Topic: Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread - page 231. (Read 145488 times)

Exactly this.In most games against weaker teams he can be the man of the match as can save Manchester United a lot with his goal scoring ability.I don't like these coaches who think they know everything and they start by putting their authority against star players like Ronaldo despite what behavior this player is showing.If the manager continues without making him play I am pretty confident we will see a really bad Manchester United in the upcoming games with lots of unexpected results.

Ronaldo gives you goals and unbelievable media presence but he comes with enormous ego and he doesn't play defense except in super important games like CL final.

I would never bring him in settled club, simply too risky, but if you need some guaranteed goals and have no other big stars in your team than he becomes perfect fit. Millions of new followers on social networks plus all the shirts sold must mean a lot to some clubs. Problem is Ronaldo still wants to play on the very top level and those clubs aren't that interested in him as we have seen in last transfer window.

While I do agree it was a strange purchase, and probably not the right one. He isn't exactly perfomring below par for a United player. Despite United being absolutely awful for much of the season, Ronaldo was up there with the top goal scorers of the season who were in very good teams.

Ronaldo is a special player, no doubt about that, and he's no where near finished at the top level. I think it's just a attitude issue with him, which you have to have the correct manager to manage that. Fergusson had to deal with it, like I mentioned before.

I literally like how cryptofrka called it, it was a mistake to bring and to keep him.

I like the fact that Ten Haag have the balls to bench Ronaldo, yes! If he doesn't bring what the coach actually needs from him, I'm of the opinion that Ten Haag probably doesn't want just a goal poacher, hence the reason of preferring Rashford who seems to have more to offer than to just score goals, but the only point I want to make is that, it's rather becoming disrepectful that he isn't getting any minutes whatsoever, and everybody agrees that Ronaldo isn't who he used to be and he himself needs to acknowleged that fact and role too, but I'm still of the opinion that Ronaldo's still not yet that bad to not be afforded some 15-20 minutes in a game.

Well Ronaldo is still one of the biggest players of all time and they got a lot of money from marketing and everything when they signed him. Coaches need to learn to use him he is a goal machine and wants to win always. He can be a diva but people need to take advatange of his goalscoring abilities.

Yeah, well if that's actually the case then you have to show him who's boss, but he probably shouldn't even be on the bench and send him to the stands instead, especially if you don't have any intent to play him. It's a shame because everyone wants to see him play. You would think Ronnie knows the score by now though, but I'm sure we don't know the whole details and the excuses Hag was giving was just the 'political' answer. I wonder where he's going to go? Probably not many options for him right now and if he gets a rep for being stubborn or crying when he doesn't get his own way a lot of teams probably won't erven bother with him.

I read recently that if both Portugal and Argentina finish first in their World Cup groups then they could both meet in the final. Now that's something I'd love to see. Would definitely help settle the GOAT debate.


Definitely a catch-22 for Man U as they can't afford to be benching him really. Hopefully he just learns now that he's not above being benched.

Ok, I can believe that the highest scoring striker ever and United's best player last season has become a liability this season, no problem. And let's say Ten Hag is right about not giving Ronaldo any playing time. The problem is that United still play like crap. Do you understand it? Ronaldo is sitting on the bench and United are playing like shit - who's to blame? Ronaldo (because he doesn't put much pressure and doesn't do much teamwork on the bench) or Ten Hag who ends up with a pretty expensive squad and ends up with a shitty result? 

I think Manchester United cannot afford to play without him despite many thinking he is a toxic person now for Manchester United,we saw the other players and although they are much younger they could not help Manchester United in a key game against Manchester City.For the upcoming part of the season at least until January they should focus more to bring him to play if Man United fans and their coach want to see United up the ladder otherwise without him at the front of attacking I see this as very difficult to happen.

Ronaldo failed to show respect multiple times to his coaching staff and his teammates. He's become a toxic diva, one who's also playing below the level of a Man United striker.

It was a mistake to bring him, it is a mistake to keep him. The biggest mistake of them all would be to play him and fair play to Ten Hag for having the balls not to.

I agree. We don't know the whole situation so it's hard to say what is right and wrong, but it's often that ego and arrogance that drives a lot of top level athletes and even musicians to get to that elite level in the first place. If you didn't have so much self-belief you probably wouldn't get very far. There's a line from Drake that says  I am the greatest and I said that even before I knew I was but I think he was quoting Muhammed Ali. There's of lots of stuff from Kanye West before he was famous that's ridiculously egotistical but it's their own self-belief and arrogance that is their fuel to get where they want to be. Obviously Ronaldo has a massive ego and probably throws a tantrum when he doesn't get his own way and that's hard to handle for a manager. You need to learn to babysit them because you can't just let them walk all over you or backseat manage, but you also can't give into their every whim. If a player is disrespecting the team or manager and not playing by the rules you have to bench them sometimes to show them who's boss.


I don't think it would have come down to not letting him leave but time just run out on getting a deal done. Probably both the club and Ronaldo wanted him to go but their options were limited. Ronaldo would only go to a top tier club that is in the CL and there's not many clubs that can even afford him, and even the super-big clubs have probably already blown their budget on other players so can't buy him even if they wanted to. Also, Ronaldo isn't going to leave for less money and United aren't going to let him go at a bargain price so it's a catch-22. I'm sure they were trying to get rid of him right up to transfer deadline day and by the looks of it with Ronaldo not turning up for pre-season stuff he probably thought he was likely to go as well but deals probably just fell through for whatever reason. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't leave in the next window, though maybe there's still not many options as to who can afford him.  

Thanks mate 


I only beat you to the yellow cap by getting an extra slam spoint, I had 8 right outcomes, which gives me 2 slam point, instead of the 1 slam point you get for 6-7 outcomes.


I agree with Hilarious, it's just pretty much absurd for not letting him leave when he had the opportunity to leave, and that's all just so he could rot away on the bench, It would have made sense if they're actually doing very better without Ronaldo, then I'd understand the reason for not starting him, ETH saying he didn't want to bring him into the game that has been lost but brought in Casemiro and most disrepectfully to also play Martial who have been out injured for the past 5 weeks ahead of Ronaldo, it's just doesn't make much sense imo!

In my opinion dropping your star player isn't necessarily good management. Obviously, he'll get the praise because he has the balls to do it. However, good management would be changing Ronaldo's attitude. Ferguson knew the type of player Ronaldo was, and he has always had a attitude issue, or perhaps some would say arrogant? That's not exactly a criticism, since most players at that level believe in themselves quite a lot it does come across as arrogant.

I'd like to think it's a current tactical change due to him obviously negatively effecting the team. However, United have improved, but they still aren't a team that will be challenging for anything soon. The problem is more than Ronaldo.

But Ronaldo actually has become a liability tactically.  Ten Hag has to change how the squad plays when Ronaldo is up there spear heading the attack because he doesn't do much when they don't have the ball.  It ends with a couple of guys being forced to be out if position to make up for it.

United just needs to rebuild from scratch.  Something they should've done after Ferguson left almost 10 years ago.  Damn..  It's been almost a decade now.  Lol.  Maybe they're due for a resurgence in a couple of years.

Congrats, you took Yellow cap from me in last minute. I think I was 0.5 point ahead before Leicester game, we both got 1 point from that game and after it you already ahead me. Not sure how, maybe you got slam point.
Anyway, two yellow caps in a row and third in whole season probably would be too good for me . Yeah, you get free bet for yellow cap. So, congrats again you bastard .

You are probably right, we all know he wanted to leave during the summer and basically his manager offered him to all top clubs playing in Champions League and that probably did not sit very well with United management or coach. Putting him in his place, but that is not something you do the legend at the end of his career. That is something you do to up and coming player to make him change his habits. If you have Ronaldo, you either use him or get rid of him asap.

This is just classic management BS when they don't actually want to give the real reason. Ronnie sat on the bench is already pretty disrespectful to him and the fans not to mention pissing away millions for him to warm the bench. Looking at his face during the match it looked like he wanted to come on and I'm sure he's been itching to do so. Bringing him on for the last 5-10 minutes might have been disrespectful but they should have just done it at half time. You make changes then to try turn the game round. Given that Man U actually managed to get 3 in the end it could have been a different story if he was brought on. Regardless, he should have started. I'm sure it's not down to fitness but attitudes or egos.

I had a real stinker of a week, 4.5 points which was one of the lowest points in our pool. Good thing it’s a long season I guess

Congrats to Harkorede with the yellow cap, well done Sir.

It's time for Ten Hagu to worry not about Ronaldo, but about himself - with such results, he will be thrown out of the club very quickly. I don't think he was taken to the club with the condition that United could hang around in the 6th-7th place and get humiliating defeats from time to time (a complete repetition of last season). A few (largely accidental) victories seem to have given Ten Hag the audacity to continue to ignore Ronaldo - the problem is that United still play badly. The tension from the fans is already high, if the management is also unhappy, then soon Ten Hag will have to pack his things.

That is a nice deceiving statement,the truth is the new manager of United it looks like he does not like Ronaldo,he insisted on keeping him out in most of the games despite him starting the season with humiliating loses against weak teams of the Premier League.When he started winning after those 2 initial games everybody forgot about Ronaldo as long as the team was winning,when they lost big this weekend against their derby rivals of City and with a tennis result the fans ask desperate things like why don't you made Ronaldo play.

We need to see how things will turn out in the upcoming games where hopefully the form will be up and if the coach still does not play him something must be wrong between the two.

Statements from manager are logical and maybe even actual truth but you never know if it is the state of things or just power plays.

He said that Ronaldo is not in first 11 because he missed pre season and isn't in peak form yet. When asked why he did not bring him in later on he answered something like "Ronaldo is one of the greats of this sport and I did not want to bring him in the game which was already lost".