5 Reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo is being written off too early

Murmurs have started moving about that World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo is past his prime. Statistics are being distributed, fancy numbers which most players and even managers rarely see are published. Ronaldo is after all 32 and it only seems fair that age catches up with the master like it has with all before him, right?

Wrong!

If people genuinely believe Ronaldo is past his prime they are either crazy or rely too much on statistics that don't matter come end of the season. A player should be measured by the impact on a team's performance. Sometimes individual scrutiny stands very little in terms of assessing the utility of a player.

Many times great players rightfully are discussed with more focus and ferocity than others but that does not always guarantee fairness. In fact, people had written off Ronaldo's greatest rival- Lionel Messi a while ago, he is surely laughing off to the bank now, with his form and confidence returning like it had never gone.

Here then are the five reasons we shouldn't be writing off Ronaldo anytime soon

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#5 Early in the season and fitness

This season is 10 games old in the La Liga. Cristiano Ronaldo has played in 6 of those games. Many times match-sharpness can be a huge issue for any player. Ronaldo missed the first four games of the season following some niggles in the summer. It is natural for a player to regain a sense of consistency.

While indeed he had a howler against Girona, Ronaldo put in a much-improved performance managing to score a goal against an incisive Spurs team who beat 3-1. Madrid as a team have been struggling to find their rhythm after an incredibly successful season last time about.

There are many teams which struggle to hit their best form after a very successful season. In Real Madrid's case, it has been a season and a half of top form, after the Benitez sacking midway through 2015/16.

According to statistics aggregator Whoscored.com, Ronaldo ranks fourth on Real Madrid's top performers this season much above the much-celebrated Marco Asensio in eighth place. This shows any shrewd observer that Ronaldo has been on the same level as his side who are themselves quite inconsistent so far.

It's a question of settling into the season and that will happen unless something goes massively wrong. Case in point to 2014/15 where Barcelona and Messi were struggling for form, only for Messi to recover and spectacularly lead the line with Neymar and Suarez to a treble.

#4 Off-field issues

The Spanish government opened a massive tax fraud

Ronaldo is clearly unsettled at Real Madrid.

He has now categorically refused to sign a new contract at the Madrid based giants. He has been unhappy for some time following allegations of tax-fraud that have been following him since summer.

One could argue that Messi has faced similar problems and continued to perform but it is also very evident that in the immediate aftermath of those allegations surfacing in 2013 and his alleged unhappiness at the appointment of Luis Enrique the next season, his form suffered initially as well.

Either way, Ronaldo's unhappiness has been evident. He has been noticeably uncomfortable at the club since summer issuing multiple come and get me pleas to any suitors. He did not get his way and has recently been reported to have been risking a jail term after rejecting a fresh tax-settlement offer.

All in all, it is clear the player's mind is not solely on the ball like it has been so consistently in his career. Personal problems can often distract a footballer and take a toll on performance temporarily until he can get back to focusing on the game.

#3 Set Piece Ability was never the centerpiece of his game

Cristiano Ronaldo's freekicks haven't been the best lately

There is no doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo managed to score some outrageous and headline-grabbing set-piece goals.

Many critics point out that Ronaldo is no longer a set-piece expert. It is indeed true but the fact is that Ronaldo's free kicks have never been his key to making an impact.

He has a career conversion rate of 6.07% and while most fanatical fans would still argue that he is the best on free kicks- a realist knows that having Ronaldo on free-kicks is an indulgence of sorts for the Portugese, a trust in his abilities to make magic.

He retains the capacity to score from range but Ronaldo no longer does so with regularity. But this does not put any doubts on his overall capacity in any way. Last season Ronaldo had scored 4 freekicks with a conversion rate of close to 10% meaning that he was, in fact, better than his career average.

Another key factor about free-kicks is confidence. Most set-piece specialists always score in sets- that is in short a peak period where five out ten goes in and then a drought for a while unless of course- set-pieces are the center of their entire game- players like Sigurdsson

So his failure in finding the net from free-kicks is not exactly a worrying trend because Ronaldo was ripping teams apart without scoring many from free-kicks in the last few years especially after a tendonitis issue came to light.

With Bale and Isco sharing duty on free-kicks, the number of his attempts have reduced as well over the last few seasons furthering hampering his tally.

2. Evolution as a player does not reflect in statistics

Ronaldo and Benzema have developed a great relationship on

Two statistics- dribbles and take-ons and shots outside the box have been identified as concerning figures for Ronaldo. The figure rings true and loud for the average fan.

What it does not tell you is Ronaldo no longer needs to attempt shots from outside the box as much because he has been given a supply line inside it.

With age catching up and that explosive acceleration leaving him, Ronaldo adapted his game from being a player who both makes and score his goals to a 'fox in the box' sort where efficiency and off the ball positioning become more important.

He has used his footballing intelligence to transform himself from an out and out winger who cuts into the box to a more central player. This was a result of managerial decisions and Ronaldo recognising to need to adapt his game to suit physical realities. He still has a short burst of speed but generally, conserves it.

He no longer needs to take people on as frequently due to the above-mentioned reasons as well. He does try to do it and succeeds very often but he influences play more off the ball than on it- definitely a change from his younger days but a role that is a result of experience. Ronaldo's worries will begin when he can no longer reach positions that need him to shoot not when is having a blip in making the most of it.

He shows no sign of physical decline and these statistics completely ignore the fact that Ronaldo is no longer a conventional left/right winger.

1.Champions League Form and positional impact

Ronaldo and the Champions League - a special love story

We already discussed the fact that the real worry will start when Ronaldo is off-colour consistently for at least two months. It seems Real's problems in the La Liga and indeed in the Champions League have not hindered Ronaldo from managing 6 goals in 4 matches.

Statistically speaking Ronaldo has averaged 7.48 in the La Liga before the Girona game according to Whoscored.com. In the Champions League, Ronaldo scored a double against an in-form Dortmund away from home and has scored in both fixtures against Tottenham.

That is not a sign of a player who is past his peak. In many ways, Ronaldo has peaked, fallen off and peaked again but the falling off was washed away from plain sight by him morphing into a different player. He no longer plays to his old strengths of pace, charging down the wings and being the central creating force of his team.

Instead, he works in the spaces between defenders, dragging them out of position before capitalizing on errors and positioning himself in the right places to score. His assists ratio is by and large the same as last season 0.25 to 0.30 per game.

In terms of key passes - Ronaldo has not exactly declined. In the danger of being excessively repetitive, his role has been altered - 1.3 key passes a game is not bad when you realise crosses and through balls accounted for many chances created. With Ronaldo drifting further inside the pitch and into a more central area, he does not have to provide much any more.

To compare - Aguero managed 1.2 key passes on average in his career. Griezmann, who arguably plays a similar role manages 1.2 key passes as well. Therefore keeping his Champions League performances as a barometer, one can safely argue that Ronaldo is more than capable of doing his job well at the moment.

The obituaries of his demise at the top of the game will soon be forgotten