Best Player of the here and now…. Christiano Ronaldo?

Last year Ronaldo didn’t do anything against Milan in the UCL and it was evident he still lacked experience so let’s see how he does this year. It’s too soon in the season to say he’s the best player right now, really good players appear on big games and if he does that this year it’s because he really has grown. I personally think he’s good but not a real “crack” as Kaka, Pirlo, Persie, Gerrard, etc.

It’s funny how Goose doesn’t like gayish people but chose an avatar from a very gayish movie

Posted from  Australia

Good to hear Frank and Cocu are assistants of Van Maarwijk. They were both remarkable players and they are an example for younger players.

It’s good to have an experienced coach with young people at his back and not a coach without experience such as Marco.

Maduro out for a month.

Well well, it’s gotten rather excited in here.

While I personally can’t stand the gravitationally challenged aka simulator/diver it’s the post fall reaction that annoys me most. The mellow drama these two (Robben/C Ronaldo) deliver wreaks of a Richard Simmons/Charlton Heston love child.

What I find interesting is I’ve seen Gerrard go down like a daisy numerous times this season and he seems to have escaped the dive label so far. It could be his English hero status, or his post fall sell job. Either way, his pockets are full of posies as well.

Now, of course this is not to say I don’t respect the talent of C.Ronaldo. He’s got mad skilz, and has raked in the CL pool points for me this season. There seems little doubt that he will take the crown for Europe’s best this year, Fergie has done a superb job of shaping the right supporting cast for his skill set. Now, if he could just ease up on the “I’m a comic book hero” routine.

Posted from  Canada

Re: Robben… I haven’t seen too many of his games for Chelsea but I have to say: I’ve seen him yellow-carded for dives, that - when seen back in slo mo - weren’t dives at all. If players like Robben (and yes C.Ronaldo) are in full speed trying to balance body and ball, it only takes a little push to get them to ground. I remember a dive Robben supposedly took at the WC2006 (was it the Portugal game??) when in slomo he was definitely pushed off his line.

But, apart from all the C.Ronaldo bashing…who do you guys feel is the most impressive player these days? Surely not Joris Mathijsen?

Posted from  Australia

I always thought Goose’s user name was just a goose, like the bird. So Goose, which one is it?

Jan - did you just call Top gun gay?? I love that movie! Haha

re: C Ronaldo - I’d have to agree that he is very impressive at the moment, and a person has to be particularly impressed by the way in which he responded to a rather dificult lead up to this season. The transfer speculation, the “wink” the constant boo-ing.

Speaking of players lines. It’s interesting that you mention that Jan, as I’m always curious about the way in which players defend against the likes of Robben and Ronaldo. The fall/contact/dive all result from the defender allowing the player to come at them. “R/R” are certainly fast, but particularly fast if the defender backs off, gives them space and then allows them to run. 9 times out of 10 the offensive player will pick a line tight to the defender play the ball just past the defender and…stationary reaction contact. Its only slight, it only needs to be, becuase as you mention Jan, the guy is moving at speed and down he goes. Its effective and clever from the point of view of the offensive player, and obviously ineffective from a defensive stand point. In basketball the rule is slightly different and in some ways potentially “more” fair. If the defender gets to the spot first, is planted and the offensive player runs into him, its a foul on the offensive player.

Posted from  Canada

hahaha.. ‘goose’ is a kind of an english translation of (a part from) my surname … didnt know there was a ‘ goose’ in TopGun??

now i get the Greg joke… very witty!!

but lets not get too friendly with the enemy guys!!

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

I’m not very fond of Ronaldo, but i think he’s certainly one of the best during the normal season, but, on almost every big occasion he seems to go into a shell and he becomes a bit innefectual. However, I can’t believe how much he has improved since the world cup. He used to be all trickery and show-pony without providing much of a contribution to the team but this year particulary he has stepped up his game and is much more of a supportive player. So, maybe the composure during big games will come soon.

Re Robben: I remember reading an interview (maybe posted on this blog) in which he stated his realisation of how childish he was to be diving and that he’d decided to stop it alltogether because he had grown-up…. anyone else remember that? It wasn’t too long ago, and, from what i’ve seen, he hasn’t dived in quite some time. Good to see.

The worst thing about being a football player in Oz is that the other footie codes rip on you about being a pansie. It’s hard to deny when so many high-profile players out there actually are. It’s a disgrace to the sport.

By the way, do any of you have the game FIFA 07 or 08?? Seedorf is rated 79…. he’s below Bouhlarouz. So, according to whoever creates those stats, he’s nowhere near being one of the best in Europe haha

Posted from  Australia

ayl - those fifa games always have terrible ratings, they are often way off.

Jan - yeah, I’ll have to admit Top Gun has some parts to it that I’m sure gay men would like. I started to love that movie when I was very young, before I could understand about those things, but I watched it again recently and I saw a side of it I didn’t remember. Still love it.. but I just have to ignore some parts of it.

watching manu vs roma, cristiano “cry baby” ronaldo just scored but then followed it up a few minutes later with a obvious dive which earned pizzaro a yellow card for what really amounted to an accidental bump…so much talent, such poor attitude.

Posted from  Canada

Well spotted! Ronaldo was impressive, the scorcher he hit after the Tevez cross… The ball just went over the crossbar. Beautifully taken, but when Pizzaro bumped into him, he did his drop to the ground, knees up as if he’s hit in the shins and then he puts his arms up while looking at the ref. He did that at least 8 times in the match and I’ll build a statue for the ref who will book the little weiner for it!

Posted from  Australia

the problem with ronaldo is at least until now that he hasn’t live up to the expectations in big games (semi finals,etc),and hpefully he won’t at the end of april. don’t like him but… (i don’t want to say anything)

Posted from  Hungary

actually i have a new favourite player: bojan krkic.

Posted from  Hungary

Igor - I really hate to defend Ronaldo, but that was no dive with Pizzaro. Ronaldo did a little trickery in the midfield and Pizzaro didn’t like that, so he came in to ‘teach Ronaldo a lesson’. It was definitely not accidental, you could see the intent all over it. Most of the first half the Roma players were kicking at Ronaldo any time he got the ball, so the Ref finally had enough. I don’t like Ronaldo, but I still don’t like it when players try to take him out of the game by literally taking him out everytime he gets a touch - if they do it to Ronaldo they will do it to our creative players too.

caleb- i agree with you, the beautiful game would get pretty ugly very quickly if less skilled opponents were allowed to neutralize another team’s skills by kicking at players everytime they got the ball. and you could see that happening against ronaldo, i’m not arguing that (see for example the mexes yellow card where the defender clearly pushed ronaldo into the ground), but i still think that ronaldo went down heavily when he felt pizzaro make contact with him and i would never think that that should warrant a yellow card. and like Jan said, everytime ronaldo went to the ground he would throw his hands in the air, look pleadingly at the ref and if the ref waved play on, he would just sit down in the middle of the pitch and pout while the ball was making its way back towards the manu goal…terrible attitude made worse by the fact that he has mad skills and everything seems to be going his way these days, meaning there is no reason for him to pout like a petulant child.

Posted from  Canada

Guys,
as much as I hate Ronaldo he is probably the best footballer in the world at the moment.

He is also the best footballer diver in the world and has been for some time.

He is liked by many and perhaps hated by more. He kind of reminds me of the ultimate difficult choice to make on an evening out, to you go to bed with the girl with the big tits and ugly face, or do you shoot for the pretty one with anorexia? These are tough choices.

Posted from  United States

Igor - you’re definitely right about him pleading to the ref and pouting on the ground.. that’s his specialty right there.

Our new site has Ronaldo as The Best Player in the World just now. We’ll see how he finishes out 2008 though…

@finnster; always shoot for the one who’s most drunk!! if thats the ugly one, so be it …. the nice thing about girls with anorexia is that they need very little alcohol to get drunk so theyre pretty cheap!! haha

Ronaldo will finish 2008:
crying after loosing the EC finals to Holland with 7-0, scoring 3 own-goals and breaking a nail!!! haha, after that he will drive home, have an accident and will never walk again (a joke my PT friends)

Posted from  Netherlands

Kaka is the best,of course and Rooney!!!!!!!!! But Ronaldo isn`t. He never be as good as Kaka!

Posted from  Serbia And Montenegro