16 Aug 2022 10:30:47
Simon stone reporting this morning that the club are open to selling ronaldo and that many believe when he's gone there will be a massive improvement in performances. Wow. I agree we should let ronnie go and i'm sure there's some truth to him being miserable but to put this out like he's the issue and once he goes we will be fine is total crap. Board and players finding a scapegoat again to try and mask their own poor performances. Eth will be next, then the tea lady. Honestly no wonder we don't improve because there's zero accountability for anything.
16 Aug 2022 13:21:40
Or alternatively there may be some truth in it. I guess we will see if/ when Ronaldo goes. If there is an immediate up turn in performances/ results then we might have to accept that Ronaldo's ego has cast a shadow over the rest of the squad that has made it impossible for them to play at their best.
While no one is saying we have a good squad, the players we have are capable of playing significantly better than they have been over the past 12 months.
Maguire, Shaw, Bruno and Rashford while a long way from world class all put in very good performances the season before Ronaldo rejoined.
while pre-season needs to be viewed in the context of what it is, the fact remains that we played our best football on tour before Ronaldo rejoined the group. With performances dropping once he returned.
Reportedly EtH was adamant in keeping Ronaldo before Ronaldo rejoined the group and trained every day with the squad. However, since he has been back with the squad EtH's stance has soften or even done a 180 and now he wants Ronaldo gone according to some reports.
If true what has EtH observed about Ronaldo in training that makes him feel the team as a whole would be better off without him.
has he seen Ronaldo up close and realised Ronaldo can't play the role EtH needs, or has he seen that Ronaldo impacts the other players in a negative way.
Something has changed in the past 2 weeks or so since Ronaldo returned to training. Performances have got worse, the positivity around the club has evaporated, and supposedly EtH is now at least open to Ronaldo leaving.
Fans should be asking why the change?
16 Aug 2022 14:13:33
Shappy - Come on mate I want to be polite but surely you can’t honestly believe that these players will play any better when Ronaldo leaves and if they do it just emphasises how mentally weak some of them really are. Is this any different to what they have done to previous managers?!
LVG didn’t let them express themselves, Jose was a bully and said nasty things about them, Ole was a rubbish coach, Ronaldo’s ego is too big. All excuses peddled from the dressing room over the years in an attempt to excuse their poor performances but the truth is they are just not good enough.
These players are blame shifters and refuse to take responsibility for their own poor performances. Pre-season was crap by the way, we drew against Villa, lost to A. Madrid and drew against R. Vallecano.
Stop referencing what happened more than 12 months ago before Ronaldo signed that has no absolutely significance to what’s happening today. Need I remind you that during that time the football was terrible and they won absolutely nothing. Bad form lasts a few games not an entire season or more.
At the end of the day you can’t hide from the facts. I think Ronaldo missed about 14 games last season and Utd only won 3. So the facts are that this team will not win more football matches or play any better if Ronaldo leaves. It might make the poor, little spoilt children feel a bit better about themselves without a true winner in the dressing complaining and reminding them how s*** they really are but that’s about it.
Once Ronaldo leaves they will need another scapegoat goat and who do you think that is going to be? Step forward EtH.
What Club in its right mind thinks they will be better off by selling their player of the year and top goal scorer and replacing them with someone like Arnautovic?! I leave it there. Shambles, spin and not in touch with reality.
16 Aug 2022 15:00:38
I say get rid as soon as possible, the guys a mood hoover. And let’s be honest, at his age he’s hardly the future is he, get rid now and rip the plaster off quick.
16 Aug 2022 15:21:01
DLIB, so you don't think a moody, sulking Ronaldo having a go at everyone is having any effect on the mood and feeling within the dressing room?
If Ronaldo is negatively impacting the form of the other 10 players in the starting 11 then it really doesn't matter if the other 10 players have a weak mentality in the short term.
Truth is we can't replace the entire squad bar Ronaldo to have a team that can cope with living in his shadow, while a soon to be 38 year old Ronaldo is not the future. Which makes it an easy situation to solve.
A squad of players have an issue with one individual in the squad and that individual is desperate to leave.
That's not a difficult situation to manage.
Yes most of the squad need replacing, but that won't happen in the next 3 weeks.
What does need to happen in the next three weeks is to find the solutions that can get the best out of the squad we have and start rebuilding it towards the future.
If that means moving on a moody player who doesn't want to be here and is bringing the others down then so be it.
Respectfully neither you or me know what is going on in the dressing room. I'm exploring the idea that maybe Ronaldo isn't benefitting the club due to the rumours that are leaking out. You seem to be convinced that Ronaldo is the solution and not the problem. What evidence you have to support your idea that Ronaldo is benefitting the dressing room and the team I'd love to hear.
16 Aug 2022 16:10:37
I'm with Shappy. Juve called it and I think we are seeing the same. he's a phenomenon with a huge personality, he was top scorer last year but guess what? As a team we scored fewer than previous years. I think it was a mistake to bring him back but the fan boys will shout me down.
16 Aug 2022 16:14:40
Shappy - I despair, You don’t have to speculate mate the facts speak for themselves, results did not improve when Ronaldo didn’t play last season they got worse. He was the top goal scorer and player of the year what more evidence do you want as to how he benefited the team more than that. He trains hard, eats right, recovers well he does everything and more to ensure he can continue to play at the highest level how can that not benefit the dressing room? Have you really just asked that question?!
How did Maguire, Lindelof, AWB, Rashford, Shaw, Fred, Mctominay etc improve the team last season. What was their impact yet you want to make Ronaldo the scapegoat for players that have let us down season after season. What was there excuse when Ronaldo was wining titles with Madrid and Juventus and not letting his bad mood put them off. Maguire was probably getting relegated somewhere.
Weather he should be sold or not is a different debate but I’m not making Ronaldo the scapegoat when the likes of Maguire, Shaw, Rashford, Bruno, Fred, Mctominay et al have been absolutely rubbish for well over 12 months and some even longer.
The excuses from the dressing room are a joke, first it was poor coaching now it’s because Ronaldo is in a bad mood. Selling Ronaldo will not make them better footballers and to think so is just illogical.
If you want to have a proper debate about why it might be a good idea to let him leave then I’m all ears and if a suitable replacement can be found then that’s fine but no Club in the world sells their top goal scorer, player of the year, doesn’t replace them and expects to get better. You’re basically just taking 18 goals out of the team and not replacing them.
I don’t believe for one second that selling Ronaldo will suddenly solve all our problems and will mean Harry Maguire can now play a high line, McFred can suddenly pass the ball better or make Rashford track back and make better decisions.
They might all feel a bit happier but it won’t make them play any better. Who will the next scapegoat be?!
16 Aug 2022 17:12:26
I'm all for Ronaldo going, but who is going to score the goals? We have no centre forward apart from Martial and he's injured 90% of the time.
I do think that Ronaldo is a problem, but we need to have a plan if he goes.
16 Aug 2022 17:48:10
AAA - I agree Ronaldo should be sold but not for the reasons mooted by Shappy and don’t believe for one second that these charlatans and blame shifters will suddenly start playing better once he’s gone. They will just look for another excuse.
I have no confidence that the Club will find a suitable replacement and we simply can’t be better off whilst losing 18 goals from the team and not replacing them.
When the window slams shut EtH will have to go with what’s he’s got. I think all we can do is throw our full support behind him and see what happens.
We all want the same thing and arguing amongst ourselves won’t solve anything.
16 Aug 2022 17:59:47
Yes Ronaldo can leave, but really this is all down to him, surely this is a wind up, no one in there right mind can think he is responsible for McFred being colour blind, McGuire not even know what he doing, Varane always unfit. Not even worth going through the rest
He might be guilty of being far superior to anything else in the changing room and gives them a complex, but then I would say if those players are so week they feel inferior they never going to win united anything anyway!
OP is just trying to to provoke controversy as per usual.
16 Aug 2022 18:21:11
AAA, the facts speak for themselves, we create fewer chances and score fewer goals since Ronaldo has returned.
Rashford scored 19 goals the season before Ronaldo joined. While scoring 5 since Ronaldo returned.
Bruno scored 27 goals the season before Ronaldo joined, 10 goals since.
Just those two players saw the number of goals they were scoring drop by 31 goals in the season Ronaldo joined.
Martial scored 21 goals in the 2019/ 20 season, if we can get him back to that sort of form that would add 20 goals to the 1 he scored last season.
Sancho scored 43 goals in 3 season's at Dortmund, and 4 for United since.
So we have players capable of scoring goals. While if Ronaldo was to leave we would also look to bring in a new player, maybe Dembele from Lyon, maybe Cunha from Atletico, maybe someone else. With a bit of luck they will score 10-15 goals for us this season.
While we have the likes of Eriksen, Elanga and Garnacho in the squad who would probably score 10 goals between this season.
So if Bruno scores 10 more goals than he did last season, and Rashford does, and Martial does, and Sancho does, and the new signing does and the other lads in the squad get an extra 10 goals then there is potentially an extra 60 goals. Even if they all score 5 more goals each then that is 30 goals, eclipsing Ronaldo's 24.
This idea that we won't score without Ronaldo is just a fallacy. We probably won't have one individual player who will match his total, but as a team we will almost certainly score more.
16 Aug 2022 18:27:03
For once I kind of agree with Shappy. Not saying Ronaldo is the root of all our problems, but I think the club will be in a better place without him.
I’ll get pelters but I think the club let Ole down by undermining him and bringing Ronnie back in the first place.
17 Aug 2022 06:43:43
When Ronaldo signed we were going along ok, actually thought we could keep improving and possibly kick on and win something! He has 100 percent rattled the apple cart! The front players have fallen off a cliff! Even go back to the tour, they all seemed happy and although only pre season we looked good and expressing ourselves, now he’s been back we’ve been dreadful all over!
He is without a doubt a massive issue. Get rid of him and I do think we improve and rebuild.
17 Aug 2022 10:55:30
Interesting how well we played in pre season until Ronaldo came back to training isn’t it?