Attacking players job is to attack and score and the rest “battlers” should learn and we were not playing Barca away to require the whole team to defend. Everyone who claims Rooney over Ronaldo is just an idiot
Can I also remind all of ungrateful bastards on this blog that Ronaldo single handedly won us 2 EPL-s and a CL and our 90 mil strike force is as inept as it gets. I am not blaming the guys for being out of form, but bashing Ronaldo before all of this shit is just unacceptable. Even out of form he is constantly our best threat against any team. So Scott can you at least give a post about all that staff before doing such a biased post about Ronaldo
Agree 100%.
Ronaldo is a big time charlie.
He absolutely annoys the shit out of me!
Sell him to Franco’s fascists and buy Ribery.
This seems to have developed in the Ronaldo lovers/haters bickering forum! I get what Scott is saying, I mentioned yesterday that nobody expects Ronaldo to fly all over the pitch chasing the ball like a dog in the park, but to say it’s not his job to track back is naive in the extreme. If carrick (say) make’s a howler in midfield, then yes, it’s not down to Ronaldo to sprint 40 yards to pull Carrick out of the shit, totally agree. But when Ronaldo has tried his “I can beat 18 players at once” trick, which might come off once a season if we’re lucky, and loses the ball fairly, which happens half a dozen times per game, he cannot be allowed to stand looking around him like “This can’t have happened to me?! I’m the great Ronaldo, I’m the BEST!” and just waiting for someone else to drag HIM out the shit!
Yes he has been brilliant the last 2 season’s, yes he’s still scoring goals even though he’s not at his best this season. No, I don’t want him to leave. But the most important aspect of United has always been that we’re a TEAM. Having Ronaldo think he doesn’t have to try to rectify his own mistakes can only be damaging to team morale. It’s a very simple idea, if you lose the ball, you try and win it back. How hard is that? If a player takes the ball off Ronaldo but has Fletcher and Brown straight in his face, then fine Ronaldo, stay where you are. But if a player takes it off him, and has 30 yards of open space to run into, then Ronaldo HAS to get back at him, not just stare at the ref. He didn’t give a foul, he’s not gonna change his mind just because your staring at him!
FFS I’m sick of it! He wears the Red of Manchester United. I don’t want to hear any more trolls bitchin!
We pay him to score goals (which he does), and he made more effort to track back on Sunday than anytime recently. Did you see him charge with the ball directly to the corner in the final minute, ball goes out for throw in, and Ronaldo roars at the fans before him! He loved it!
I still beleive we have an inexperienced young player on our hands and am desperate to keep him, as when he matures I think we’ll meet a different Ronaldo.
As long as he is a Utd player we must support and be proud of him, save the hatin’ for if and when he leaves.
Gizza goal tonight Ronnie, make the crowd love you!
“Orez Said,
April 7th, 2009 @3:42
Can I also remind all of ungrateful bastards on this blog that Ronaldo single handedly won us 2 EPL-s and a CL”
Absolutely disgraceful comment, can you not remember the contribution of players like Park & Fletcher in the League and CL last season, along with all of the other players who actually get praise? Rooney & Tevez played a huge part in Ronaldo’s success last year, their movement on and off the ball was critical in helping him achieve such dizzying heights.
DUNCAN
Your talking out of your arse; to suggest that complacency/poor attitude & egotism are not detrimental to a team sport is pure idiocy. Nobody is questioning Ronaldo’s ability and his contribution to the team, what we are questioning is his attitude. If you have, like you imply, played football at any level you will understand the effect one poor attitude can have on a team, especially when the player in question is both the fulcrum of the team and an idol to young players.
Ronaldo is a very talented player, no question about it. If he wants to become a fantastic player he needs to improve various aspects of his game. Every professional sports person in the world strives to improve. How does he achieve this goal? He improves on his dedication to the team. This doesn’t mean he needs to run after every ball ala Tevez, it means he makes an effort to help when he screws up, no big deal. It means he doesn’t sit on the ground throwing his arms up like a child when things don’t go his way, scold team-mates when they put too much on a through ball.
We all want to enjoy watching one of the best players in the world tog out for our club, problem is he’s making it very difficult. Nothing wrong with fans wanting their players to work for the team, that’s what is expected if you play for the best club in the world.
I fully agree with you, this always comes ti mind when i watch ronaldo. I don’t know if it is a part of plan by sir alex or just one of antics of ronaldo.
Right then,
Lets assume we get Ronalado to contribute more defensvely, to track back everytime he or somebody else loses the ball, will this improve us as a team? Im not sure it will.
Don’t get me wrong, i think it is important that he shows passion, and a determined attitude, and i can see why many people might question this at times. I would also like to see it occasionally, but not to the extent of Carlos Tevez, who may not score enough goals because of adopting such work rate.
Don’t forget that it is the lack of defensive duty that creates so many scoring oppertunities for Ronaldo, his ability to counter attack and stetch the opposition is frightening.
Also, Lets not discount that this is going to be an extremely long season for a player who spent pre-season undergoing surgery for an injury which he carried in many games toward the back end of last season – just for anyone who is questioning his attitude!!!!
This, after playing almost every game of last season, International football also with Portugal During the European Championships.
Finally, we are looking at an extremely long season should we continue to challenge on all fronts, with the World Club Cup in the middle of an already congested season. Add to that the lack of rest, very few injuries and the importance of playing him in every game, i think we might be a little too critical of him at times. Lets just hope the energy he is reserving, can be put to good use in the later stages of the season. Where will his doubters be then when Real Madrid come knocking on the door in the Summer?
you must be kidding if u think defending is something ronaldo should be ’saved’ from doing. ESPECIALLY when hes the one to lose the ball. i dont know what kind of ’serious football’ u’ve played but every league or competition ive played in the rule is the same, no matter who u are or where u play… YOU LOSE THE BALL, YOU CHASE IT BACK.