Ronaldo best in world, says Terry

John Terry has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world after his Professional Footballers' Association double award nomination.

Terry has backed Ronaldo - up for both young player and player of the year - even though his Chelsea club-mate Didier Drogba has also been nominated.

"I could watch United just to watch him. He does things no-one else in the world is doing at the minute," he said.

"He's the best in the world. At his best, not many people can stop him."

As well as his skill, Terry said he admired the Portuguese's personality for the way he handled the backlash against him after his team put England out of the World Cup last summer.

"It was understandable after knocking us out of the World Cup, but he has done all his talking on the pitch," said Terry.


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First Mourinho labels Ronaldo the best in the World and now Terry ... what are Chelsea up to ?

They are both joining United

Luis wrote:They are both joining United

Terry will be a 'useful' sub, if that is the case.

Maybe they want to make Ronaldo over-confident as he sometimes tries to do everything himself when he's in Zlatan-mode at the expense of the rest of the team

At this moment C Ronaldo is also the best in the world.... ! So Terry and Mourinho are talking sense here.

But, we have to wait how long he can keep this form!

Rai Krol wrote:
First Mourinho labels Ronaldo the best in the World and now Terry ... what are Chelsea up to ?

In an interview with Portuguese TV, Mourinho explained why Drogba, and not Ronaldo should win player of the season vote.

Johninho wrote:

Rai Krol wrote:
First Mourinho labels Ronaldo the best in the World and now Terry ... what are Chelsea up to ?

In an interview with Portuguese TV, Mourinho explained why Drogba, and not Ronaldo should win player of the season vote.

Interesting, he labels Ronaldo the best to the English press ..

Maybe not win the Player of the Year.

Knowing him, he would like to see his players win the accolades, i cant blame him.

Too much hype around the boy, I prefered it when everyone hated him and called him a one trick pony with no end product. At least it was fun, when he did something and the critics didnt know how to respond.

I even had someone say to me, he was better than Brazil Ronaldo:affraid: in his prime. I dont know which was worse the Rooney hype or the Ronaldo hype.

Sorry but I disagree entirely. There is no hype around Ronaldo. He's had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get the recognition firstly because he is the figure every englishman loves to hate and second because his flavour of football is not appreciate around these parts.

The recognition has finally arrived, albeit grudgingly from some quarters, and he thoroughly deserves it.

Tweedle wrote:Maybe they want to make Ronaldo over-confident as he sometimes tries to do everything himself when he's in Zlatan-mode at the expense of the rest of the team

havent really seen that in ages from him though

Tuga wrote:Sorry but I disagree entirely. There is no hype around Ronaldo. He's had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get the recognition firstly because he is the figure every englishman loves to hate and second because his flavour of football is not appreciate around these parts.

The recognition has finally arrived, albeit grudgingly from some quarters, and he thoroughly deserves it.

I presume you mean the days of his diving. moaning, and showboating without actually doing anything for the team? Then you'd be right

Because what Ronaldo is now- a player who is skillful, exciting, tough and plays as part of a team is very much appreciated in "these parts"

Credit to both Ronaldo firstly, but also to Ferguson, and probably Quieroz- because Ronaldo has merged his technique with strength and team work ethic, and that is why, despite the fact there are players out there who have been as technically good (Robinho, Denilson, Quaresma etc), they arent half the player he has become.

I Am Weasel wrote:

Tuga wrote:Sorry but I disagree entirely. There is no hype around Ronaldo. He's had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get the recognition firstly because he is the figure every englishman loves to hate and second because his flavour of football is not appreciate around these parts.

The recognition has finally arrived, albeit grudgingly from some quarters, and he thoroughly deserves it.

I presume you mean the days of his diving. moaning, and showboating without actually doing anything for the team? Then you'd be right

Because what Ronaldo is now- a player who is skillful, exciting, tough and plays as part of a team is very much appreciated in "these parts"

Credit to both Ronaldo firstly, but also to Ferguson, and probably Quieroz- because Ronaldo has merged his technique with strength and team work ethic, and that is why, despite the fact there are players out there who have been as technically good (Robinho, Denilson, Quaresma etc), they arent half the player he has become.

i think ronaldo has now realised this himself as well which is why we havent really seen his head explode

I think the EPL and indeed English fans should take credit to a degree, because they've helped toughen Ronaldo up, he's clearly learned about fighting spirit and how to play fairly without the histrionics, how to get on with it and how to play as a team player.

Watching Ronaldo running back to track back against Roma only proves what a fabulous player he has become.

If he were at Barcelona he would never be expected to do that. Indeed, had he stayed in Portugal he'd probably still be a feeble, diving, whiny git (no offence Portugeezers!)

Ronaldo and the EPL have become a match made in heaven

Tuga wrote:Sorry but I disagree entirely. There is no hype around Ronaldo. He's had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get the recognition firstly because he is the figure every englishman loves to hate and second because his flavour of football is not appreciate around these parts.

The recognition has finally arrived, albeit grudgingly from some quarters, and he thoroughly deserves it.

He deserves the praise, but a s a united fan, I prefer it when our players are not lauded by the press and players. United players, play their best football when they are hated and vilified; Cantona 95/96, Beckham 98/99 and now Ronaldo 06/07. Fergie seems to get the players to use the hatred to spur the players on, to prove everyone wrong and silence the critics and the crowd by playing football.

What does Ronaldo have to prove next season? the same thing happened with Beckham, he was a much better player when everyone hated him, when the praise started and everyone loved him, his performances dropped. Over the top praise gets people in the comfort zone. You watch next season, Rooney will out perform Ronaldo, because he has a point to prove.

I Am Weasel wrote:I think the EPL and indeed English fans should take credit to a degree, because they've helped toughen Ronaldo up, he's clearly learned about fighting spirit and how to play fairly without the histrionics, how to get on with it and how to play as a team player.

Watching Ronaldo running back to track back against Roma only proves what a fabulous player he has become.

If he were at Barcelona he would never be expected to do that. Indeed, had he stayed in Portugal he'd probably still be a feeble, diving, whiny git (no offence Portugeezers!)

Ronaldo and the EPL have become a match made in heaven

I Am Weasel wrote:

Tuga wrote:Sorry but I disagree entirely. There is no hype around Ronaldo. He's had to work twice as hard as anyone else to get the recognition firstly because he is the figure every englishman loves to hate and second because his flavour of football is not appreciate around these parts.

The recognition has finally arrived, albeit grudgingly from some quarters, and he thoroughly deserves it.

I presume you mean the days of his diving. moaning, and showboating without actually doing anything for the team? Then you'd be right

Because what Ronaldo is now- a player who is skillful, exciting, tough and plays as part of a team is very much appreciated in "these parts"

Credit to both Ronaldo firstly, but also to Ferguson, and probably Quieroz- because Ronaldo has merged his technique with strength and team work ethic, and that is why, despite the fact there are players out there who have been as technically good (Robinho, Denilson, Quaresma etc), they arent half the player he has become.

I think he has always played quite well for united (apart from August to December 05, when his dad died and got accused of rape) its just that he was inconsistent and the rest of the tam were not playing as well.

You are right about Fergie and Quieroz making Ronaldo the player he is. Robben, Quaresma and Robinho have roughly the same natural ability, but their respective managers havent used them and nurtered them properly. When all of the above players consistently tried to do too much and lost the ball or didnt deliver the final ball they were either subbed off or sold. Fergie didnt do either and encouraged him to play his natural game and even sold the clubs most prolific striker of all time, so the player could develop. Thats why I think Fergie is one of the best managers of our time, despite a suspect CL record.

I think Terry was a big Man Utd fan in his younger days.

Disagree that he's always played well but the team has been weak. At times early last season, he couldn't even kick a ball properly.

poiuy1 wrote:

Tweedle wrote:Maybe they want to make Ronaldo over-confident as he sometimes tries to do everything himself when he's in Zlatan-mode at the expense of the rest of the team

havent really seen that in ages from him though

Lille, away from home

I have to agree with Parky- he played well on the odd occasion when he wasnt lying on the floor; other than that he was obviously blessed with ability, but didnt know how to channel it properly.

He used to play through games feeling sorry for himself because he was on the recieving end of some physical challenges. Often hands on hips, like he was having a strop.

This season, its like he's realised he just needs to get on with it and now he's bulked up he can rarely get pushed off the ball without it being a proper foul.

interesting that Roma remarked that Ronald gets "protected" by EPL refs. I dont think so, its just now Ronaldo goes down when he's fouled, because he no longer seems to fall over (ok, some might say V Spurs/Boro it was a dive, but certainly nowhere near as bad as last season) and because he's actually so strong now it usually takes a foul to stop him. So ref's tend to blow a lot more where he's involved

Wenger tips Ronaldo

Arsene Wenger is tipping Cristiano Ronaldo to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award.

The Arsenal boss says the Manchester United winger will pip Chelsea's Didier Drogba to the coveted award at Sunday's gala dinner.

"Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba would be my one and two," Wenger told Arsenal.com.

"You don't expect Ronaldo to score so many goals and he can provide too. But as well I have huge respect for what Drogba has done.

"He has scored in some very big matches, also he has played in nearly all the games. It is very difficult to separate them really."

Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas has been shortlisted alongside Ronaldo for the junior and main award, but Wenger believes the Spain international deserves to win the junior prize.

"Player of the Year has some big candidates and some have done exceptionally well, but I feel Cesc deserves to be in there," Wenger added.

"Certainly he deserves to win the Young Player of the Year award, and at his age, it is a fantastic honour just to be nominated for Player of the Year.

"Of course I support him in that, he is a fantastic player but you have to respect that players from Manchester United, who are top of the League, and Chelsea, who are in all competitions, might have the edge on us."

Parks lives wrote:Disagree that he's always played well but the team has been weak. At times early last season, he couldn't even kick a ball properly.

He got accused of rape and his father died, so it was kind of excusable, during that period he was awful, but he has always pllayed well for united, this season he has just been exceptional. He was playing with smith, Fletcher and Richardson at the time and the whole team was terrible. Last season when Rooney didnt score for over 10 games Ronadlo was by far our best player.

Thats the problem he was way underated before and now he is overated.

The whole team were underperforming for 1 and a half seasons, during this period he had some exceptional games, he just didnt get any recognition because Rooney was being over hyped, ask LRD he will tell you the same thing.

There were times in that period where he couldn't even lift a free kick off the ground. Hardly Smith's or Fletcher's fault.

& even the season before his football brain was woefully short.

Credit to him for turning around but I'm not going to gloss over those periods.

Parks lives wrote:There were times in that period where he couldn't even lift a free kick off the ground. Hardly Smith's or Fletcher's fault.

& even the season before his football brain was woefully short.

Credit to him for turning around but I'm not going to gloss over those periods.

I think we have to agree to disagree, I think back then he did too many tricks and his crossing was weak, but united were not playing to his strengths the way we have since Ruud stopped playing. Statistically he has improved vastly as a player, but in real terms, he hasnt improved that much, its just that he no longer has to devote his game to crossing the ball for Ruud.

Rez wrote:

Parks lives wrote:There were times in that period where he couldn't even lift a free kick off the ground. Hardly Smith's or Fletcher's fault.

& even the season before his football brain was woefully short.

Credit to him for turning around but I'm not going to gloss over those periods.

I think we have to agree to disagree, I think back then he did too many tricks and his crossing was weak, but united were not playing to his strengths the way we have since Ruud stopped playing. Statistically he has improved vastly as a player, but in real terms, he hasnt improved that much, its just that he no longer has to devote his game to crossing the ball for Ruud.

I think we're going to have to.

I'm agreeing with parky on this.

ronaldo has improved hugely as a footballer over the past two/three seasons and back 3 seasons ago, he had areas of his game in which he was woefully poor and which he has since improved on hugely

two season ago, Ronaldo couldnt pass water - now he's capable of pinging a pass 50 yards. Its a major turnaround

For the last two seasons I've been saying that Ronaldo is United's best player and explaining the reasons for his bad performances when he had them. Some it was due to lack of maturity, knowing when to pass, when to shoot and when to dribble, some of it because of personal problems and some of it because Ferguson stupidly refused to make him the centrepiece of United's football. Never had a doubt in my mind that he would become what he is now and don't have a doubt in my mind that he's not even half-way to what he will eventually become.

Then, like now, you naysayers doubted me. I was proven right then, and I will be proven right again. Ronaldo will become the best footballer the world has ever seen, despite, not because, of playing in the premiership and at United.

No offence Tuga, but you can't moan at Ferguson's management of Ronaldo.

Parks lives wrote:No offence Tuga, but you can't moan at Ferguson's management of Ronaldo.

Yes I can, there is a reason why Ronaldo to this day is closer to Scolari than to Ferguson despite only spending limited amounts of time with the latter. EDIT: Sorry, obviouly meant former rather than latter.

There is also a reason why Ronaldo exploded in the national team before he did with United.

There is also a reason why his dip in form was much less pronounced for Portugal than it ever was for United.

Do the maths.