Comparing Cristiano Ronaldo's 2015/16 Stats to His 2014/15 Numbers
All good things must end. For the best part of a decade, Cristiano Ronaldo has been at football’s peak, vying with Lionel Messi for the accolade of best player in the world.
Regardless of whether your affiliations lie with or against Real Madrid, it would take a degree of short-sightedness not to recognise his impact at the top level of elite football.
As far as the FIFA Ballon d’Or award is concerned, nothing has changed, with the Portuguese named alongside Barcelona duo Messi and Neymar on the three-man finalist list.
But the sensations around Ronaldo are different now. He doesn’t have the same sheen as he did before.
Real Madrid’s match-going supporters have targeted him on occasion with whistles, something Cristiano does not appreciate. As arguably the club’s best-ever player, he would argue that he deserves more than this.
Although they weren’t gunning for him at the weekend against Rayo Vallecano, Ronaldo was still piqued by fans getting on the team’s back after they went 2-1 down to their opponents.
Sport explained that after they started grumbling, "Cristiano Ronaldo responded to them by raising a finger and signalling 'no', showing his displeasure with Los Blancos supporters."
Even back in March, an astonishing 32.2 per cent of voters in a poll by Madrid-based newspaper AS thought that Ronaldo should be dropped from the starting lineup.
Pressure is rising at Madrid, for various reasons. Many players are said to feel unhappy with Rafa Benitez’s management, per AS.
AS claims there are problems between the coach and James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Isco, Toni Kroos and other players, as well as Ronaldo himself.
But as well as a personality clash, part of the reason for Madrid’s problems is because the team are not playing as well as before as a whole.
Ronaldo himself has dropped several levels, failing to have much influence on games, bar his goals. Although that has long been a criticism of the Portuguese, the impact is greater this term.
Barcelona’s attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have been in spectacular form, but Madrid’s own "BBC"—Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano—have only recently started to find their form.
The numbers don’t make happy reading for Ronaldo. Using statistics from Squawka, all of Ronaldo’s numbers are worse this year than last, for the key characteristics you expect from a player in his position.
His biggest impact has always come in terms of goals. But on average this season, he has 0.75, compared to 1.37 the year before.
The current number is not bad at all, higher than most other players, in fact, but Ronaldo has always turned in supernatural results.
Most of the goals have also been scored against inferior opposition, on paper, instead of against the calibre of teams that can compete with Madrid for titles and trophies.
Games against Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, two against PSG, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao and Villarreal passed him by, but he filled his boots against Espanyol, Shakhtar Donetsk, twice, Malmo, twice, and most recently, Rayo Vallecano.
Furthermore, Ronaldo has netted in 11 games and failed to do so in 11 more, whereas he is accustomed to scoring in virtually every match in which he plays. Again, that is credit to the heights he hit, rather than an indictment of his current game.
He will be 31 in February and there are few who can doubt his decline has started, as is only natural. It affects far more than his goal tallies, which, if anything, are the one aspect of his game in which he is still better than much of the competition.
Ronaldo’s average assists per game have halved, going from 0.46 per game to 0.25, in line with his chances created, down from 2.09 to 1.44 per game.
His desire to score more goals has taken him out of the overall game and into more central attacking positions, as he bids to get the final touch.
We saw this change start to take place last season, but it is continuing under Benitez. Partly through necessity, at first, with Karim Benzema injured, but it’s also the player’s natural inclination as he seeks glory.
The Daily Mail reported, back in March, that during a Champions League game against Schalke, Ronaldo took up the exact same average position as centre-forward Karim Benzema.
However, even Ronaldo’s finishing is not as lethal as it once was. His shot accuracy has dipped from 54 percent to 49, while the player is actually now hitting more efforts than before, averaging 6.62 a match, compared to 6.43.
Even when you start to look at other, more marginal statistics, it doesn’t make happy reading for the Real Madrid star.
His aerial duels won dropped from 55.66 percent to 50, his fouls suffered halved from 1.60 per game to 0.81. Ronaldo is making fewer passes, now 30.38 per game, compared to 33.37.
Ronaldo’s ability to go past players, once his pride and joy, is also disappearing. He rarely takes men on any more, and when he does, it is with less success. Last season he beat his man 49.09 percent of the time, this season 46.34 percent.
That is something Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez had noticed, even before this campaign, saying in September that Ronaldo doesn’t dribble past people any more.
Per El Confidencial (h/t Sport), Perez told Cristiano: "You don't beat players like before, you never go past anyone. You have to beat your man."
This, among other things, has been part of the reason Ronaldo is considering his future at Madrid. The player is already starting to think about his future after football, exemplified by his huge investment in a new chain of CR7 hotels, per Sport.
Ronaldo's current form has improved on his overall performances this season, with the striker notching 10 goals in six games, instead of just two in the six that preceded it.
Given his extraordinary history, it can’t be ruled out that he goes on a surge and manages to hit his previous heights again, but the odds are that we have already seen the best of Ronaldo, and from here on out the decline continues.
Ronaldo’s form in 2014-15 has still been impressive if taken as a standalone sample, but when compared to how he played last year, it is clear the Portuguese is struggling to find the same level.
That has been reflected in the Guardian's top 100 footballers of 2015 list, with Messi usurping Ronaldo at the top of the chart, as compiled by a "panel of 123 experts from 49 nations."
But leaving the list, the Ballon d'Or and all other forms of organised judgement aside, all you need to do is look at Ronaldo play to see he isn't the beast of years past.
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