By Dr3
I used to be a Cristiano-hater when he was at United. I became a Cristiano-admirer when he went to Madrid. Since then, I've become a Cristiano-apologist and sympathizer. It's not his fault; he's the victim. His ascent in football took place during football's own gradual analytics-renaissance. A crazy time when 'drive', 'vision', and 'mentality' were no longer enough to describe a player's quality. We were witnessing two statistical outliers peaking at the same time, which bred a different type of fan, a different type of coverage, and a different appreciation was needed. Social media was also changing connectivity, and bringing a brevity and wit to assessment that maybe hadn't quite existed before. It brought a reductionism; show me your numbers.
The *generational player 'once removed' was Ronaldinho. Folks who saw him play would be forgiven for naming their first-born daughter Ronaldinha, and sporting a r10 headband to meemaw's funeral. Yet, the assessment of his talent had so little to do with his output. He was all joy, and vision, and audacity, and tenacity, and flair, and skill. In what felt like two weeks later, it was all about goals and assists. Goals and assists in big games. Goals and assists while winning a trophy. Passes, unsuccessful dribbles, and km covered. Today? It's expected goals (xG), and Lukaku>R9.
*What is a football generation? I have no idea.
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| Courtesy of Squawka |
There was something so freakish about watching Lionel Messi run with the ball. It didn't make sense. It still doesn't. He's so good that some sort of intrinsic fight/flight reaction kicks in to ensure that you qualify your praise. You don't want to be that giddy while watching a man run around on the grass. Can he do it without Barcelona? Can he carry a team to a World Cup though? Can he header? Human nature created what was next. Compare and contrast. Compare by contrast. Sure he can dribble, but is he outperforming the other top players. The other top player?
Up steps the perfect caricature for our ailing brains. A Cr9/Cr7 shaped plug to fill the chasm. Look at the numbers. Cristiano the player was being molded by Pellegrini and then-Mourinho into an assassin of sorts. He didn't dribble as much anymore. Didn't care to be Beckham-ish anymore. The work started by Ferguson was being ruthlessly improved upon. His charge; score goals. And sure as shit, he did. Bucket loads of them.
Cristiano the caricature? Unbeknownst to him, he had changed the way football players were being described and appreciated. It was the creation of the goal-machine in our minds, that led to further and further reduction of players into their output. Never mind that Cristiano is abundantly more than 'just' his goals. His touch is incredible. His passing incisive. Turning on the ball? Top class. In our minds though, he's all penalties and diving headers.
It was Cristiano, the riposte. Him as a fundamental demonstration of efficiency in numbers. Him, that brought in a new way of discerning between players. Fans need not watch full games to gain appreciation anymore; highlight reels and the underlying stats should suffice. This is not a diatribe on analytics. Or even a comment on 'new' fans or anything. Maybe just a lament on the impact Cristiano's own stupendous body of work unintendedly had. I wonder how a player like Ronaldinho would be appreciated today? I wonder who of the post-millennials will be naming their daughter Lionela and Ronalda?
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