This isn't another anti-Ronaldo-transfer post; now the transfer has happened, let's hope it works out well. I'm interested in what the tactical hive mind of our forum thinks the introduction of Ronaldo will impact on our tactics. Will the system change? Which players will complement him best?
I think it's fairly uncontroversial to say we wouldn't have been in the market for a player of Ronaldo's generic attributes if it hadn't been Ronaldo himself: his quality and his history with United, as the club had been focusing on signing and developing young, mobile and relatively flexible forwards. While we don't press with the intensity of some sides (possibly due to the Pogba conundrum and the lack of pace in defence), buying Varane and Sancho suggested to me that the plan was to play higher up the pitch than we have before. As someone else pointed out on my previous post, Ronaldo's lack of pressing is a salient feature of his game these days. In fact, Michael Cox has written a helpful article about the tactical implications of signing Ronaldo in the Athletic, and points out the following:
"The statistics in this situation are quite remarkable — fbref.com’s data suggests he is in the bottom one per cent of forwards (taking into account those in Europe’s major five leagues) in terms of pressuring opponents, and in the bottom four per cent in terms of tackles."
If you dive deeper into these stats (here https://fbref.com/en/players/dea698d9/Cristiano-Ronaldo) and compare with those for Cavani (here https://fbref.com/en/players/527f063d/Edinson-Cavani), it becomes clear that it's not quite true to say that "Ronaldo is basically an upgrade on Cavani" as some on this forum have argued. Confirming the evidence of our eyes, you see that Cavani is in the 64th percentile for pressing and 82nd for tackling. He's a much more proactive forward than Ronaldo, who will participate in, and sometimes lead, the press. Ronaldo is unlikely to do that. On the other hand, Ronaldo is in the 84th percentile for dribbles completed, compared with Cavani's 19th percentile. If you can find him, he's likely to progress the ball. Once they have the ball, Ronaldo is very likely to shoot (99th percentile), whereas Cavani scores higher in assists. Incidentally, the two are very close in terms of non-penalty goals per 90 minutes - Cavani in the 96th percentile, Ronaldo slightly lower in the 91st.
How does this translate into style of play? I think with Ronaldo on the pitch, it's likely there will be greater burden on other players to press and to track back when we're out of possession, and greater emphasis on patterns of movement and passing that enable us to feed Ronaldo. I reckon Sancho, once bedded in, could be at the front of the queue to support Ronaldo, as he has the ingenuity to pick out players in the box. It raises more questions about Pogba's role. Aside from our vulnerability when he plays in a double pivot (which is magnified if our forward line is less aggressive in the press), his passing ability when played on the left could also increase Ronaldo's productivity. But then it exacerbates the issue that our squad is top-heavy with attacking talent and very thin in midfield.
Anyway, I know many of you have better heads for tactics and formations than me and I'd be interested what you think would be our best systems, best line-ups, and the opportunities and weaknesses of having Ronaldo in the XI.
Ronaldo tactics
posted on 31/8/21
comment by Naby8 (U6997)
posted 2 seconds ago
Outsiders view but I'd expect to see a lot more crosses into the box from Utd this season. Ronaldo is dynamite in the air, Sancho can deliver a ball, as can Shaw.
Apparently Utd were 15th in number of crosses last season (https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/clubs/total_cross?se=363); I'd expect to see that increase significantly now you've got one of the biggest penalty box presences in the game.
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Good point
posted on 31/8/21
cr7----cavanni----greenwood
with shaw providing the width while cr7 having the license to roam
given cr7 and cavani's age we can still accomodate the like of rashford, sancho and martial with plenty of game time either through rotation or early substitutions.
the problem is still cdm. Unless we have a better cdm that has better awareness of danger then with such an attacking lineup (pogba and fernandes in a midfield 3) our midfield will always crumble against decent opposition. On the otherhand,if we played both mct and fred creativity will be stiffled
posted on 31/8/21
I totally agree about the DM problem, though I think it's not just about upgrading what we have: there's a structural challenge if we want both Pogba and Bruno playing in a 3 / in a 2 + 1. Unless the DM is superhumanly good or Pogba plays a more disciplined game than is natural to him or Bruno is asked to play a more all-round midfield game, we'll always be slightly vulnerable to counter attacks and a bit awkward in progressing the ball from defence. Nevertheless, it would make a difference if we had a specialist deep-lying midfielder other than Matic. In his cameos, despite lack of mobility, you can sometimes see how much more structured our play can be with someone of that skill set.
posted on 31/8/21
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 11 minutes ago
I totally agree about the DM problem, though I think it's not just about upgrading what we have: there's a structural challenge if we want both Pogba and Bruno playing in a 3 / in a 2 + 1. Unless the DM is superhumanly good or Pogba plays a more disciplined game than is natural to him or Bruno is asked to play a more all-round midfield game, we'll always be slightly vulnerable to counter attacks and a bit awkward in progressing the ball from defence. Nevertheless, it would make a difference if we had a specialist deep-lying midfielder other than Matic. In his cameos, despite lack of mobility, you can sometimes see how much more structured our play can be with someone of that skill set.
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This is my concern about the CDM role. I’m just not sure a single player could handle it unless Pogba really upped his game defensively.
Even a prime Keano would struggle.
posted on 31/8/21
Yeah, I think it's a tactical task as much as a recruitment task. Sometimes we assume that you need a destroyer / athlete in the hole if you only have one DM, but there are plenty of examples of more refined and lightweight players (Carrick, Neves) patrolling that space, if the overall structure is right.
posted on 31/8/21
Problem is that we’ll have these structural issues regardless of the players. Better players will help overcome some of them, but you’ll still be fighting with one hand tied behind your back.
You’ll often hear the top coaches talking about finding solutions to issues they have in the team, and I’m not talking about the transfer market, and they’ll make adjustments to overcome them. It doesn’t look to me like we make enough adjustments to overcome some of these problems - I think they are more than just the team not being well drilled enough. And we’ve not actually done enough in the transfer market to address them.
Look at the forward situation. We’ve not had players that can compete for long balls. Not having that out ball makes life harder playing out from the back/through a press.
That’s not to say we needed loads of big forwards good in the air, but if you have that problem you have to address the issues behind them and that hasn’t been done.
posted on 31/8/21
If we do address the CDM position we will then know two things:
1. This has been the best transfer window (on paper)
2. We pretty much will have a fantasy football team
Our weakest position after that is RB and as flawed as he is, AWB isn’t the worst player in the league.
posted on 31/8/21
and as flawed as he is, AWB isn’t the worst player in the league.
———
Yeah, we just sold him to Leeds.
posted on 31/8/21
I am a big believer that games are won in midfield (maybe because I played as a cm) and our midfield is un balanced
Play bruno and pogba along with one of mct/fred and it is likely to gett overrun by oposition midfield
Play both fred and mct as a holding 2 and it lacks the ability to get the ball to attackers quickly enough so that they can do damage
This is probably not a popular statement but I would have rather we signed a top cdm over sancho and cr7
posted on 31/8/21
comment by Garner be a star (U13920)
posted 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
I am a big believer that games are won in midfield (maybe because I played as a cm) and our midfield is un balanced
Play bruno and pogba along with one of mct/fred and it is likely to gett overrun by oposition midfield
Play both fred and mct as a holding 2 and it lacks the ability to get the ball to attackers quickly enough so that they can do damage
This is probably not a popular statement but I would have rather we signed a top cdm over sancho and cr7
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At the start of the summer I wrote a post saying we'd love to have a RW, a CB and DM, but for me the latter was the most important.