Cristiano as CF

CR has been playing as a CF for the past couple of games, since Benzema has been out to be exact.

What do you guys think so far?

He played CF in a 442 with Benz playing too...  only difference is that he's the lone striker with Benz out.

To me, he's the same in both roles:  a poacher.  His movement isn't very good overall.  He is good at certain things CFs do... but compared to other elite CFs, he only does 50% of the job.  

I don't think he's a good enough CF for Real Madrid tbh.

this was a temporary solution. i don't think rafa played him there as part of any long term strategy. we have a cf who's injured in benzema, an injured winger in bale, and an injured attacking mid. its easy to get cristiano to play that role with all those guys out, but i don't see cristiano wanting to play there when they return, he'll go back to the role he normally plays, left wing/left forward
as far as his performance in the cf role, its nothing really eye opening. it was a good temporary solution with the injuries we've had, but that's about it. i don't expect him to play there for the whole season.

He's good at CF imo actually. He plays better with benz in a 4-4-2 as sport said. He scored some important goals last year at that position. He wasnt the problem, it was bale stinking it up and our lack of flexibility in the midfield. For the crappy service both got they actually did pretty good

yeah, he can't really play his back to goal which always surprises me given his strength but he wins tons of aerial duels and draws fouls all the time in dangerous positions. plus, he's still fast

I hate him on the wing so much though. needs to stick to CF

Ronaldo will score everywhere he plays. I have given up trying to predict him. For Real Madrid its best when he plays up top but thatd be unfair to Benzema whose had an excellent season thus far

You could play him at CB and he still would manage to score.

He's playing out of position given the circumstances, but even then, he's still scoring.

Having said that, his best position is LW with freedom to drift in the CF position. I expect everything to go back the way it was once everybody is fit.

cr is meh at cf scoring a lone means nothing, cb can mark/contain him a lot easier, his finishing through the center is hit or miss(mainly miss),little to zero hold up play or link up.

as i said before playing as cf and scoring in the cf area is 2 completely different things, just glad you guys got a huge eye full of it to end the obvious speculation finally.

lastly he scored couple important goals still so hats off to him.

I digress actually, sxoring is everything for a CF. Doesnt matter how nice he plays if he can score goals because at the end of the day the game is still about scoring goals to win games. Take chicharito for example, he is not stylistic or anyrhing, but he cant stop scoring. I dont think leverkusen are out there looking for someone else because he doesnt dribble enough.

Bottom line is CR can score continue scoring buckets if we play him as lone CF, regardless of whether he plays the poaition conventionally or not.

If anything its an interesting development

I have been telling you this for ages Nick, he can't play with his back to goal ( a key component for any CF) and his movement off the ball isn't anywhere near good enough for a lone CF.

A lone CF has to make runs towards the ball and unselfish runs away from the ball, look at Suarez for an example and he's not good at that either.

He just isn't a lone CF, none of this is his fault it's just the way it is. This will never work when it really matters.

Mr Nick09 wrote:I digress actually, sxoring is everything for a CF. Doesnt matter how nice he plays if he can score goals because at the end of the day the game is still about scoring goals to win games. Take chicharito for example, he is not stylistic or anyrhing, but he cant stop scoring. I dont think leverkusen are out there looking for someone else because he doesnt dribble enough.

Bottom line is CR can score continue scoring buckets if we play him as lone CF,  regardless of whether he plays the poaition conventionally or not.

If anything its an interesting development

this reasoning is why its hard to take some of you guys seriously about certain topics.

everything you wrote=he is scoring=good enough, he has not been that good at all, your just skipping over key components, because you just want to stick cr in the middle and off the wings.

chicha has always been a cf that not a great example and at the highest level he is a bench player for a reason.

end of the day cr as cf is meh and goals won't change that.

once benzema returns the difference will be night and day.

Yes scoring, especially for a CF, when he can do it in mass is good enough.

I used chicharito as an example because he is hot right now but i can also refer u back to falcao pre injury. The man waw a monster, a scoring machine and thats all that mattered. A CF who ia gifted at scoring goals, doesnt need anything else. And if you look at the trend going, any forwards that can score, regardless of his position will be protected.

Its direct no nonsense put the ball in the net, score in buckets, win games, onto the next one. For someone who criticize isco a lot for not being direct enough i thought you would appreciate players who play in one direction, forward, and dont mess around. Thats pretty much what CR is doing right now. Hia mind is just on scoring goals, he wont do much else, but he knows the team wins with hia goals and ita a very simple truth

Whats the hype surrounding lewandowski this season? Goals goals goals. What was the hype about suarez few years back? Goals. Aubameyang now? Goals. Falcao then? Goals.

No one talking about how nice they play, just how many they are scoring

your skipping over too many details, scoring is a cf #1 priority true, but at the highest level there is more to it than that, and cr himself is a prime example that scoring a lone means nothing cause for all his stat padding the trophies don't add up either.

falcao? who cares again what has he really done than score couple goals? atleti won la liga and went to a cl finals without him, there more to it than that.

the truth is you need to say that you prefer cr in the middle, if it means casemiro continues to start(added bonus benzema benched ), cause you know bale,james,modric and kroos won't be dropped and your hoping cr does well enough to keep benzema on the bench, which he wont cause benzema>cr as cf that the real truth.

I agree with Nick Goals are the most important thing, although i also agree with Chad regarding Ronaldo's finishin he always relies on power instead of placing the shot in a corner or far from the keeper range.

So Chad please elaborate then, what else matters at the highest level outside of scoring?

And i am not skipping over any detail, scoring is first and foremost and then there is the rest.

And dont mix apple with oranges lol, you act as if atletico won because he wasnt there, or he was not contributing to the team defensive or tactical effort when he was playing lol.

And why are u talking about Casemiro here exactly?

at the highest level like juve semi-finals, where cr-bale played as cf it sucked badly, like almost every other high level game cr has played in,  end of day you will always be enthusiastic about the idea of benzema not starting, whenever he was scoring you never showed this much interest, but your gonna try to play up some mediocre cf performances, from cr as golden yeah sure anything you say.

falcao did a grand total of bleep all, he just got hyped mainly because he was seen as a benzema replacement, couple years later injuries or not he has nothing to show for himself.

i bring up casemiro cause it obvious a lot posters want him to start, and i know once everyone is fit he is out, and in typical madrid fans fashion its nitpick time, then hyping and down playing players to justify him starting, but i might be giving you too much credit, and your just primarily interested in benzema being benched, cause there is nothing about cr as cf that is that good for you to be making such a case, he is ok at best and being ok is not enough.

First, you really need to stop using Examples like the juventus game because you are essentially implying that benzema does no wrong when he plays CF. Do you really want to go there? Lol

Falcao in his prime from porto to atletico was a fantastic CF, i find it quite shameful the way you are badmouthing him right now, as if he was overrated or dis not prove. Truly shameful... I will leave that at that...

And i really have paraoniac tendenciea, trying to guess what i think or not. I created this thread to discuss Cristiano playing as CF, if you wanna talk about casemiro and some of your coco looney like theories, ooen threads for those lol

let's calm down. first of all, a cf's role is to score first and foremost. when you have a cf who does everything well but score, then you've got yourself an attacking midfielder/ozil. the cf role is a bit different here at madrid cos of cristiano. its a similar situation at barcelona too. but the day cristiano leaves, the cf will be expected to just score (or maybe not, florentino has been known prioritize the entertainment value of his players)

secondly, cr as a cf isn't the plan, mainly because he doesn't want to play there, he doesn't like playing there. he'd rather run in/cut in behind the defenses on the flanks and capitalize on chances. i think a bit of it too is cos he wants to believe that he's a winger who scores multiple goals (he's hardly been a winger for like four/five years now)

now this part is very important...there seems to be this idea that, let's say benzema got a long term injury and cr had to play cf, not for ten games, not for 15, but like 25, there seems to be this thought process that he'll immediately turn into heskey. knowing the ego he has on him i very much doubt that. yes he'll struggle against tougher opponents as is natural, but if he played 25 games there, i doubt his goal number would get a significant dip

he may not be linking up well, or passing well, or doing back flicks, but if he played 25 games there cos he absolutely had to, due to injuries to the squad, i doubt he'll score anything less than 21 in 25, and those games he won't score in will probably be the big ones. it'll just mean he'll need a workhorse on the left, similar to how him and rooney occasionally switched roles a couple of times at utd

that said, this was only temporary, when guys get fit everyone gets back to their positions. i'm more worried about bale and james. i'm not warmed to this idea of bale playing nos 10 and james playing on the flanks....i absolutely hate that

its amazing that clear mediocre performances like these, is being treated more than such, cr as cf is average can't even sort his feet out quickly enough for a proper finish ffs , he is not a natural that why he spam shots in the first place.

this reasoning is from the same place where isco was considered a false 9 once, cause he scored couple flukey goals and he dribbles well, but mainly because you hate benzema, this is just another example of "any player not named benzema gonna give madrid the edge" nick argument, and im the biased one ,  lets end the discussion here.

@tito cr averages a goal a game now? it doesn't matter where he plays cause the team still doesn't win shit thanks to him, so that why this whole discussion about the mediocre games is hilarious and pointless.

We don't win trophies because of Cristiano ? That's a new one

Yes. He's the reason why we haven't won as many trophies as we expected. Yes, he scores over 50 goals every single season, but that's not enough. He also needs to be good at maths, swimming and palm reading.

You know, Chad has a serious beef with Ronaldo which I am yet to fully understand but this time, I would side with him. Ronaldo's CF performances are quite mediocre particularly for a World Class footballer such as him.

That being said, he was, is and would never be a CF, just not in him but that's ok. He is best used elsewhere. As long as he scores goals needed to win matches, I reckon I'll be ok with that.

him averaging 21 goals in 25 as a cf would be considered mediocre for him, considering that he scores more than a goal a game. if he played 25 games in that position, he won't execute one-touch passes, he won't link up play, he won't dribble past defenders (benzema doesn't necessarily dribble either, unless he is absolutely forced to), he probably won't make timely passes, but if anyone thinks his goal ratio will take a significant nose dive, then you must be smoking something....i don't want him in that role though, and i don't think anyone at the club does, not even him. if they want to replace benzema, they'll sign a striker. its that simple

so chad you need to quit worrying, we don't have the power on gl to drop benzema and move cr to cf. and if benzema is as good as you suggest he is, you'd let his football be his best defense rather than assuming that any player on the squad regardless of position, who people might want to see start automatically means benzema should be dropped...u've gone at isco, james, cristiano, and now casemiro, ultimately cos u've felt they are threats. if you feel the striker is that good, then attacking midfielders nor dm's regardless of the formation put out should never be a threat to his starting slot. barcelona fans don't get bothered that if say iniesta or arda or whoever gets into the lineup suarez or neymar might be benched...unless you're not fully confident in him that you feel the need to always defend him. let his play on the pitch do the talking.

chad4401 wrote:its amazing that clear mediocre performances like these, is being treated more than such, cr as cf is average can't even sort his feet out quickly enough for a proper finish ffs , he is not a natural that why he spam shots in the first place.

this reasoning is from the same place where isco was considered a false 9 once, cause he scored couple flukey goals and he dribbles well, but mainly because you hate benzema, this is just another example of "any player not named benzema gonna give madrid the edge" nick argument, and im the biased one ,  lets end the discussion here.

@tito cr averages a goal a game now? it doesn't matter where he plays cause the team still doesn't win shit thanks to him, so that why this whole discussion about the mediocre games is hilarious and pointless.

FFS!! Not everything is about dropping Benzema

at the highest level cr9 is garbage, zero hold up play, zero link up play, zero strength and zero runs

nick you don't know crap about footy stick hyping you casual.... goal machine .

ah yes the personal attacks, now we have it all. you know what's funny, it's the fact at no point i gave my opinion about whether Ronaldo was playing well or not. I just argued that scoring is the most important thing for a CF.

But then again, your ability to comprehend written information is about as low as a cricket's ass.