Funny quote from him after last night’s game:
“If he touches me I lose my movement and that is why I go down”
How about the reason you go down is because something actually causes you to go down - not you choose to go down yourself
Maybe the Eircom league would suit him, class aplenty in that ;D
You can’t condone diving though Raven
You, as a Celtic fan, must have been livid with the Porto players in 2003…
I thought it was a penalty last night. Hate it when he does dive though. See the guy Morrison getting sent off for trying to put him up in the stand and Rooney coming in to stand up for his pal.
On the whole I think Ronaldo is far better than what Dunphy and Giles say he is but nowhere near as good as what the likes of Jamie Redknapp say he is either.
Ronaldo is too good, when he feels contact he goes down. Players go down easily all over the pitch but only when its in the box does anyone seem to have a problem. There are free kicks awarded all over the place for absoultley nothing but if they were in the box there wouldnt be a chance of them being penalties. :smoke:
Ronaldo is a decent player. I wouldnt fullly agree with dunphy and giles but they they have some very important points.
1: he is inconsistent. this year has been his most consistant year and yet there have been many games this season where ronaldo has gone missing.
2: His end product is poor. Again this season he has improved his final ball, but he still is one of the most wasteful of players around. One of the reasons van nistleroy didnt get on with him was becasue of his delay in delivering a cross. Beckham used to deliver the ball early for utd and as a result nistleroy and beckham had an understanding between each other. Whereas ronaldo delays delivering the ball being content in doing some circuse tricks before passing and that slows the game down.
3: doesnt play well in big games. shown to be quite poor in europe (especially away from home). I have yet to see ronaldo dominate in a big game for utd(could be wrong on this one as im not a utd supporter)
4: attitude is poor. Might be argued that this doesnt matter in terms of being called a great player but i think it does. When things go wrong he looks to blame anyone else but himself. A sign pf a good player is to get back to basics when things are going wrong instead of whinging to team mates and trying to get people sent off.
These are just some bad points to his game that the likes of sky and bbc just choose to ignore. That his why he gets such a roasting from dunphy and giles. However I do believe if he can continue to improve on these points he can become a great player because he obviously has immense raw talent.
Good job we get on now beacuse before I would have gone at you about that comment on Giles for the day. Now though I look it as a simple disagreement. I think that Giles is, by far and away, the best analyst on the game.
I agree re Dunphy though. He hasn’t a clue. But what he says he truly believes unlike other analysts in other sports (eg the entire RTE GAA panel) who are controversial for the sake of being controversial and don’t really believe what they say. For instance Dunphy’s rant on Roy Keane was said with so much passion that you could tell that he wasn’t doing it for the cameras
After your previous comment about no Celtic players getting in the Liverpool team I am tending to agree with you more often!
Agree with most of this. I’d put points 1 and 3 together. Don’t think he’s set Europe alight at all this season. Set up a goal against Benfica is all I can really recall. Hasn’t done much in the games against the top 4 in the EPL either. Reina should have done better with the free kick that O’Shea scored from and he didn’t really feature in 2 games with Arsenal or in the first Chelsea game. There’s a huge difference between running a bunch of cloggers like Bolton ragged and turning it on in the Champions League.
As for point 2; I think RVN was a real poacher. He wanted wingers, like Ronaldo, to get to the by-line and cut the ball back along the 6 yard box for him to tap in. Beckham was different in that had the uncanny ability of being able to whip a ball in along the 6 yard box from a standing position, and not necessarily from the by-line either - he could be about 30 yards out on the wing and suddenly make a yard for himself and whip the ball in between 'keeper and centre backs right into the area where RVN wanted it. As you say Ronaldo really frustrated him. He would make a dart to the near post and then Ronaldo would do a step over and cut back onto his other foot or something and RVN would be seriously pissed off.
That’s why I think playing with Rooney and Saha suits Ronaldo better. They both like to come deep rather than out and out poach and they’re scoring far more goals from passing moves and one-twos like the one Ronaldo set up for Rooney on Saturday rather than relying close range finishes that RVN was renowned for. That said Ronaldo has improved the timing of his final ball too and has cut down (a fair bit) on the unnecessary step overs.
Agree partly on point 4 but he has played well in the last 2 major tournaments for Portugal too and in certain games through a bit of adversity so I think if he keeps improving he will ultimately become an excellent player.
From The Guardian. Fergie rages with Sky Sports reporter who had the temerity to question Ronaldo about his penalty award the other night:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Lord Ferg: “Fg b@stard."
Geoff Shreeves: “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Ferg: "Fk off to you."
Shreeves: “Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t even think about it.”
Ferg: "Don’t you think about it, you ****. Fk off. Right?"
Shreeves: “Listen, are you going to do the interview in a
professional manner or not? Do you want to do it or not?”
Ferg: "You fg be professional. You be professional. You’re the
one."
Shreeves: “I’m entitled to ask. Cristiano [Ronaldo] gave the right
answer.”
Ferg: "Fing hell with your answers."
Shreeves: “Don’t talk to me like that. Go away. If you want to behave
civilly, fine. Don’t talk to me like that.”
Ferg: "F*k off.”
Lord Ferg indulges Sky’s Geoff Shreeves in some light-hearted Glasgow
patter after the MU Rowdies’ FA Cup win over Middlesbrough. The BBC
was later forced to can their interview with Gareth Southgate when
their microphones picked up Ferg’s volley of abuse.