Ta-ra, Ronaldo: The Mailbox reacts to that interview with Piers f***ing Morgan
Sympathy for Cristiano Ronaldo is in short supply in the Mailbox. Especially while Man Utd have a kid coming through who’s ‘better than Messi at 18’.
Get your views on any subject in to theeditor@football365.com…
That interview
I actually used to admire Ronaldo. He worked hard to perfect his craft over years and years. Despite winning everything he pushed to be the best.
His stint at Man U has changed all of that. I have no respect for the man at all. The least of all team players (except perhaps Mbappe – stroppy hier apparent). The fact he gave the interview at all is unprecedented and despicable.
Who he gave it to makes it a hundred times worse.
Go away Ronaldo. No one wants you.
Will in London.
…If I thought you were still a good player, I’d be f*cking blind.
Now get the f*ck out of my club.
Beefy, United
…Earlier in the season, towards the end of the match against Southampton, Ronaldo made a run toward the ball, from an offside position, and still got beat to it by a giant f*cking centre back.
He is (or was before that interview) in the same place Rooney was in his last couple of seasons at the club; an absolute liability on the pitch. Attacks constantly break down when he gets the ball. Never mind elite level, Ronaldo is finished as a premier league standard player.
He’s a mercenary. He’s never given a sh*te about United. I remember Rio Ferdinand interviewing the chap at his house a season or two after he joined Madrid and he gave this ridiculous sounding line where he said he’d always remember the ‘red devils’ and then started pissing himself laughing along with his piss test avoiding mate.
Going to the press, and the sun and piers sh*tting Morgan in particular, to publicly say you don’t respect your coach is next level though. I don’t remember seeing anything like this before in the game.
What a prick. What a delusional, petulant clown. How can you spend the summer trying to leave a club and then do this *and* do it because you’re being treated the same as any other player does when they’re playing terribly? How can you not know how it looks to people?
Everyone knows he has a giant ego but this is Trump levels of insanity. What does he think will happen now? Does he think United fans will want the manager out? Does he really think another club will want to work with him after this?
He says Rooney takes digs at him because he’s still playing at the top level? Again, what the hell does he think is going to happen now? He’s lost the plot.
What a way to go out. Just madness.
Eamonn, Dublin
…What a touching homage by Ronaldo to his one friend and supporter in the studio – Roy Keane. He’s paid a lovely tribute to Keane by busting out of the club in an interview. It’s almost like he might rip off his shirt and reveal a Keane16 tattoo.
I can see this issue dominating the back pages and mailbox. There’s a lot of wonderful things about Cristiano. Many of them are sadly in the past. Like many others, he is fighting the dying of light. He will be justifiably crucified for this interview by most fans. And yes, there is a lot to dislike about the person that he is. But of all the things, surely the worst black mark against him is being best mates with Piers Morgan. Shame.
Ved Sen (MUFC)
…It’s not really about what he said, although that’s not great.
It’s not even that he did it on a day when It’s got a last minute winner through their next (hopefully) superstar.
It’s also not that alot of what he said is his version of the events, leaving out the fact he asked to leave.
It’s that he said it all to Piers f**king Morgan.
DC, BAC
…In Russian I don’t give a shit translates roughly to
“I hold faeces in my hand and you cannot have it”
Can’t think of a more apt visual aid to an interview between a sweating forgotten human sized pile of carved Spam and a rejected 40 year old compulsively teasing tendrils of hair over a receding hairline waiting for the bouncer to judge him in the line outside a trendy nightclub he’s 20 years to old for.
I’m still young, I’m still relevant all eyes on me me me
No you aren’t, no you aren’t and no they aren’t.
Tim Sutton (Mitro 9 – 3 Nunez)
Gaga over Alejandro
Fulham v United was a good win for United to get away from home against a solid Fulham team all thanks to Garnacho.
The first half was close for both teams but United were just more clinical in front of goal. Malacia has had a few shaky moments purely because he is a left-back playing right-back but he is still doing his job. Elanga has probably been the weakest link and should be looking for a loan move in January as he needs a good loan somewhere in the championship just to get constant football and improve his skills. Bruno and Martial are linking up well and were involved in the goal for Eriksen. It was definitely a scrappy first half but nothing too bad from either side.
The second half was disappointing from United. Fulham came out strong and ready and United got comfortable. Bringing on McTominay was meant to slow the game down and hold on to the lead but five minutes later Dan James scores. I feel that bringing on McTominay for Elanga was the wrong choice as it means Fernandes has to go out to the right where he isn’t the best and it upsets the team when Bruno’s not in the middle. After the goal, Fulham took over but United’s defence stayed strong. Garnacho was the game changer again he has been recently and took this from a disappointing dropping of points to a great win away from home.
Overall, The game was always going to be challenging as Fulham are a very good team this year and will beat you if you do not play smart and United were missing Dalot and some names on the bench that could have helped. Garnacho again continues to get better and better and won us that game. I see a very bright future for Garnacho and hopefully, if we treat his growth right he can become a really great player for us.
Max Of Whitegate.
…I’m not saying that Garnacho is going to be better than Messi, but Messi wasn’t this good when he was 18…
It’s difficult not to get excited about this guy. At 18 years old he’s already so complete. He’s quick, technically brilliant, confident, composed. He’s a baller. This is an 18 year old child stepping onto a pitch full of grown men and taking games by the scruff of the neck. And contrary to some reports, he’s contracted to Man Utd until 2025.
To quote Canadian superstar Drake, What A Time To Be Alive. Man Utd possesses a squad containing the future of both Brazil and Argentina.
Can the World Cup hurry up and finish please? I really don’t want to wait over a month to watch Alejandro Garnacho on a football pitch again.
Super Sancho
Same old United
….Is it just me or are United in absolutely no better state than when Ole was at the wheel before Ronaldo arrived? Easily forgotten but OGS had us undefeated in 27 away matches a top flight record, we came back into games from behind more than any other team so the spirit was right, played counter attacking football and the defence for that season was decent. Then ronaldo came and stunk the place out with his atitiude and the spirit to be able to come back into games was gone in an instant – and its now been clear he had a problem with the whole club the minute he walked through the door which undoubtedly ruined the foundations OGS had built about team spirit and unity.
Think the Ronaldo interview does ETH a favour – off you go Ronnie. Thanks for the first act. And those that honestly have United at heart need to come out and publicly back ETH over this – Ferguson, Keane, Ferdnand etc. None of whom would have tolerated that – see Van Nistelrooy who was arguably our best player then tossed aside when his attitude stank.
Barry Bishop
Plucky Arsenal
Gaurav hit the nail on the head when he compared Arsenal to Leicester. The Gunners are the little engine who could and they have puffed, puffed, puffed to the Premier league summit.
It really is an extraordinary underdog story, especially when you look at the figures. In the last 5 years Arsenal have ONLY spent £600m on players. How could they possibly be expected to compete when they’re only the 4th highest spenders in the Premier league in that period? And that’s a MASSIVE £60m behind Man City. That’s more than £10m a year!
But it’s when we look at the last 2 years, the remarkable story really emerges. Arsenal have built this team off a shoestring budget of just £270m, the 3rd highest in the Premier League. Extraordinary. Let’s ignore the fact that they’ve actually spent more than Man City in that period. This is the sporting story of the century!
Ok, that’s enough. I’m not having a go at Arsenal, or diminishing their efforts. I’d much rather they won the league than City and it would be a surprise. But Arsenal are one of the Premier League’s top spending clubs. They have a massive stadium, a big fan base and have splurged on players. They should be doing well. Gross underachievement in the past does not suddenly turn them into a miracle story.
If Arsenal win the league it will be a fantastic achievement by Arteta. The rebuild job he has done has been excellent. But it will also be a club competing at the level they should be. Comparing it to Leicester is utterly comical.
Mike, LFC, London
…It seems some giddy Arsenal fans are getting carried away now. While winning the league would be a great achievement by them in no way does it compare to what Leicester did. As much as the opponents had a trashy season that team had no right to finish as high as they did with their somewhat limited players. This Arsenal team however has been built to compete with the best and their record in the transfer window proves that as they have been one of the highest spenders in recent years. Anyway good luck on your season. You’ll need it LoL
Philip
Gunners’ prospects
At a certain point City is going to have to start actually playing as well as us. On form, we are the best team in the league. I’m not relying on the table – does anyone who has watched “Our League” (sorry – your league) this year really want to say we have not been playing the best football (in terms of results not just quality) so far?
This team is different. We don’t f*** around and the perfect symbolization of that is the transformation of Xhaka (as one of his staunchest detractors, it honestly seems too good to be true at this point…)
Will someone get injured though? There was an Arsenal ladder done recently but I would say, in terms of maintaining our style
of play and our form, our most indispensable players (no particular order) are Saka, Jesus, Martinelli, Odegaard, Partey, Saliba, shocked that I’m saying this – he’s really gone up a level) Ben White…and Emile Smith-Rowe (who hasn’t played yet but I promise you we will need him if he can come back in time.)
I guess we’ll see what happens. But it will be funny if we don’t win when the same detractors who tried to chastise the club for not getting top-4 last year say the the same things this year when it comes to the actual league title that none of them even had us remotely in a race for.
MAW, LA Gooner
British coaches
Danny Boyle recently said he wasn’t sure if the Brits were great filmmakers. “As a nation, our two art forms are theatre, in a middle-class sense, and pop music…” For what it’s worth, I think he’s absolutely right. Sure, you could list ten great British directors over the last century of cinema, but in comparison to the amount of incredible musicians Britain produces, the number pales in comparison.
But this is a football website, so I’m wondering if we can transfer this to the number of great managers this nation produces. Sure, we’ve been blessed with a lot of “maybes” or “could bes” or “just needs the right investment” over the years, but tip-top Ferguson, glory days Wenger, Pep, Klopp et al… Nope. We don’t have them.
Maybe Britain just doesn’t produce great coaches.
The World Cup is upon us, and I fully expect England to crash out at the last 16 (at best) and for Southgate’s position to open up in the near future. So maybe it’s time we stop deluding ourselves, and ask ourselves some tough cultural questions. There is a massive difference between the standard of player we produce and the standard of coach. Why?
You might completely disagree. That’s perfectly fine. (I’m not sure how, based on coaches who have actually won the top honours, but that’s okay). Potter and Howe are currently the best that we’ve got right now and that’s just not enough.
Tom
Read more on Ronaldo’s interview: ‘No respect’ for Ten Hag | Criticism for Rooney | Carra reacts
