ronaldo
 

Is it only me that thinks that United should let him go. He clearly is wanting to hold them to ransom for as much as he can screw but on a more football note, his whole game is built on his lightening quick reactions, tricks and outpacing defenders. He is 23 now and will from 25/6 start slowing down a lot as his age catches up with him and younger, faster, more tricky wingers come on. Should United suck as much from Real/Inter/etc now and look for teh next 18 YO with 5 years of speed ahead of him?

Re: ronaldo
 

I think they should keep him as long as he keeps missing penalty's, never laughed so much for ages, really cracked me up that, his cocky attitude and the stopping before hitting the ball made it better :D

Re: ronaldo
 

Definitely agree entwisi. Ronaldo is as egotistical as they come and showed it when he nearly cost United the Champions' League.
United should take the money and let him go this summer, he's going to hold United back.

Re: ronaldo
 

Disagree, He is probably the Best player in the World and is one of the few players who can ever be compered to the likes of George Best, 43 goals for a midfielder,he makes United tick and I don't think he will be going anywhere

Re: ronaldo
 

i think another year or so then sell him... he's a fantastic player even though that penalty made me laugh whilst in a club of the utd hardcore.

i think he's thinkin that too - a yr two more then my stock will b as high as ever and real will pay me £170K a week

Re: ronaldo
 

they would be nuts to sell the arrogant piece of crap, hes brilliant n i hate him.:D another couple of years maybe but now- no way.

Re: ronaldo
 

Mind your own business , it's got nowt to do with you unless you support United.. nuff said

Re: ronaldo
 

What part of Surrey do you come from:D:tongueout

Re: ronaldo
 

Can't agree Shaker.. 42 goals this season ..31 in the prem..and scores Uniteds goal in proper time in the final.. I doubt United would have won the ultimate double and been the kings of the world without Ronaldo.. ;)

Re: ronaldo
 

Let's get things clear.. I was born in Blackburn, I was going to Rovers with my Dad when I was 5yrs old.
Moved to Ossie.. still going to Rovers.
Moved to Accy ..the friends I made were Burnley so I went to Turf moor loads of times.
First went to Old Trafford around 1977.. it was the first time I had experienced the Streford end, massive crowd and exciting football and I fell in love...at that time Man Utd were not winning league titles and European cups.
Don't try to make out I'm a "glory hunter" my son

Re: ronaldo
 

I think you need to check your geography. Last time I looked there were 6 other continents as well as Europe that made up the world.

yes he has had a stunning season this year but my OP was about exactly that, whilst he has his speed and agility he will do well, what happens when it starts to go, unlike Giggs whose game evolved to match his fitness etc I don't think CR will.

Re: ronaldo
 

Thanks Mancie you've made my day "SON" yes, was only jesting, I'm a Rovers fan, but when you have two daughters who are United fans you have to bend a little, I like watching United, my best mate is a United fanatic, the only time I want them to lose is when they play the Rovers

Re: ronaldo
 

Ok entwisi not yet world champions, but we are the only English club to be crowned official world champs in 1999...(conformation here)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/543368.stm

I do agree with what you say about Giggs but you are only speculating about Ronaldo, maybe he can do the same.

Re: ronaldo
 

We are all entitled to voice our own opinion even if you don’t agree with it.

My father survived TWO WORLD WARS, which eventually killed him in his early fifties, to grant us that right.

So back off!

By the way I support Manchester United and have done since before Munich.

Re: ronaldo
 

There is no doubt that Ronaldo is mentally sharp, very, very sharp but Man U would have had the Premier League sown up long before the end but for his selfish, “I’ll win this match on my own” attitude.

He lost United as many games as he won for them during the last two seasons.

However this last season he has become more of a team player than he used to be. Now if only he would stop trying to cheat. Stopping for as long as he did whilst taking that penalty was blatant cheating and the ref let him get away with it. So it was poetic justice that his shot was saved.

Ronaldo is good enough not to try to cheat his way through a match.

He can’t even claim to be the person who introduced the ‘step over’. In a not too distant documentary about the FA cup it showed one winger doing a step over back in the fifties.

Finally, I think that Stanley Matthews was a better winger than Ronaldo.

Re: ronaldo
 

Re: ronaldo
 

For a start Sir Matthews may have been the best winger in his period.. but he would not have a chance in the modern game.. not enough pace, only average at passing and shooting.
I did say in an earlier post that the main reason for myself supporting United was the exciting way they play..and Ronaldo sums that up,thank God your not the Manager ,I suspect it would be boring stuff!

Re: ronaldo
 

You’re wrong there, Matthews in his prime would have had the beating of most if not all full backs in today’s game. His physical fitness was legendary. It had to be to be able to hold down a place in the then first division at 50 years of age (1965).

And Ronaldo wouldn’t have had a prayer in Matthews’ day. Not with the hard tackling, shoulder charges and a ball that weighed a ton when wet. It was no lightweight when dry either.

So you saw Matthews play did you? Was that in a previous life? Or was that when Stanley Matthews played as a guest for Manchester United?

Couldn’t pass or shoot?

Ask Stanley Mortensen, or any of the great England forwards of the day, if Matthews couldn’t pass. The reason why Mortensen scored so many goals for Blackpool and England was the accuracy of Matthews’ centres.

11 goals for England including a hat-trick seems to say he can shoot. In spite of being a goal maker he still managed to score 71 goals.

Better still have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Matthews

I don’t care who you support but you were totally out of order telling people not to comment unless they supported Man U.

Re: ronaldo
 

You did get my goat up Jambutty... what you were saying was that Ronaldo should not be in the team, and that he delayed United's winning of the EPL.. that is total rubbish.
Like most fans I have only seen Sir Stan in old footage, and so I may well be wrong , I never doubted his talent and ability in the 1950's .. but in todays game he would not be a factor.

Re: ronaldo
 

Three different clubs in thirty-odd years. Bandwagon jumper! :D

Re: ronaldo
 

Not like thee and me Wynonie I'm a Rover with over 50 years in, and your a Stanley with ^@>? years in:D:p

Re: ronaldo
 

48 years (apart from the bit in the middle when there was no Stanley to support!).

Re: ronaldo
 

I never stated that Ronaldo shouldn’t be in the team. Kindly don’t put words in my mouth.

The only total rubbish is your inability to read and understand what I wrote.

During the course of last season Man U lost 6 matches, many by the odd goal and drew 5. In some of those matches Ronaldo’s selfish desire to win the match or draw it by scoring an almost impossible goal rather than passing the ball to another player with a better chance of scoring cost United the game.

His arrogant and selfish attitude has been much less prevalent last season than the season before and hopefully will be a more complete team player next season.

On the other hand Ronaldo’s goal against Aston Villa, I think it was, was pure genius and lightning fast thinking. That one where he flicked the ball with his right heel to nutmeg a defender and score. It was featured in BBC’s Goal of the Season and in my opinion should win it, more so than his other entry – that free kick into the top corner. Then there was that other goal (I can’t remember which match it was) where the ball arrived at thigh height and he just thighed it into the net. Again another spontaneous reaction to an almost impossible situation.

Apart from his super fast reactions Ronaldo only has his speed of foot and the ubiquitous ‘step overs’. Stanley Matthews would leave the defender wrong footed and more often than not sat on the deck as he ghosted past to present yet another near perfect cross into the box. Stanley Matthews didn’t need speed of foot (although he was plenty fast enough to outstrip most defenders) to get past a defender, he had the skill and guile to leave the man standing even at the age of 50.

Not a factor in today’s game? Get real! Players of Matthews’ calibre would hold their own in any era.

Re: ronaldo
 

must agree Mathews would get in any team today, but yer missing the best of em all IMHO, Finney, he was even played out of natural position fer the national side to accomodate Mathews, could play great in other positions.:)

Re: ronaldo
 

I’ll go along with Tom Finney being one of the greats. It’s a moot point who was best.

Don’t forget that in those days players played for the love of the game and all had full time jobs outside of football. With a maximum wage of £20, but only during the football season, so they had to. If you lived in Preston and wanted a plumber it could easily have been Tom Finney who attended.

There were no ‘prima donnas’. In fact the ‘stars’ of the day would travel on the same bus as the supporters to a match.

Re: ronaldo
 

Ah! now that explains things, 48yrs of watching Accrington Stanley must eventually take some effect.. but you have my admiration, I reckon you could stand up to even the most evil torture mankind has ever designed!:)

Re: ronaldo
 

I can't have this.. I have edited your original post Jambutty.. but these first lines tell me you are saying Ronaldo has been a liability over the last two seasons... now I would take that as saying he should not have been in the team, if a player is, as you say, is making the team lose as many games than win.. then he should not be playing in the team.. yes?
I did see a program on the 1957 FA cup final which compared todays game with the 50's.. the only bad tackles I saw were on the goalkeepers, I got the impression that the game was more gentlemanly in those days, the really hard tackling came about in the early 70's

Re: ronaldo
 

I know, I know, supporting my hometown club, eh?...sheer madness and a concept which is totally alien to most Man U fans!

Re: ronaldo
 

Oooo! I am sorry! I wasn’t aware that I was supposed to bow to your opinion just because you “can’t have this”. Get real!

Once again in your arrogant conceit you are putting words in my mouth. I never stated that Ronaldo has been a liability these last two seasons.

You do know how to read and understand English I presume, although that point is in serious doubt.

I would remind you yet again that we are all entitled to voice our own opinions. If you don’t like them then the solution is simple – don’t read them.

The so called bad tackles that you saw were within the rules of the day and were deemed to be fair. The reason they were changed is because goalkeepers were a standing or advancing target, making a collision more dangerous for the goalkeeper. Although some forwards came out of a collision knowing full well that they had been in one. Today, when a goalkeeper jumps to catch or punch a ball he does so with one leg raised, presumably to try and protect himself.

But you are right, back in the fifties the players played to the rules but they still played hard. Free kicks and throw ins were taken from the spot the offence took place not some distance nearer the opposing goal. Players didn’t feign injury or try to get someone sent off. No one argued with the ref except possibly the team captain with a polite enquiry. No one mouthed obscenities at the officials and they certainly didn’t spend half the time spitting.

Re: ronaldo
 

To get back on thread, I dont think man u should let ronaldo go for another season at least, he is now coming into his own as a team player as well as a world class player in his own right, I have a feeling that united are looking reliant on one player again, but nobody thought united could get by without cantona, beckham and others, but they always managed, fergie has the next ronaldo lined up already, and when the time is right, he will introduce the replacements and let the 'stars' go, regardless of who they are.

Re: ronaldo
 

Totally agree with you Derek, Fergy is one cool cookie, another season like he's had this season and his value will have shot up again. But he's already planning for the future with players like Nani and Anderson, the later will be a big star in the future

Re: ronaldo
 

I agree that Man U should try and hang onto Ronaldo for at least one more season and then another if he repeats last season’s performance.

But I suspect that many of the defenders are beginning to follow the old defending tradition of watching the ball and not trying to anticipate what the man is going to do. That is one of the reasons why Ronaldo doesn’t get past defenders to use his pace every time and ends up sat on the deck claiming that he was fouled.

But like others before him, he is not indispensable and if his demands are unacceptable Fergie will get shut, but not to an English team.