While C. Ronaldo MAY look unbeatable at the moment, there are, or may even be, downsides to his style of play. So, cutting all the shit out of trying to compare him to L. Messi, let’s take a look at C. Ronaldo. Basically, Ronaldo has (or may have): PRO
PROS
- Tremendous rhythm. Some people call C. Ronaldo a “speed demon” and I am one of those people.
- You can create things out of thin air against teams that don’t come up with a specific plan on how to deal with it, which is often the case in EPL.
- He’s very, very fit, which means he can run all day. This particular quality comes in handy when your team gets a red card or something like that. You can take that extra burden on yourself.
- He can shoot with both feet, although his left foot strike is nothing more than a swinger. He’s not really trying to control the ball, he just hits it towards the goal.
- You can make ridiculous free kicks. That curves, bends, accelerates at the same time and changes direction several times.
- He has an individual ability that allows him to comfortably outmaneuver defenders by two methods. Either he dribbles them skillfully or he just goes down route one and knocks them out of the competition.
- He can head the ball very well for someone who has such skill in his boots.
- It has all the tricks in the book and a few more that are not in the book.
- Entertaining the fans, most people pay just to see him train very differently than players like Gattuso or Giggs for that matter.
- He has a good football brain, although not the best. Sometimes he makes horrible decisions.
- Brittle feet allow you to maneuver the ball in tight spaces.
- His name is Ronaldo. When a defender reads that name on the back of C. Ronaldo’s jersey, he usually starts to shake and that is the reason why most defenders perform poorly against C. Ronaldo due to the mere presence of his name. Not even himself, which is a huge plus.
- For the past 3 seasons, he has been in amazing scoring form. The numbers are staggering: 23 in 53 games in 2006-2007 and 42 in 49 games in 2007-2008. These numbers scare even a striker and C. Ronaldo is just a winger. However, he is not a pure winger, he is more of a winger forward.
CONS
- Take speed from his game and you have a garbage bag that is C. Ronaldo.
- He has a huge attitude.
- Show many boats.
- Over does his dribbles.
- He does not like to pass, he does now that he knows that Ferguson would not tolerate otherwise.
- Their crosses are not the best in the world.
- It’s not a really traditional winger.
- He is, by no means, a great match player.
- He doesn’t handle pressure very well.
- I can’t live up to the tight marks.
- Play for fame and glory more than passion and country (or club).
- Loyalty is something Ronaldo hasn’t found in his life YET, or so it seems. As he only wanted to jump from Manchester United when Real Madrid came looking for him with their millions.
Don’t get me wrong, but this is my CANDIDA take on him. But now, he has been in incredible form of scoring. I mean, come on, 40 goals a season. I don’t care how much a player sucks. If that player can score 40 goals, in any league, let alone in the EPL, it is enough for him to be playing for Real Madrid.