Real Madrid vs Espanyol

Standard 3-0 or 3-1 win where we barely raise our game. Unless Espanyol decide to really turn it up.

I am happy Varane is out there all the time, hopefully his injury problems are behind him

MORATA FFS

Mr Nick09 wrote:MORATA FFS

Would have gotten the score correct too if La Liga wasn't so full of corruption. Decent win, very non-descript and nice to see Bale back until he is injured again in April.

Decent performance by the boys. Cristiano has become a playmeker now. Remember when people called him a goal poacher lol

Who else is in Love with the new Ronaldo? This is what we have been crying for even though he still gets petulant once it gets to the 70 minute mark and he hasnt got his goal.
IF he can stay this way, we would finally become unbeatable!

He goes through 5-10 game stretches like this for the past 3 seasons. It won't last.

I hope it lasts till the season ends

Yeah sports but this time he doesn't have his athleticism to go back to his old ways. Lol

If he scores some goals while doing it, he might stick with it. But once he goes 3 games without scoring, CR will get angry and park his behind in the box again. Mark my words.

He does this everytime he gets booed. Then he goes back to being a shoot on sight clown. The only thing he has going for him now that is elite is his off the ball movement for himself and heading. His finishing is even more inefficient than before if that was even possible and he misses sitter every single game. he was never a great finisher but now's it's obvious.

Also the team are winning without him and have a better win record when he's not there. I'm guessing he's starting to see the righting on the wall.

halamadrid2 wrote:He was never a great finisher waaaat

He was averaging like 8 shots a game to score his goals. His conversation rate has never been elite bar the period in 14/15 season where he had the best scoring patch in his life. It was on Messi's 11/12 level for a few months.

This is obvious to anyone that watches him. Had the most shots by any player per match since Opta started recording data. Messi has more goals from outside the box despite taking almost a 100-150 less shots the last time I remember looking at that stat. I remember Euros 12 he had more shots than anyone in the tournaments history and had scored the same amount of goals as a Torres off the bench for Spain. His efficiency isn't very good.

True, he was never a great finisher, he just happened to have so many shots attempts that he would have been horrible if he didnt get as much goals as a got.

I am not even here to bash him, I am totally in love with him now but just like @jibers said, he only does this when he gets booed and like @sportsczy said, if he goes three games without scoring, he would revert to his useless self, the Ronaldo that is more interested in scoring goals that Madrid winning.

Truth is that he got as many chances as he gets when he plays his stupid poaching style so why not stick with this??????

jibers wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:He was never a great finisher waaaat

He was averaging like 8 shots a game to score his goals. His conversation rate has never been elite bar the period in 14/15 season where he had the best scoring patch in his life. It was on Messi's 11/12 level for a few months.

This is obvious to anyone that watches him. Had the most shots by any player per match since Opta started recording data. Messi has more goals from outside the box despite taking almost a 100-150 less shots the last time I remember looking at that stat. I remember Euros 12 he had more shots than anyone in the tournaments history and had scored the same amount of goals as a Torres off the bench for Spain. His efficiency isn't very good.

I highly disagree that he's not a good finisher. He tends to, or at least, he used to frequently take a lot of long-distance shots from tight angles and generally ambitious positions, so it's not surprising at all that his shots-to-goal ratio is poor. I can't think of any other player who's wasted more possession on long-distance shots than him. I don't believe his long-distance shooting accuracy is poor, I'm sure he's scored more of those than most other, top players have. However, based on the frequency of long-distance shots he's taken throughout his career, I think we can establish that he rates his long-distance shooting ability higher than the fact. I think that says more about his poor judgement, than it does about his finishing - which is one of his greatest abilities, in my opinion. Personally, I've always rated his finishing from inside, and just outside the box.

Thimmy wrote:

jibers wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:He was never a great finisher waaaat

He was averaging like 8 shots a game to score his goals. His conversation rate has never been elite bar the period in 14/15 season where he had the best scoring patch in his life. It was on Messi's 11/12 level for a few months.

This is obvious to anyone that watches him. Had the most shots by any player per match since Opta started recording data. Messi has more goals from outside the box despite taking almost a 100-150 less shots the last time I remember looking at that stat. I remember Euros 12 he had more shots than anyone in the tournaments history and had scored the same amount of goals as a Torres off the bench for Spain. His efficiency isn't very good.

I highly disagree that he's not a good finisher. He tends to, or at least, he used to frequently take a lot of long-distance shots from tight angles and generally ambitious positions, so it's not surprising at all that his shots-to-goal ratio is poor. I can't think of any other player who's wasted more possession on long-distance shots than him. I don't believe his long-distance shooting accuracy is poor, I'm sure he's scored more of those than most other, top players have. However, based on the frequency of long-distance shots he's taken throughout his career, I think we can establish that he rates his long-distance shooting ability higher than the fact. I think that says more about his poor judgement, than it does about his finishing - which is one of his greatest abilities, in my opinion. Personally, I've always rated his finishing from inside, and just outside the box.

Thimmy, when talking about CR we compare him to his peers ie the all time greats not bums. Decision making is part of finishing. It's all part of it. The way you pivote your body and turn in the box to get into a shooting position is all part of it. You choosing to shoot left when there is a better angle to shoot right even if you have a good shooting technique means you go for a narrower angle and miss because of decision making.

Imagine a guy is offside 20 times in a game running off the last defender when he is put in on goal for a one vs one vs the keeper. And on the 21s and 22nd try he ins't off side and he scores. Now his goal tally would say 2 and people would automatically assume his off the ball movement is great because he scored 2 despite the multiple chances. His off the ball movement and anticipation of his teammetes passes are all part of decision making. Obviously the 20 offside is just an exaggeration

Just using that to prove my point.

Ronaldo's main strengths for me have been running into space with and without the ball and his aerial ability. He is arguably the best counter attacking forward I have ever seen.

jibers wrote:

Thimmy, when talking about CR we compare him to his peers ie the all time greats not bums. Decision making is part of finishing. It's all part of it. The way you pivote your body and turn in the box to get into a shooting position is all part of it. You choosing to shoot left when there is a better angle to shoot right even if you have a good shooting technique means you go for a narrower angle and miss because of decision making.

Ronaldo's main strengths for me have been running into space with and without the ball and his aerial ability. He is arguably the best counter attacking forward I have ever seen.

Fair enough. I agree about his main strengths, but when you say finishing, the first thing that comes to my mind is shooting ability. His shooting ability is not poor by any stretch of the word. Even if you compare it to that of all time greats, I would hardly call it poor.

His decision-making, and/or lack of maturity are two of his most obvious flaws, always have been. Like you say, his movement into space and general positioning in attack are world class, but his decision-making ranges from brilliant to absolutely retarded. The guy maintains a physique that most people can only dream about, with attention to the micro levels of health and fitness, yet he seems to be the very last person to notice apparent signs of his body declining as a result of becoming older. Hell, it wasn't long ago that he would waste possession time and time again because he kept trying to dribble past players that either outnumbered him and/or were significantly more agile. It was like watching a fly attempt to escape through the windshield.

Ronaldo is not a good finisher.  He's a volume shooter.  Just check out his conversion rates on shots attempted... and then compare it to the other top scorers in Europe at the time... and you will see that the gap is pretty gigantic bar one season.

He's always hovered in the 15-17% range (one exception) while the good scorers are at 20% and the great ones at 25%+.  He's not clinical by any stretch.

To put it in an example...  the great scorers put one in every 4-5 shots max.  Ronaldo's rate is 8 shots to put one in.

Now, it's not easy to get 8 shots off.  But it came at the detriment of others.  For example, Benzema and Higuain struggled to get 3 shots a game even though they are the CF.  That's not enough.

You take the good and the bad with Ronaldo.  There's a reason we can't win the league very much with him.    He forces teams to become ultra reliant on his scoring and, thus, whenever he has off periods or drama, the team loses a lot of points.  Zidane has done a great job of emphasizing "team" as opposed to individuals, which is why we're now consistent btw.  Ronaldo is scoring and contributing less than ever and Real Madrid is playing its best football consistently since Ronaldo came over.  Coincidence?

You guys are hilarious. Biggest haters I have seen. I'm not sure if Ronaldo slept with your partners but the hate some of you have for this club legend is bordering on insane. Now I've heard it all. Ronaldo is the greatest goal scorer in history and he is unmatched. How many goal scorers have scored 50+ goals for 6 consecutive seasons? He has stopped scoring now and has become the main playmaker but you carry on bashing him.

I have even seen some posts suggesting Hazard should replace him...Hazard...

Thank God Florentino knows who his golden goose is. Look at the way Barcelona worship Messi, and Ronaldo is insulted in almost every thread I open with Madrid fans in the fron of the line.

Compare the trophy count under Ronaldo compared to Messi and then come back to me.  Also, was Ronaldo the best player for Madrid in our first CL win with him?  No.  Di Maria, Bale and Ramos carried us in the big games.  In the second one?  Ramos, Modric and the defense saved our arse as only Ramos scored a goal in the semis and final. Our defense was the rock.

Data is data.  Facts are facts.  Not taking away from Ronaldo's stats or areas of brilliance.  But I would only contribute one of our trophies to him in terms of being undoubtedly the key player:  Our 1 la liga trophy.  In comparison, Messi has overwhelmingly been the key player overall and in big games for Barcelona for all their trophies,

It's really not that difficult to understand. Obviously your a fanboy but he is a double edged sword. Everyone has been saying this for years it's nothing new. He has been anonymous in 2 cl finals. Scored a pen after a dive in 14 and then flopped in 16 then scored the final pen after ALL his teammates scored.