Player of the Season so far...

evilhomer

Raskolnikov wrote:

I think people on both sides of the argument have a point here to be honest. If you only watch Match of the Day or a highlights program, you'll see the best of Ronaldo's game. The bit highlights don't show however is the lack of tracking back, the wasted chances and the losing of possesion.

Ever seen Ronaldinho? Trackback he doesn't know the meaning of the word!
You cannot compare an out and out attacker with a defensive midfielder for example.
As most managers would say, they know he is going to mess plenty of stuff up and give away possession, but probably only in the opponents half. For every 3/4 times he tries a trick and it doesn't come off there is one that will come off and that could win the match for you.

plus there is not a team in the world who wouldn't take him!

el rabitos: I just can't see your argument, not every player is box to box, Look at Eto'o, Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Shevchenko, Ronaldinho, they don't track back (or at least not enough to count as a regular occurance)

As an attacking midfielder Ronaldo's job is to score goals and setup goals, the statistics support that fact regardless of what else he does in between.

All quality forwards are judged on their statistics e.g. 1:2 goal ratio for a top striker and a 1:3 ratio for a top attacking midfielder would be the expected standard. He meets that standard and also throws in a few nice flicks and tricks to keep us entertained!

Player of the year so far IMO, just above Drogba, just!

Raskolnikov

Fabregas

evilhomer wrote:

Ever seen Ronaldinho? Trackback he doesn't know the meaning of the word!
You cannot compare an out and out attacker with a defensive midfielder for example.

Read what I wrote afterwards

"Having said that though, he's an extremely attacking orientated winger, if he can either create or score a goal a game, then other players can compensate for him. "

Also, it's all well and good for Ronaldo to smash a couple of goals past the likes of Wigan or Watford but the real benchmark for a world class player is the Champions League.

The Muppet

It's Ronaldo for me (the skinny one), His performances and attitude have been outstanding considering the problems he has had on and off the pitch over the past year. Losing his Dad, The abuse allegations and the world cup wink, he could have opted for teh easy way out and moved on but he chose to let his football do the talking and he now started to produce the end product that was the missing element in his game.


Drogba has been impressive too, who would have though he would be the one doing the business for Chelsea after shevchenkos arrival?

wheres me jumpa

Fabregas

Drogba and Ronaldo although different types of players they have their similarities. Both are hugely important to their teams. Both have handed in some massive performances. Both have prodcued moments of brilliance this season.

However both are capable of sheer lunacy with the ball too. Take the 3 chances Drogba had before he scored yesterday. One shot in particular stands out, he sprinted with the ball from the halfway line and then hit the most sublime toebog ive seen since primary schoolyard days.

So many times Ronaldo drives me crazy in this sense too. There are many players who hand in more complete performances week in, week out. Even so these two players are the reason there is a 13 point gap from 2nd to 3rd place and respect must be paid accordingly.

Attractive Nun

Saha

To further advance Ronaldo's case, re: tracking back. It should be quite clear to anyone with even the slightest knowlegde of football what Ronaldo's job is in this context. Ever notice how when United attack on the break it almost always goes through Ronaldo? Ever notice how Ronaldo is usually somewhere around the United penalty area when the opposition are attacking, he just doesn't challenge for the ball or pick up men? Ronaldo is United's paciest, most effective counter-attacker, but a poor defender. Ferguson's strategy is quite obviously for Ronaldo to be in a position to pick up the ball and break if United win possession. If all 11 players were back defending every attack, then there would be nothing to do if they won the ball back other than hoof possession back to the other team.

Ronaldo is told not to track back, his job is not to track back. I think people just have a very low tolerance for players like that and I don't know why. I know when I'm watching football I prefer to see Ronaldo get the ball than Carrick or Gary Neville. Judging by this thread, though, it seems most people are now appreciating Ronaldo more, which is good.

PHB

Scholes

Watch Ronaldinho week in week out, and you'll see he gives the ball away quite a bit too. It happens when you try things creativly, because sometimes they don't come off. This season for United though, most of the stuff ROnaldo has done has been pulled off.

herbieflowers

That's the thing about Ronaldo this season, more often than not his end product has come off...he's always had bags of potential but it was always the argument "too mnay tricks, never a good final ball, doesn't contribute enough" etc. This season (spurred on by generous Ingerland fans! Thanks lads!) he has realised that potential and the results speak for themselves!

Jivin Turkey

Saha

Ronaldo has really come into his own in recent weeks but how anyone could say that he has been more influential than Didier Drogba this year baffles me.

Everybody is using the amount of goals Ronaldo has scored as their rationale, but Drogba has scored more and in more crucial games.

Q.E.D.

herbieflowers

Yeah that's true. Before the start of this season, Chelski's attacking threat was apparently (and justifiably) going to come from Shevchenko. I think, more than anyone, Drogba has proved himself as a top class striker.

But it's interesting that both Ronaldo and Drogba had both been pretty much written off last season. I mean, who would've thought Drogba was going to be as prolific and spectacular this season judging from his performances last season? (not that he was especially poor last season, I just didn't think he had it in him to play so well this season)

PHB

Scholes

Absolutely Jivin, Drogba and Essien have been much more important and better players than Ronaldo this season, but while I think it is baffling to say that Drogba hasn't been better than Ronaldo, I think it's absurd to try and claim that Ronaldo isn't clearly in the top 4 players this season.

p.s. Ronaldo wasn't written off by any United fans

Soby

Saha

Its really just a battle between Ronaldo,Drogba and Essien if you ask me

homerjay2005

rather that start a new thread, here is my team of the season so far. a few places like right back and left midfield were hard to choose, so i went with a different formation -

Van der sar
Richards Vidic Terry Evra
Fabregas Essien Scholes
Ronaldo Van Pierse
Drogba

Subs - James, Doyle,Gilberto,Carvalho, Kanu

herbieflowers

PHB wrote:

p.s. Ronaldo wasn't written off by any United fans

I think a certain amount of fans would have accepted whatever Real Madrid were reportedly offering in the summer tbh

Attractive Nun

Saha

homerjay2005 wrote:

rather that start a new thread, here is my team of the season so far. a few places like right back and left midfield were hard to choose, so i went with a different formation -

Van der sar
Richards Vidic Terry Evra
Fabregas Essien Scholes
Ronaldo Van Pierse
Drogba

Subs - James, Doyle,Gilberto,Carvalho, Kanu

Terry's a bit of a strange one, wouldn't regard him as having the best season. Might shove Carvalho in the starting XI and maybe Campbell on the bench. I think everyone thinks Evra's doing so well simply because he was so ****e last year, I think Ferguson's pretty keen to get Heinze back to his best. Gareth Barry's a left back, so I'd stick him in instead.

With a bit more tinkering, I'll go for this:

James

Richards Carvalho Vidic Barry
Fabregas Scholes Essien
Ronaldo Agbonlahor
Drogba

Subs - Jaaskelinan, Campbell, Gilberto, Kanu, Doyle

PHB

Scholes

Van der sar
Neville Vidic Carvalho [No left back has really stood out]
Fabregas Essien Scholes
Ronaldo
Drogba Berbatov

Peyton Manning

Van Der Sar
Richards Vidic Carragher Evra
Giggs Essien Scholes Ronaldo
Drogba Doyle

Nalz

Saha

---

James

---

---

Richards--Vidic--Cambell

---

--Giggs-Taylor-Essien-Scholes-Ronaldo--

---

Drogba

---

Doyle

---

Subs - Jaaskelinan, Ferdinand, Evra, Gilberto, Anelka

meditraitor

Saha

Its a toss up between Drogba and Essien so far, and as for the Ronaldo debate, I think Scoles and Gigs have had a bigger impact on United's run of form,

Honorable mention to Kevin Doyle.

event

PHB wrote:

Van der sar
Neville Vidic Carvalho [No left back has really stood out]
Fabregas Essien Scholes
Ronaldo
Drogba Berbatov

i wouldnt have berbatov, purely on the basis that he has yet to score a goal or create an assist away from WHL this season.