English Essay: Enough Of The Ronaldo Bashing

I know it is fun for football fans to hate a player for no reason but it seems that this current Ronaldo Saga is turning into a witch-hunt where the guy can do no right.

Allow me to present the most common accusations aimed at the Madeira born winger.

• He is overrated.....Kaka and Messi are way better players.
• He isn't a leader/He disappears when it matters most

• He is turning his back on Man Utd after all the club did for him.
• My personal favourite: He is a coward for not handing in a transfer request.

Before I begin my analysis, I must say that I am no great fan of Ronaldo but jealousy, envy or sheer prejudice are no criteria for judgement, and if we are going to judge Ronaldo as a footballer and later as a person, it is impossible to refute the facts.

The Facts:

• 181 shots, 109 shots on goal, 31 goals, 7 assists (from 31 Premier League starts)
• 42 goals in all competitions (new club record for a midfielder)
• 65% free kick accuracy – 5 goals (best in the Premier League)

I'm fully aware that these stats cannot stand by themselves but please allow me to dig deeper. On twenty occasions, Ronaldo got the all important first goal. Any football fan knows the importance of the first break-through but I know you are going to argue that these twenty goals may not have resulted in a win but wait! In more than 15 matches, Ronaldo's goals were the difference between a win and a draw/defeat. 

I can testify that I watched every single Man Utd game except for the derby defeats to Man City and the draw with Arsenal at the Emirates. Ronaldo was the single most important player in the Man Utd's double-winning season and only the contribution of Rio Ferdinand can even come close. As a footballer, Ronaldo simply was in a class of his own last season. Not even Kaka or Messi should enter the debate.

Now to delve into the gray era: Ronaldo's character. Many football followers have been saying that Ronaldo is turning his back on Man Utd. This statement shows a total misunderstanding of the situation. From the time Ronaldo arrived at Man Utd, it was perfectly clear that he dreamt of playing in Spain. It seems that people think that just because he is successful at Man Utd, he should just give up on his dream and become the next Giggs/Scholes. It is simply unreasonable. A Portuguese player will almost always rate La Liga as his greatest goal. After 5 seasons, in which he has won EVERY SINGLE TROPHY he could possibly win with the club, is it really ludicrous for him to consider a move?

The final stick most people use to assault Ronaldo is that he is a coward for not making his feelings clear and submitting a transfer request. As a true Man Utd fan, I could not be happier with the way Ronaldo is handling his situation. I know you are wondering if I'm crazy but let me explain. For the entire summer, Ronaldo has just given three interviews in which he has deferred the final decision to his club and despite his ambitions has stated that he will be happy to go back to United and perform as before if asked to. Furthermore, the football transfer market works like all commodities markets around the world and prices are controlled by numerous social and economic factors. Right now, Ronaldo has a price tag in excess of fifty millions pounds on his head. Now let's propose that Ronaldo goes to the media and says that he will refuse to play for Man Utd again, like a certain Michael Essien is famous for doing in his transfer saga, then I assure you his price would drop. We could speculate about how much it would drop but it is certain that there would be a reduction.

Recently, people have been bemused by Ronaldo's proclamation that he is a slave. I'm prepared to wager that most people have never actually seen the interview. It is my honour to present the extract:

"You know what I said, what I want and what I would like. I agree with the president of FIFA. Now I have to wait and see but I do not know where I will start the season"

I know the word slave is what caught everyone in Mr.Blatter's interview but did no one realize his main point was that Man Utd should sell. Has anyone even considered that Ronaldo just agrees that he should be allowed to leave? If he really thought he was a slave then why wouldn't he use the word slave in the interview?

I am pretty sure this article will not change the opinion you hold of Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro but at least you can now say you hate him after knowing all the facts.

English Essay: Arsenal: The Flawed Policy

After reaching 3rd place in the Premiership having been at the front of the pack for large stages many felt that Arsenal would be well on their way for the next season. Wenger’s charges were finally reaching their potential and could end up winning the next title after the disappointment of just missing out on the previous one.

With a promising season set to unfold one would assume that the only task Arsene Wenger might have would be to add to his young talents. For the past three years Arsenal have been a club going places but not quite getting there and many feel that there is one world class player with experience missing from this bunch in order to give them that little bit extra. The signing of a player like this would never happen at this current time it seems due to Arsenal’s policy of signing young talent.

However, there is another policy of Arsene Wenger’s which I would like to look at and that is the selling policy. A club like Arsenal which was at the top of the revenue charts for Premier League clubs a season ago does not need to sell its players to improve its financial stability, so there must be other reasons. One of the key cogs in last season’s relative success Mathieu Flamini has already left for Milan and the likes of Aliksander Hleb and Emmanuel Adebayor look set to follow him out the exit door. Why would these 3 players who are all certified starters in the side want to leave? Well in the cases of Flamini and Adebayor at least it’s down to money. However, this isn’t the “I don’t care for the club or its fans and only want to deepen my pockets” kind of thing. It goes a bit deeper and more into the wage structure at Arsenal.

Arsenal unlike other clubs, distribute their wages in such a way that the bottom earner isn’t too far off from the top earner. This makes for a quieter dressing room at first but when your key players begin to question their value to the club you get the predicament Arsenal currently find themselves in. Flamini and Adebayor see themselves as being undervalued by the club given their performances from last season. Wenger however doesn’t see it that way and wants to make sure the wage structure of the club remains intact. Fair enough Mr.Wenger but will paying 3 or 4 of your best players a noticeably higher amount than other players really hurt your club that much? It seems to work for other clubs so why can it not work for yours. This is one of the main reasons why clubs such as Milan and Barcelona have been attracting the Arsenal players to them.

One funny thing to note regarding this is the double standards of Mr.Wenger. He goes about stealing young talents from under the noses of other clubs, yet when these players grow up and another club comes in for them he bitches and moans about it before he agrees to sell. This becomes even more evident in the case of Mathieu Flamini. After taking him on a free transfer from Marseille, the French manager makes quite a commotion when Milan do the same thing.

The other thing which may have weighed on their minds is how Arsenal treat players when they reach the latter part of their careers. Offering one year contracts to players such as Pires and Ljunberg who were key members of the golden era when Arsenal went unbeaten. Having given tremendous service to a club for such a time players would prefer a little more contractual security when it comes to knowing where the might be playing the next season. The environment at Arsenal is great if you’re a youngster but when you begin to reach the twilight of your career it can all be over quickly.Probably the final thing which is sending these players out the exit door at Arsenal is the fact that they are going places but not quite getting there. Arsene Wenger hasn’t displayed the ambition of the club by splashing the cash on one or two world class players and prefers to stick to his young faces. These younger players however lack a sense of maturity which could take them all the way. Their drop off at the end of the season could possibly be as a result of this as most other title chasing teams after one or two blips would not have taken such a nose dive.

Arsenal and more appropriately Arsene Wenger needs to change this policy because it can mean the difference between keeping his current squad happy for a few more years as they continue on their quest for those elusive trophies.