Can United Do Without Ronaldo?

[red_devils4life]

Source: Goal.com

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/08_02/RonaldoRedCardES_468x414.jpg

On the previous Sunday Cristiano Ronaldo scored another goal for the Red Devils to take his season's goal tally to 37. It is quite evident that Manchester United depend a lot on the Portuguese whiz, so can the Premiership holders do without Ronaldo, in case of an injury or a summer transfer?

The Red Devils squad of yesteryears boasted several big names like David Beckham, Roy Keane,Juan Veron, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sherringham, Van Nistelrooy to name a few. Each of these players had the capability to take the game on their own and turn it around.

Even if one of these would have a bad day, the other would definitely fire and cover up.Perhaps, this attribute helped United to stamp their authority in the domestic league and got them the historic treble in ’99.

In short, Manchester United was always a collective show rather than a one man affair.

Ever since, the golden boys of the 99 era retired or left for other pastures, several players were brought but they failed to fill in the boots of the former greats. Last season saw the rise of a phenomenon amongst the United ranks – Cristiano Ronaldo.

The winger was instrumental in United claiming the Premiership crown back from Chelsea, where it was stalled for two consecutive seasons. This season, Ronaldo seems to have got even better and the results are for all to see.

What is a worrying factor for the United fans is that the team is becoming over dependent on the ever reliable Portuguese. When Ronaldo misfires, Manchester United seem to lose their way and the best instance which comes to mind is last year’s Champions League semis against AC Milan wherein the star player was completely nullified by the physical Gattuso in the second leg at the San Siro.

The FA Cup loss could also be attributed to the same. Ronaldo was kept in check by the Chelsea medios and once again the Red Devils failed to conjure something constructive. Another grim reality of how United are over relying on the mesmerizing effects of Ronaldo.

Ronaldo’s 37 goals are the maximum scored by a winger in a single season surpassing George Best’s record. All this makes Ronaldo, undoubtedly, the best player in the world. If we take out Ronaldo’s goals this season, Manchester United have either drawn or lost on a number of occasions.

Agaianst Arsenal, Fulham, Everton, Bolton and many more, Ronaldo’s goals have saved the day for United and thus placed them in driver’s seat to retain their Premiership title. That’s how important Ronaldo is to United. A worrying fact, isn’t it?

In a worst case scenario, if Ronaldo does get injured, it will be intriguing to see how the Red Devils cope in his absence.

Also with several big European names been linked with Ronaldo and the Portuguese stating his desire to play in the La Liga at some point, it’s essential that United find a replacement for their current best player.

What shall eventually happen is not known so, let’s wait and watch.

[scott 4 evra]

No we couldn't cope without him or Rooney. Without Ronaldo, I don't think we would have won the Premier League.

[Forever_United]

maybe not win it back straight away. but the good thing about us is that we can adapt. we can win the prem with ron and sure as hell win it without him.

[Zenitka]

United good plays and without Ronaldo. Recollect a match with an arsenal. Superb played Nani...

[Drew9]

no1 is bigger than the club, didnt do much at blackburn got a result, won the game at liverpool without him being brilliant ... obviously we'd miss him but we're not a one man team u take drogba or terry awway from chelsea they suffer fabregas away from arsenal, gerrad or torres away from the scum etc everyone has match winners that they need ...

[Jazz 16]

We wouldnt be winning this years Prem if Ronnie had been missing all season.

We CAN win games without him, we are not a one man team.
Obviously over a long period of time we would miss him greatly but
if it was for one of the last games of this season, we could still win games
without him.

Remember in 1999, Keane and Scholes missed the final, arguably our 2 best
players in that team. and we still won.

[yangch0000]

we can do without ronaldo, but we cant do without rooney.
my signature may make my statement less convincing....

[United_OG]

^^did not work on me

Like jazz said we can win games without ronaldo, but over a season we would not win a league this season and even more so last seasons without ronaldo.

I said it in anothe thread after the boro game that when ronaldo is not at full tilt someone else has to come through for once but as usual, if ronaldo is not winning us matches, more often than nobody else is either.

Ronaldo is the best player in the league by far though to united rooney is very important aswell along with rio for what they offer.

I hope Ronaldo never gets injured!lol

pz

[dckyfoxes]

Without Ronaldo... we might not win EPL, but we are still stong for the contention of it...

[akash_reds]

i agree with what a lot of people has siad....we can win the matches but we will miss ronaldo if he leaves or gets injured.....hopefully nothing like that will happen soon but we can without him..

[real_fan]

if we didnt have ronaldo or rooney playing we loose.

bolton,west ham, city x 2,

we need them players !

[Red_Devil28]

Im really sick of people going on about how manchester united wouldn't be winning without ronaldo!! :mad:

Man Utd are not a one man football team, i think people forget that without Rio and Vidic we would have lost a lot of games!! our defense for the large amount of this season has been ROCK solid!! and this has nothin to do with ronaldo!!

No offense to the guy as im a huge fan of his, i just wanted to point out that he does not win matches by himself

[sweet fa]

ronaldo is the big star in this team and in all honesty he has carried this team for much of the last 2 seasons,without him we would not have won the league for sure.rooney is another top performer but i feel he needs a powerful imposing strike partner to see him at his awsome best .

[red_devils4life]

ronaldo is the big star in this team and in all honesty he has carried this team for much of the last 2 seasons,without him we would not have won the league for sure.rooney is another top performer but i feel he needs a powerful imposing strike partner to see him at his awsome best .

Indeed, despite the obvious attacking qualities of Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, United are becoming increasingly dependent on Ronaldo when it comes to unlocking opposition defences and creating chances. The signs were there back in August, when he was sent off at Fratton Park for an alleged head butt on Portsmouth's Richard Hughes.

Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but I don't think we rely on him a lot. Yeah his banged 30 odd goals this season, but when you look at Liverpool without Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres, they look a bit lost or a bit our of shape. When Chelsea have no Frank Lampard they don't have that added bit in the midfield and without Didier Drogba, they look a bit toothless in attack. And that fact also applies on Arsenal when they missed out on both Cesc Fabregas & Emmanuel Adebayor. Ronaldo is a blow if we lose him, but i don't think he is our team. No player is bigger than the team itself. ;)

[sparkic]

He is an integral part of our team and without him we would not be in such a comfortable position in the EPL or CL imo but we could cope without him...I always said that Rooney is the key man, the heart beat of Man United and without him we cannot cope like ever loss in the EPL has came without Rooney..

[akash_reds]

ronaldo has saved us from a lot of losing chances and he is good in doing that.......but he does perfrom best mainly against the smaller teams and disappears during the big matches(sometimes)......
but we will miss him if he leaves us......
who else do you know who is a free scoring midfielder from the right!!!
if we get a free scoring striker and a RB then our teams i done!!!!!
and thats how good we are!!!!!

[red_devils4life]

who else do you know who is a free scoring midfielder from the right!!!

Bayern's Franck Ribery & Robinho from Real Madrid. Sure, they doesn't score as many goals as Ronnie does, but still...they are considered as free-scoring when both has amassed quite a number of goals this season.

[Lucky7]

He was Amazing this season.
Scored 38 goals so far..
Class.

[The_Red_Prince]

We can play well without him,no doubt.When we played Arsenal,we trashed them without him.He is a very important figure,but we can do without him

[ManUtd08]

maybe but lucky fing is we got ronaldo now init

[antdevil78]

times come when big players go and we think at the time that we will suffer but always come back to produce the goods

examples include paul ince (inter), beckham (real madrid), van nistelrooy (real madrid). All players we didnt want to see go but have done mainly cos of fall outs with fergie and yet gone on to win more honours

[feb_6th_1958]

United is a team,Ronaldo just a palyer
Man Utd is not Ronaldo's team,
Man Utd can play without anyone

[reddwarf]

I think we're not over reliant on 1 player but over reliant on 3 this season. Between them Ronaldo (38), Rooney (17) and Tevez (18) have scored the vast majority of goals for us this season (73 of 100).

Last season just about every player in the squad contributed to the goals tally but this season I think we've struggled to back up our front men with goals from midfield and elsewhere. In 06/07, we scored 123 goals and 59 of these were scored by our top 3 scorers - Ronaldo (23), Rooney (23) and Saha (13). That's 48%.

A goal scoring central midfield player would be a good addition in the summer I think - unless Anderson starts banging them in and/or Nani scores more next season.

[Red Devil]

Any club can do without any player