Viva Ronaldo - He’s back.

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bman2
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I think that article doesn’t consider the fact that we haven’t had a 20 goal a season player since RVP. If Ronaldo scores 20+ league goals, he’d have to cost us a A LOT in football terms for that not to improve our season and our results.

Or to put it another way, if Cavani was a good signing, Ronaldo should be a great one.
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bman2
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The other reason to be positive is that Ronaldo was an extra surprise signing. Ole already got his priority signings this summer. So we didn’t dump Ole’s plan to sign Ronaldo. And they know each other. It’ll be a challenge for Ole to manage the situation, and it might not work out, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
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bman2 wrote: 2 years ago [

Did you read the Wilson piece in the Guardian? Made exactly that argument. I think the Glazers definitely decided to go in for him at the last minute because him going to City would have been a massive stink, especially right after the supporters’ protests in the spring. And financially I think it was a fairly easy decision because he’ll make the club as much as it pays him.

But it might not backfire. It has a lot of the signs of a classic Woodward galactic signing, but it’s a bit different too. I’m hoping the energy and intensity he brings will have a good effect on the whole squad. It might actually be what we need, because I feel like Ole’s rebuild is starting to drift a little bit. We’ve brought in some good players, the squad is strong, but it also feels like we’re still not at the level of our closest competitors. This might help us get to that level just by rising the collective intensity.

And yeah he’ll do nothing but score goals. I think we can work with that. If you replace Martial with him, for example, you’re losing nothing and potentially gaining a fuckload. Ronnie instead of Martial against Southampton, we probably win 2-1 or 3-1.
Hadn’t read that until a couple of hours ago. Me and a mate were chatting about it last night and as excited as we were, when you consider the longer term, it just didn’t make as much sense. Just goes to show, we don’t actually have a strategy.
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dozer
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Fuck the Glazers
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bman2 wrote: 2 years ago The other reason to be positive is that Ronaldo was an extra surprise signing. Ole already got his priority signings this summer. So we didn’t dump Ole’s plan to sign Ronaldo. And they know each other. It’ll be a challenge for Ole to manage the situation, and it might not work out, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
This is another cause for concern for me: we didn't plan for Ronaldo. So now we have to rip up our original plan to accommodate a 36 / nearly 37 year old CF that expects to play every game.

If Ole rotates Ron and Cavani then not much will change other than Ron won't do the pressing or defending Cavani does. That's a bit shit cos we want to be a team that press. And we'll still play on the counter with a back 6 but with an even greater predatory striker in Ron. And obviously his presence around the club will raise everybody and bring a new professionalism. But on the pitch it won't last long when Norwich press Fred & Static and win the ball back easily.
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dozer wrote: 2 years ago
Hmm, you do wonder what player we're getting. How much has he got left. If he's going to be a lampost up front I'd rather we didn't sign him. I want movement, constant runs in behind, to press from the front. If he can't do enough of that cos he's too old, then use him as an option, not the main CF.
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Jason
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Sid wrote: 2 years ago
Thats a great one for woodwards final quarterly report for the investors (if he's still in charge of doing those!)

Its all about the likes, who cares what happens on the pitch.
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bman2
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Atletico won Liga with Suarez. Cavani has been good for us, Ibra good for Milan. Top players who are lucky and take care of themselves can play longer than they used to. How old is Chiellini, late 30s I think? He was amazing winning the Euros. And Ron has averaged a goal a game the last two seasons. So hopefully it’s actually a canny signing for football reasons. It’s not a crazy idea. Everyone expected him to be ace if he signed for City, so why not us?

It might end up being a Sanchez-like disaster, nostalgia bollocks peddled by the Glazers. But it could be good. If Ferguson was still running things, I think he’d sign him too. I hope Ron puts pressure on Ole and our coaches to put out a team that can actually knock the football around. That could be more important than 20 goals.
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This explains the Ron deal. Nev said something similar. We have to remember the owners, board and Ed literally feared walking back in to Old Trafford - the latter going home to his mansion that has been attacked numerous times tbf.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/bl ... for-change

Clearly the underlying discontent is still there, in varying degrees. The brazenness and disdain of the Super League breakaway may not have been forgiven. But for the moment it has certainly been forgotten. The natural hypothesis is that owners have simply bought off the loyalty and quiescence of their fans with flowers, chocolates and attacking midfielders. The truth is probably a little more complex, and stems from the fact that the Super League protests were often inflected with other long-standing grievances: a historical lack of infrastructure investment at Manchester United, poor performances on the pitch at Arsenal, poor strategic decisions at Tottenham, a general sensation of aloofness and disconnect at Liverpool. Fans of Chelsea and Manchester City, by contrast, have been largely happy with their owners, which is probably why their anger subsided quickest.

New signings may address these issues to some extent. But importantly, they offer at least the illusion of renewal, of appeasement, of listening. In the meantime, they create one hell of a distraction: not just swallowing up column inches and airtime but stirring debate and division, shifting the conversation on to more familiar, less threatening ground.

And so the real point here isn’t about the caprice or hypocrisy of fans but the sheer impossibility of sustaining any sort of concerted opposition to a power that is in many respects impregnable, that holds all the cards, that is able to set its own irresistible agenda.
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